234 FROM THE PASSAGE OF MOUNT H^MUS, 
CHAP, the sulphurets, after the sublimation and 
u !>■ -' separation of the sulphur and the lead*. 
Owing to the ignorance of modern nations 
respecting the metallic substance, called 
HAEKTPON by the Greeks, this word is com- 
monly translated amber; and the most gross 
errors have been tolerated, even among learned 
men, owing to their inattention to its real 
nature. A single instance will serve to shew 
how commonly the word has been misunder- 
stood. We may take it from the account given 
in the Mlhiopks of Heliodorus, of the ring which 
Calasiris gave to Nausicles''. The bevel of it 
contained an J^thiopian amethyst^ set {^Xixr^co) 
in amber, as some have supposed; hut electrum 
here signifies a mixed metal of gold and silver, 
with which the couches of the Antients were 
sometimes studded and embossed, as we learn 
from Aristophanes^. Upon this medal is repre- 
sented, on one side, a figure of Victory, with 
the legend BAZIAEHZPAZKOYnOPIAOZ; and 
(1) This process will be fully explained in the sequel, wben we 
treat of the Hungarian mines. 
(2) Ka.) ufjta. »ws;|^8<j/^£ ^eiKTvkii* tivo. tcHv ^afftXinuyi I'^i^^vis ri %(i!fia xeti 
fttf^ifftdt, Tay fA> xvKXev'HXEKTPni "iidhrov, 'Afit^vfii Ji A'Jiar'ixn "rn* ff^iv- 
^atti* (pXcyiftttov. Heliodoro, ^thiop.]ih. Vli^of h. Paris, 1804. 
(S_) ' Ex^tr'TatiffU't rav tiXixr^tnv, xai rev Toticv cvu it tvevrof. «. t. X, 
Aristophan. 'Wv. 556. vol. I. p. 536. ed. Invernixii. Lips. 1794. 
