OF THE ORIGIN OF CHEMISTRY. 59 



bear a ftrong rcfemblance to thofc of the Egyp: 

 pans, as Pliny writes; from whence it appears 

 clearly, where they had been taught: although, 

 following the footftcps of Phidias the Athenian, 

 who lived 450 years before our Saviour, they 

 carried this art to the greatcft perfection *. They 

 did not cut and engrave ivory, pearls, corals, 

 and marble only, but they worked in bafaltcs, 

 porphyry, and the hardell gems. On agates 

 and cornelians they engraved chiefly concave 

 figures; on onyx they railed them convex, of- 

 ten forming the head or image of the opaque 

 flratum, lying on a furfacc more pellucid, and 

 which they could darken at will, by a little pig- 

 ment placed below it. Their later works of 

 fculpture and engraving an* what we now call 

 antique, and arc in high cilimation; and, on ac- 

 count of their pcrfed form, and exquifitc polifli, 

 have become models for the imitation of modern 

 artifts. 



Long before the age of Homer, the Greeks 

 knew how to melt, temper, cart, engrave, and 

 cement metals. Rhcecus and Theodorus fecm to 

 have fully underfloojl the art of calling copper; 

 which, according to Pliny, took its rife along 

 with painting, under Phidias f. He reckons 

 366 mailers in this art |; and dcfcribcs various 



temperatures 



* Piinyxxxiv. 8. 



f Pliny, xxxvi. j. S*c Hcyne. 



t 



