■can he diji'viguified hy the Smell. l5l 



throws the monev on the sjround and remarks the found. He 

 "rs not even contented with founding it once or twice, and the 

 great attention he employs renders him a mulician." However, 

 as the antients generally cmploved the pureft gold for coining 

 money *, it appears that the proof by i'melliag did not relate 

 to pure gold and filver, but to the ignoble metals which might 

 have been mixed with them. For all the paflfages of antient 

 authors which fpeak of the fmell of metals f allude to an ar- 

 fificial compofition which could be diflingui(hed by its odour. 

 It a])pears that it was in particular the eompafition fofooliflily 

 fought after by the Romans, to which, by way of preference, 

 ihev gave the name of Corinthiin brafs, and which thev 

 made ufe of for uiinking-cups and their moil valuable table 

 fcrvices. We mult no doubt rank among this number the 

 pretended vafa Butuica which Alexander the Great found 

 among the eflects of Darius, and wiiich beino; compofcd of 

 bronze brought from India could not be diltinguiilied from 

 gold but bv the fmell %• 



I am acquainted with two other paffages which this remark 

 may ferve to explain. Martial, in the 6oth epigram of his 

 ninth book, del'cribes a fwaggering fellow, who havino^ a 

 great dclire to purehale, but an empty purfc,, haraffed the 

 toymen of the Campus Martins or Septum at Rome by al- 

 ways cheapeiiino- and never buying. The poet, befides other 

 things, favs of him, " He eonfults his nofe relpectino- the 

 fmell of Corinthian brafs §v" 



Cicero, in his Paradoxes, fpeaks of the connoifleurs of his 

 time who purchafed Corinthian bronzes with incredible avi- 

 dity, and in examining them employed all their knowledire 

 in the arts. He exhibits one of thefe haughty Romans in 

 the attitude of examining with great earnpftncfs a nioht- 

 chair of Corinthian brafs j] ; for night-chairs were made of 

 the moll precious metals in thofe periods, when gold was 



pcrieiiccJ bv pects of fine filver in circulation con~pared with that of al- 

 loyed tilver would be nearly in the ratio of 3 to z\ and tliat of pure gold 

 compared with iillov'id gold would be as 7 to 3.' — Rapport ih L'jypl, p. 19. 



■• .At thc.commeiiccnient of the i7th»cei\tury, Louis Savot explained 

 exceedingly well the mctallur;^ic part of numirmatics in his Difcours fur 

 Ui MiuivlLs antiques, infcrtcd in the nth volume of Gr£'j'm%\'TheJ'iUurus. 

 Sec Eckil. 



x D'/flii>ia nutn. iict- torn. i. p. zz. See Cafaubon on- Suetonius in the 

 Life of Vefpafian, c. 23 ; Beckmanon Ariilot. Miiabil- aufcult. c 1. p. 59, 

 jooj and his Hiftorv of Inventions, vol. iii. 



^ Aiit^ot. Mirabil. aufcult. c. 1. p.97. 



§ ConUiluii nares, an olerent Jtra Corinthon. 



II I'urad.w.W. Si L. Mummius alitjuero iftorum vidcrc: matellior.tm 

 ,Coi f!C'V"i^ cupidiinmc tractantem. 



Vol. XL .L fomctinnjs 



