y8 PLISY'S NATUHAL HISTORY. [Book XXXIII. 



all other metals, when found in the ore, require to be brought 

 to perfection by the aid of fire, this gold that I am speaking of 

 is gold the moment it is found, and has all its component parts_ 

 alrt-ady in a state of perfection. This, however, is only such 

 gold as is found in the native state, the other kinds that we 

 shall have to speak of, being refined by art. And then, more 

 than anything else, gold is subject to no rust, no verdigris, 12 

 no emanation whatever from it, either to alter its quality or 

 to lessen its weight. In addition to this, gold steadily resists 

 the corrosive action of salt and vinegar, 13 things which obtain 

 the master}* over all other substances : it admits, too, beyond 

 all other metals, of being spun out and woven 11 like wool. 15 Ver- 

 rius tells us that Tarquinius Priscus celebrated a triumph, clad 

 in a tunic of gold; and I myself have seen Agrippina, the wife 

 of the Emperor Claudius, on the occasion of a naval combat 

 which he exhibited, seated by him, attired in a military scarf' 6 

 made entirely of woven gold without any other material. For 

 this long time past, gold has been interwoven in the Attulic 17 

 textures-, an invention of the kings of Asia. 



cnvr. 20. THE MKTIIOD OF GILDING. 



On marble and other substances which do not admit of being 

 brought to a white' heat, gilt is laid with glair of egg, and on 

 wood by the aid of a glutinous composition, 18 known as " leuco- 

 phoron :" what this last is, and how it is prepared, we shall 



12 Tho contrary is now known to be the case; gold is sometimes, though 

 rarely, fn.nnl in an oxidized state. 



n As to the solvents. ot gold, see Note 2 above. Stuhl says that three parts 

 of tub-en bonate of potash, tiinhv<l in water, :md heated with three parts 

 of sulphur and one part of gold, will yield a complete solution of the metal. 



14 Aldrovandus relates, in hi? ' Museum Metallicum," that the grave of 

 the Knperor llonorius was discovered at Rome about the year 154-1, and 

 that thirty-six pound*' weight of gold wore procured from the mottUKring 

 drf'ss that covered the body. See, on the s'lhject of gold threads, Inck- 

 xnann's Hist. Inv. Vol. I. p. 415. Jinhn's Edition. 



]i The "cloth of gold" of the present day, is inado of threads of silk 

 or hair, wound round with silver wire flattened and gilded. 



16 4 * rabidanunto." 



17 See It. viii. c. 74. Beckmann is of opinion, from a passage of Silius 

 Jtalious, }'. xiv. 1. GG1, that the cloth of Attains wns embroidered with tin; 

 ) iiK\ Soc ibis subjert fully discussed in his ULst. Inv. Vol. I. p. 41-). 

 S-.- a!<o l>r. Yates's "Textrin'um Antiquoruiu," jip. ;i71 f -ir>4. 



1? * Without cutcriug' into any research respecting the minerals cm- 



