228 GOLD 



Gold has a great affinity for mercury, but it does not join 

 readily with oxygen, nor is it acted upon by acids, hence 

 it is not affected by exposure to the atmosphere and remains 

 always bright and clean. It is a good conductor of heat and 

 electricity. 



The men who first found gold found it in the sands by the 

 side of a stream, or in the bed of the river itself. Sometimes 

 they fastened down a sheep-skin in the current of the stream 

 to catch the golden grains as they sank to the bottom, and the 

 skin became indeed a ' golden fleece '. This was how the 

 inhabitants of Colchis obtained gold from the River Phasis, 

 and in the same manner to-day gold is obtained from the rivers 

 of Hungary. 



All sorts of theories were propounded by the ancients to 

 account for the presence of these grains of gold by the side of 

 streams. The Lydian Pactolus, for instance, a tributary of 

 the Hermus, was extraordinarily rich in gold, and this was 

 the explanation which was given. Midas, one of the kings of 

 Phrygia, had asked in his folly that everything he touched 

 might be turned to gold, and lo ! his prayer was answered, 

 so that even his food on its way to his mouth was changed 

 into gold. To remove this curse he was bidden to go up into 

 the mountains, and bathe in the springs which fed the 

 Pactolus. This he did, and was cured, but ever after the 

 stream washed down precious grains of gold, so that Croesus 

 and other kings of Lydia became by- words for their wealth. 



In modern times men were not content with such explana- 

 tions. They followed the streams up into the mountains, and 

 after patient search found the origin of the golden sands. 

 Imbedded in the heart of the rocks, they discovered veins or 

 lodes of pure gold. Many different kinds of rock contain these 

 veins, but quartz is the commonest. 



It was from these that the river-side grains had come, 

 for wind and weather had in course of time broken off solid 



twenty-fourth part is called a carat ; so that 22 carat gold consists of 22 parts 

 of pure gold, and 2 parts of another metal. 



