C 62 I 



SECT. VII. 



DireBions for taking ^Impressions or 

 Casts from Medals and Coins. 



Et caetera pene gemelli. 



Horat. Ep. X. 



CHIEFLY owing to the ccft required for 

 purchafing a cabinet of medals, it has 

 happened that the ftudy of them has hitherto 

 been confined, comparatively, to a few indivi- 

 duals. Another principal impediment to the 

 cultivation of an acquaintance with them, has 

 arifen from the difficulty of underftanding the 

 infcriptions, for want of a fufficient knowledge 

 of languages ; on which account in particular* 

 this ftudy has been condemned by the illiterate 

 as barren and ufelefs ; but fuch as are acquainted 

 with the advantages which have already refulted 

 from thofe nummi memoriales^ cannot hefitate a 

 moment to aiTift a promotion of a more general 

 purfuit of the fubject (g). 



While Colofilan ftatues, and the hardeft 

 marbles, with their deeper! infcriptions, are de- 

 ftroyed by accidents, or by time, and paintings 

 finiihed with the higheft colors quickly fade, 

 a medal fhall furvive innumerable accidents, 

 and difclofe hiftorical facts a thoufand years 

 after ftatues are crumbled away ; and when no* 

 thing but the names of an Apelles or a Praxi- 

 teles remain. Does not a fingle medal, of 



(g) Though the itudy of medals does not properly belong 

 to natural hiftory, this fnort account of taking impref^ons 

 from them, may prove acceptable to fome travellers. 



which 



