316 Mr. J. W. Mallet's Report on the Chemical Examination of Antiquities 



the existence of a greater amount of alloy than one would expect from reading 

 the accounts of gold ornaments to be found in various books on antiquities, 

 in which they are often described as of " pure gold," " fine gold," &c., the 

 colour being apparently very often the only guide to such a belief Although the 

 analyses here given differ much from each other, yet we find some traces of 

 connexion between the composition of the alloys and the forms into which they 

 were manufactured. 



Thus, Nos. 1 and 2 are greatly below the standard of the others, and these 

 are both specimens of the same kind of ornament, the torque, and the only 

 specimens examined. They do not differ much from the composition of the 

 electrum of the ancients, as given by Pliny and others.* 



No. 6 is about on a par with these as to the quantity of gold, but contains 

 a larger proportion of copper, and less silver. 



Nos. 7 and 8 accord very closely with each other, a circumstance particu- 

 larly interesting from the probability of their having been used as money. For 

 if, as is urged in the memoir on this subject before referred to, these rings 

 really represent a metallic currency of graduated weight, based upon a fixed 

 standard, it surely would be a strong confirmation of this opinion, as well as 

 a fact highly illustrative of the advanced state both of commerce and of metal- 

 lurgical skill on the part of the fabricators of these rings, if they were shown 

 to be also of constant composition, and that therefore their relative values 

 were actually represented by their proportionate weights. To decide this ques- 

 tion, however, more numerous analytical results would be indispensable. 



Nos. 4 and 5 in the Table also agree very closely, from which we might 

 surmise that the latter, which probably was not intended for use in the condi- 

 tion in which it was found, was perhaps in process of manufacture into one of 

 the thin lunette-shaped ornaments, like No. 4, which have often been found in 

 Ireland. Its small size, however, renders this more doubtful. 



No. 8 is of a much higher standard than any of the others, and approaches 

 fine gold. From its being wire-drawn in the ordinary way through a draw- 

 plate, it is probably not nearly so ancient as the other specimens examined. 



• " Ubicunque quinta argenti portio est, electrum vocatur." — Plinii Hist. Nat. lib. xxxiii. c. 4. 

 "Alia (species electri) ex partibu3 auri tribus et una argenti conflatur." — Margerit. Philos. 1523. 



