MERCURY. 173 
ed with an extremely thin coating of gold, the colour 
and brilliancy of which may be heightened by burnish- 
ing. The ornaments upon snuff-boxes, fans, and various 
kinds of trinkets, are merely thin plates of silver, gilded 
in this manner. 
The edges of tea-cups, and other similar articles, may 
be gilded, though not in a very durable manner, by 
applying a thin coat of amber varnish (224), and then 
placing leaf-gold upon it. When the varnish is dry, the 
gold is to be burnished. 
Gold, in a state of solution, is sometimes used for 
staining marble, ivory, ornamental feathers, and other 
articles, a purple-red colour, which cannot be effaced. 
By chemical processes an oxide (21) is obtained from 
this metal, which is employed for giving those beautiful 
shades of lilac, rose colour, red and purple, which we 
observe in glass and porcelain. 
A gold powder for painting may be made by uniting 
one part of gold with eight parts of mercury (228), and 
afterwards evaporating the latter by heat. 
The article denominated gold wire is generally silver' 
wire gilded, very little wire being made entirely of gold. 
Its uses are chiefly for embroidery and filagree work. 
Gold thread consists of flatted silver gilt wire, laid" over 
a thread of yellow silk, by twisting it in a machine with 
iron bobbins. It is of this, and not of gold, that the 
article called gold lace is made. The Chinese, instead 
of flatted wire, use slips of gilt paper, which they in- 
terweave in their stuffs, and twist upon silk threads. 
228. MERCURY, in its native state, is called quicksilver, 
and is found in small globules of shining, silvery appearance, 
scattered through different kinds of stones, clay, and ores. It is 
nearly fourteen times heavier than water. 
The principal ore of mercury, and that from which the 
metal is chiefly obtained, is cinnabar. This is of red colour, 
and consists of mercury mineralized with sulphur. It is 
sometimes found in a massive state, sometimes in grains, and 
sometimes crystallized; and chief y among rocks of the coal 
formation. 
