In his very important article on “The Beginnings of Alchemy” (Isis, Nov., 1947, see p. 82) Professor Dubs quotes Tso Chuan, Duke Chao, 29th year, and says: “This item seems to be the earliest mention of iron in China”. The same view has been expressed by most writers on Chinese cultural history, and it is true that in the text of the Tso Chuan as we possess it to-day the word “iron” (t'ieh) occurs. But it is worth noting that elsewhere in the Tso Chuan, and in the Kü , US (t'ieh) occurs only as a place-name. The Tso Chuan passage which mentions iron is as follows: , “They laid upon the country a contribution of one ku of iron, in order to cast a penal tripod ”, that is to say, a tripod with a code of law inscribed upon it.