78 J. A. Phillips, Esq., en the Metals and 



In speaking of gold, Pliny says :* "In these parts of the 

 world in which we live, gold mines are found, to say nothing 

 of India, where the ants cast it up out of the ground, or that 

 which the griffins gather in Scythia. The gold with us is 

 procured in three ways • among the sands of some great 

 rivers, such as the Tagus in Spain, the Po in Italy, Hebrus 

 in Thrace, Pactolus in Asia, and the Indian Ganges, all of 

 which yield gold. Neither is there any gold finer or more 

 perfect, from being thoroughly polished by the rubbing and 

 attrition which it meets with in the course of the streams of 

 water. Tliere is also another method of obtaining gold, viz., 

 by digging it out of pits which are sunk for that purpose, or 

 else in the caverns and breaches which occur by the fall of 

 mountains." He also goes on to say, that the gold obtained 

 by cleaving and opening mountains needs no trying or re- 

 fining, as it is naturally fine and pure. In speaking of the 

 value of gold, the same author remarks : t — " The reputa- 

 tion which it has acquired, is for the following reason, that 

 it alone, of all things, loses nothing in the fire, but with- 

 stands its action without change. Indeed, the oftener it has 

 been in the fire, the more refined and purer it becomes. 

 One method of testing the quality of gold, is by the applica- 

 tion of fire, of which it ought to take not only the colour, 

 but, to a certain extent, the radiance also. This kind is 

 called obryzum. This is another astonishing property of 

 gold, that a fire made of light straw or chaff will quickly 

 melt it ; whilst, if it be thrown on the strongest fire of wood- 

 charcoal, it will with difficulty yield to its intensity and 

 melt. With respect to its purification, it should be melted 

 with lead. The second property which causes gold to be so 

 highly valued is, that it loses but little of its weight by use 

 and attrition, whilst silver, lead, and copper, leave metallic 

 stains on bodies which they touch, and soil the skin of those 

 who handle them. Neither is there any metal which can be 

 beaten out broader by the hammer, or divided more easily 

 into parcels, as every ounce of it may be reduced into more 

 than seven hundred and fifty leaves, each one of which being 



* Pliny xxxiii., 1. t Pliny xxxiii., 3. 



