Wherefore, he [Lehi] said that these
plates of brass should never perish; neither should they be dimmed any more by
time. And he prophesied many things concerning his seed. (1 Nephi 5:19)
Commenting
on this passage, Jeffrey R. Chadwick notes that:
Lehi predicts that the "plates of
brass" should never perish; neither should they be dimmed any more by
time"—a surprisingly accurate statement that could probably be made only
by a person experienced with the properties of copper-based alloys like bronze
and brass (bronze is a combination of copper and tin, and brass a combination
of copper and zinc). whereas iron, the hardest metal of Lehi's day (it could
even be hardened into steel by Lehi's time), will oxidize and rust away over
time if neglected, copper alloys such as bronze and brass will not. Even the
most damp conditions will not cause plates of copper to "perish." And
while it is possible over time for bronze or bass items to be "dimmed . .
. by time" with a greenish or greyish patina, even minimal maintenance on
a regular basis would prevent this. (Jeffrey R. Chadwick, "Lehi's House at
Jerusalem and the Land of His Inheritance," in Glimpses of Lehi's
Jerusalem, ed. John W. Welch, David Rolph Seely, and Jo Ann H. Seely
[Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 2004],
114-15)
