286 



GOLDFISH 



GOLDONI 



Goldfish, or GOLDEN CARP ( Carassiusauratus), 

 a Chinese and Japanese fresh-water fish nearly 

 allied to the carp (Cyprinus), but lacking barbels. 

 In its warm native waters it is brownish, like its 

 neighbour species, the Crucian Carp (C. carassius), 

 while in its more familiar domesticated state it 

 loses the black and brown pigment, becomes golden- 

 yellow, or passes more completely into albinism in 

 those unpigmented forms known as silver fish. 

 Young specimens are dark in colour, the loss of 

 pigment and the consequent golden tint becoming 

 marked as they grow older. It seems to have been 

 introduced into England in 1691, and is often kept in 

 aquaria, or with more success in ponds, especially 

 in such as are warmed by an inflow of hot water 

 from engines. In temperatures of 80 F. or more 

 it thrives well and breeds abundantly. The gold- 

 fish is naturalised in some continental rivers, and 

 has had a wide artificial distribution throughout 

 the world. In aquaria the fish are best fed on 

 worms, insects, and the like, and care must be 

 taken that the water is kept fresh. There are large 

 breeding establishments in France, Prussia, and at 

 Palz in Styria. See Mulertt, The Gold-fish and its 

 Systematic Culture (1884). Monstrosities such as 

 double or multiple tails or much modified fins fre- 

 quently occur in artificial conditions. Of these the 

 most remarkable is the ' telescope fish. ' 



Gold II ill. a post-village of Nevada, 7000 feet 

 above the sea, and about a mile S. of Virginia City, 

 to which it has been annexed. It has rich silver- 

 mines, and several quartz-mills. Here, on Mount 

 Davidson, is the famous Comstock Lode (q.v. ). 



Goldilocks is a common name for the Ranun- 

 culus aiiricomus. See RANUNCULUS. 



Gold Lace. This term is applied in a general 

 way to more than one kind of fabric made of 

 thread covered with gilt silver wire. The ' gold 

 wire ' used in the manufacture of gold thread is 

 nearly always in India, where a great deal is 

 made, composed of pure silver with a thin coating 

 of gold. But in European countries it is only the 

 very best qualities of this wire which are made of 

 unalloyed silver. A good quality of English gold 

 thread is made from wire consisting of one part of 

 copper added to twenty-five of silver, which is 

 afterwards coated with gold. But alloys of copper 

 and silver in many proportions are used, some wire 

 containing only one part of silver to sixty of copper. 

 The silver, or alloy of copper and silver, is made 

 into a rod 1^ inch in diameter, and then annealed 

 and polished to prepare it for its coating of gold. 

 This is laid on in the form of leaves of pure gold, 

 and subjected, for the best qualities of wire, to the 

 fire-gilding process i.e. the gold-coated rod is 

 heaced to redness on burning charcoal, which 

 causes the leaf to adhere firmly. Rods so treated 

 are next smeared with wax, and drawn through 

 the holes of a steel drawplate (see WIRE in Vol. 

 X.). The wire is frequently annealed during the 

 process of drawing, and this requires to be very 

 skilfully done, or the golden tint of the surface is 

 lost. Gold wire for thread is generally drawn down 

 to a size measuring 1100 to 1400 yards to the ounce 

 of metal. Finer sizes reach the length of 1800 to 

 2000 yards to the ounce, and to attain this fineness 

 the wire is drawn through perforated gems, such 

 as diamonds or rubies. The fine wire, after being 

 annealed, is flattened between polished steel 

 rollers. Finally the flat wire, or rather ribbon, 

 is wound over yellow or orange coloured silk, so 

 as completely to envelop it, by a spinning engine. 

 The gold thread is then finished. Some of the best 

 qualities of the metal covering or ' plate ' of this 

 thread have 12 dwt. of gold to the pound of silver 

 or of alloy. Inferior kinds have as little as 2 

 dwt. to the pound, and still cheaper sorts of thread 



are covered with flattened copper wire which has 

 received a thin coating of electro deposited silver, 

 and this afterwards receives, on the outside of the 

 thread only, a still thinner electro-deposited coat- 

 ing of gold two grains of the precious metal 

 covering 3000 square inches of surface. For this 

 very cheap kind of thread yellow cotton is used 

 instead of silk. 



The only difference between gold and silver 

 thread is that the thin coating of gold is wanting 

 on the latter. Gold thread is used in the manu- 

 facture of military lace, which is made in several 

 patterns for officers of different ranks and for various 

 divisions of the army and navy. This, however, 

 is a woven substance and not true lace ; but some 

 real lace is made both of gold and silver thread. 

 Both kinds of thread are also used for facings of 

 liveries, and for ecclesiastical robes, altar cloths, 

 and banners. These and other fabrics are either 

 embroidered or woven, but often only in part, 

 with the thread (see BROCADE, DAMASK, and 

 EMBROIDERY ). Much of the ' gold thread ' used 

 for theatrical dresses and decorations has only a 

 covering of Dutch Metal (q.v.), and the 'silver 

 thread ' in these is spun with a covering of a cheap 

 white alloy, having a mere film of silver on the 

 surface. 



Gold Leaf. See GOLD-BEATING. 



Gold of Pleasure (Camelina),& small genus 

 of Cruciferse. The common Gold of Pleasure ( C. 

 sativa ; Fr. Cameline, Ger. Dotter ) is an annual 

 plant of humble appearance, but with abundant 

 yellow flowers. It is most commonly known as a 

 weed in lint-fields, although it is also cultivated 

 alone or mixed with rapeseed in parts of Germany, 

 Belgium, and the south of Europe for the sake of 

 the abundant oil contained in its seeds. Its seeds 

 and oil-cake are, however, inferior to those of lint, 

 and its oil is apt to become rancid and is less valued 

 than that of rape or colza. The value of .the plant 

 in agriculture depends much on its adaptation to 

 poor sandy soils, and on the briefness of its period 

 of vegetation, adapting it for being sown after 

 another crop has failed, or for being ploughed down 

 as a green manure. The crop is cut or pulled 

 when the pouches begin to turn yellow ; but the 

 readiness with which seed is scattered in the field, 

 rendering the plant a weed for future years, is an 

 objection to its cultivation. The stems are tough, 

 fibrous, and durable, and are used for thatch- 

 ing and for making brooms ; their fibre is some- 

 times even separated like that of flax, and made 

 into very coarse cloth and packing-paper. The 

 seeds are used for emollient poultices. C. dentata 

 is of similar habit and properties, but is not cul- 

 tivated. 



Goldoni, CARLO, the creator of the modern 

 Italian comedy of character and domestic life, was 

 born in 1707 at Venice. Although he went through 

 a course of law studies there and at Pa via, his heart 

 was set even from a child upon plays and play- 

 writing. His first serious attempts were tragedies, 

 one of which, Belisario, was successful at Venice 

 in 1732. But he soon discovered that his forte 

 was comedy rather than tragedy, and set him- 

 self to effect a revolution in the Italian comic stage. 

 At that time the popular comedies in Italy were 

 really farces, in which pantaloon and harlequin 

 filled the principal rdles, acting with masks on 

 their faces, and trusting very largely to the inspira- 

 tion of the moment for their buffooneries and 

 pranks. For this style of thing Goldoni deter- 

 mined to substitute the comedy of character 

 according to Moliere, and a hard task he set 

 himself. Several years were now spent by him 

 wandering from city to city of North Italy, some- 

 times practising his profession, but always in 



