23 



Agalharchi- 

 des. 



His descrip- 

 tion. 



Pure gold 

 coins of Da- 

 lius. 



Process of 

 Agatharchides 

 difficult to ex- 

 plain. 



A similar me- 

 thod appa- 

 rently prac- 

 tised at J. yens. 



SXATEK OF PKILJP 01 MALEDOX. 



gold- was placed on the fire in an earthen vessel with three 

 times its weight of salt; and that it was afterward exposed 

 anew to the fire with two parts of salt, and one of schis( 2 

 certainly argillaceous. This would certainly effrct the de- 

 composition of the salt, and the volatilization of ' the muriatic 

 acid in a state of ignition and dry, which would penetrate 

 the substance of the gold, and separate the silver in the 

 form of a volatile muriate; the object ( 5 ) and effect of the 

 cementation of the moderns. But Agathaiehidts has trans- 

 mitted to us an account of a peculiar method practised in 

 the mines situate between the Nile and the borders of the 

 Red Sea*, in which we perceive the well kuown property 

 of the muriatic acid in separating silver. 



This author says, if he express himself accurately^ and 

 there be no corruption of the text, that the gold there is 

 enclosed in marble: that the miners burn or calcine this 

 ore : that they break it with hammers, pound', grind, and 

 wash it: and that lastly the gold, placed in a covered cruci- 

 ble with a little lead, some salt, a little tin, and some barley- 

 meal, was exposed to the fire five days. *• 



The mintmen of Darius certainly employed this or a 

 similar method, when this enlightened kingf was desirous 

 of giving his subjects the noble and useful example of 

 money made with the purest gold, similar to that of fin* 

 silver made afterward by his satrap Ariander. 



It is not easy, however, to give a plausible explanation of 

 the rationale of the doci mastic method transmitted to us by 

 Agatharchides. Bat if the operation he describes were 

 intended not as a cementation, but a real and prolonged 

 fusion, it remain? to be explained, how the employment of 

 a closed crucible, kept on the fire as he directs, is to be 

 reconciled with the object proposed : nor is it easy to com- 

 pi . I.rna trie use ot barley-meal. 



Euton reflecting mi the ingenious method, which IJellot 

 found practised at Lyons, for refining, purifying, and se- 

 parating cupelled silver from the little lead that -remains 



* Gold was extracted from these mines even previous to the discovery 

 of iron- 



f The scho'iast on Aristophanes ascribes this to another prince of 

 jtfie same name, but more ancient. 



witk 



