Chop. 19.] EEASONS WHY GOLD IS SO HIGHLY VALUED. 97 



mitted to intense heat, gold ought to assume a similar colour, 

 and turn red and igneous in appearance ; a mode of testing 

 which is known as " obrussa."^ 



The first great proof, however, of the goodness of gold, is 

 its melting with the greatest difficulty : in addition to which, 

 it is a fact truly marvellous, that though proof against the most 

 intense fire, if made with wood charcoal, it will melt with the 

 greatest readiness upon a fire made with chaff;* and that, for 

 the purpose of purifying it, it is fused with lead.^ There is 

 another reason too, which still more tends to enhance its value, 

 the fact that it wears the least of all metals by continual use : 

 whereas with silver, copper, and lead, lines may be traced,^ and 

 the hands become soiled with the substance that comes from off 

 them. Nor is there any material more malleable than this, 

 none that admits of a more extended division, seeing that a 

 single ounce of it admits of being beaten out into seven hun- 

 dred and fifty'' leaves, or more, four fingers in length by the 

 same in breadth. The thickest kind of gold-leaf is known as 

 " leaf of Praeneste," it still retaining that name from the 

 excellence of the gilding upon the statue of Fortune^ there. 

 The next in thickness is known as the *' quaestorian leaf." In 

 Spain, small pieces of gold are known by the name of " striges."' 



A thing that is not the case with any other metal, gold is 

 found pure in masses ^° or in the form of dust;^^ and whereas 



2 The gold thus tested was called *' obrassum," " obryzum," or " obri- 

 zum," from the Greek o(3pv^ov, meaning "pure gold." 



* See B. xviii. c. 23, where he calls the chaff used for this purpose by the 

 name of " acus." 



^ The present mode of assaying the precious metals, is by fusing them 

 upon a cupel with lead. 



6 For which purpose, lead was used, no doubt, in drawing the lines in the 

 MSS. of the ancients. See Beckraann's Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 389. Bohn'sEd. 



' This is far surpassed at the present day, its malleability being suck 

 that it may be beaten into leaves not more than one two hundred and 

 eighty thousandth of an inch in thickness, and its ductility admitting of 

 one grain being drawn out into five hundred feet of wire. For further 

 particulars as to the gold leaf of the ancients, and the art of gilding, as 

 practised by them, see Beckmann's Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 391, et seq. 

 Bohn's Edition. ^ See B. xxxvi. c. 64. 



^ He alludes to what are now known as pepitas, oval grains of river- 

 gold. " Striges " is the reading in the Bamberg MS., " strigiles " in the 

 former editions. 



io " Massa." As we should say at the present day, " nuggets." 



11 '* Ramentum." 



VOL. VI, H 



