242 Use made of Zinc in China in regard to Coin,. 



and ascites. 1 have hastened the cure of the latter by mul- 

 tiplied friction on the abdomen with the <ame solution. 



Melok ciCHORii — ISIyluhris cicliorii Fabr. ; Mylahre de 

 la chicorec Cuv. — Its colour is black. The head and breast 

 are velvety. The antennae become larger towards the end ; 

 and the elytra are marked with three yellow bands. It 

 appears that it was this insect, very common in the East, 

 which the antients employed as a vesicatory*: it is still 

 applied to this purpose in China. 



[To be conrinujd.] 



XLl. On the Use made of Zinc in China in regard to Coin. 

 By B. G. SAGEf. 



Zjihc, known in China and India under the name of tzi- 

 tenag, is employed there not only for alloying with other 

 metals, but also by itself for making coin, as I have had 

 occasion to ascertain, by trying a piece given to me by 

 M. de Tersan. This com was of the size of a franc, but 

 not so thick. The centre exhibits a square hole three lines 

 in diameter. On the two opposite sides there are Tartar cha- 

 racters. The two other sides have none. The reverse of 

 this piece exhibits Chinese characters on the four faces of 

 the square. , 



Having attempted to cut this piece with a pair of scissars, 

 it broke : its fracture exhibited the colour and metallic fa- 

 cets of zinc : it showed also, like zinc cast into thin plates, 

 a line which separates in two the plate of that metal. 

 'V\\\s stro'ke or line arises from the colour occupied by the 

 centre of the cast zinc. This fracture of the coined zinc of 

 China makes known that this semi-metal has been cast in 

 order to be converted into money; for when the grain is 

 compressed by the gradual pressure of the roller it ceases 

 to be brittle, and exhibits no longer any grain. Zinc re- 

 duced to plates ceases also to emit the creaking noise of 

 tin when an attempt it made to break it. This semi-metal, 

 instead of breaking by the pressure of the roller, becomes 

 njore ductile the thitmer the plates to which it is reduced. 



The zinc of wliich this Chinese coin is made is exceedingly 

 pure, and burns with the greatest activity at a degree of tire 

 proper for fusing it and bringing it to a red heat : it is ^uf- 



* Iniperati, Linnxus, and Spicliuxn. 



+ From '^Ivhrna! til rbysiqur, Fnictidor, nn i2. 



ficient 



