mans. It confifted at firft in lumps of brafs, of different bignefs, and was taken by weight, without having any fixed mark or figure upon it; from whence came the form of speaking ufed in fales, per as & libram. Servius Tullius, the fixth king of the Romans, was the first, that reduced it to form, and ftampt it with a particular impreffion. *And as at that time the greatest riches confifted in cattle, oxen, fheep, hogs, &c. the figure of those animals, or of their heads, was ftamped upon the first money that was coined, and it was called pecunia, from the word pecus, which fignifies cattle in general. It was not till the confulfhip of Plin. 1.34. Q. Fabius and Ogulnius, five years before the C. I. first Punick war, in the 485th year of Rome, that filver fpecies was ufed at Rome. They, however, always retained the antient language and denomination, taken from the word as, brafs. From thence the expreffion, as grave, (heavy brass) to fignify, at least in the origin of that term, the affes of a pound weight; ærarium, the publick treasury, wherein, in antient times, there was only brass-money; aes alienum, borrowed money; with many others of like fignification. *Servius Rex, primus fignavit æs. Antea rudi ufos Romæ Timæus tradit. Signatum eft nota pecudum: VOL. X. N SECT. Plin.l. 33. c. 4. T 'SE C T. III. Mines of gold. O find gold, fays Pliny, we have three different methods. It is extracted either from rivers, the bowels of the earth, or the ruins of mountains, by undermining and throwing them down. 1. Gold found in rivers. Gold is gathered in fmall grains, or little quantities upon the fhores of rivers, as in Spain upon the brink of the Tagus, in Italy upon the Po, in Thrace upon the Hebrus, in Afia upon the Pactolus, and laftly, upon the Ganges in India; and it is agreed, that the gold found in this manner is the best of all; because having long ran through rocks, and over fands, it has had time to cleanse and purify itself. * The rivers I mention were not the only ones in which gold was to be found. Our Gaul Diod. 1.5. had the fame advantage. Diodorus fays, that nature had given it gold in a peculiar manner,. without obliging the natives to hunt after it with art and labour; that it was mingled with the fands of the rivers; that the Gauls knew how to wash those fands, extract the gold, and melt it down; and that they made themselves rings, bracelets, girdles, and other ornaments of it. Some rivers of France are + faid to have retained this privilege: the Rhine, the *Nec ullum abfolutum Memoirs of the Acad. of aurum eft, ut curfo ipfa tri- Sciences, an. 1718. tuque perpolitum. Plin. Rhone, Rhone, the Garonne, the Doux in FrancheComté, the Céze, and the Gardon, which have their fources in the Cevennes, the Ariége in the country of Foix, and fome others. The gathering of it indeed does not turn to any confiderable account, scarce fufficing to the maintenance of the country-people, who employ themselves for fome months in that work. They have fometimes their lucky days, when they get more than a piftole for their trouble; but they pay for them on others, which produce little or nothing. 2. Gold found in the bowels of the earth. Those who search after gold, begin, by finding what we call in French, la Manne, manna, a kind of earth, which by its colour, and the exhalations that rise from it, informs thofe, who underftand imines, that there is gold underneath it. As foon as the vein of gold appears, the water must be turned off, and the ore dug out induftriously, which must be taken away, and washed in proper lavers. The ore being put into them, a stream of water is poured on continually, in proportion to the quantity of the ore to be wafhed; and to affift the force of the water, an iron fork is used, with which the ore is ftirred, and broke, till nothing remains in the laver, but a fediment of black fand, with which the gold is mingled. This fediment is put into a large wooden dish, in the midst of which four or five deep lines are cut, and by washing it, and ftirring it well in feveral waters, conjectura, the terrene parts diffolve, and nothing remains but pure gold duft. This is the method now used See Dia. in Chili, and the fame as was practifed in the of Comtime of Pliny Aurum qui quærunt, ante omnia merce. VOL. X. Z 2 Plin. 1. 334 fegullum c. 4. Pliny. ibid. fegullum tollunt: ita vocatur indicium. Alveus bic eft: arena lavantur, atque ex eo quod refedit, conjectura capitur. Every thing is comprehended in these few words. Segullum: which is what the French call la manne, or manna. Alveus hic eft that is, the vein of gold ore. Arena lavantur: this implies the lavers. Atque ex eo quod refedit: this the fediment of black fand, in which the gold is contained. Conjectura capitur: here the stirring of the fediment, the running off of the water, and the gold-duft that remains, are intimated. It fometimes happens, that without digging far, the gold is found upon the fuperficies of the earth: but this good-fortune is not frequent, though there have been examples of it. For not long ago, fays Pliny, gold was found in this manner in Nero's reign, and in fo great a quantity, that fifty pounds a day, at least, has been gathered of it. This was in Dalmatia. It is commonly neceffary to dig a great way, and to form fubterraneous caverns, in which marble and small flints are found, covered with the gold. These caverns are carried on to the right or left, according to the running of the vein; and the earth above it is fupported with ftrong props at proper diftances. When the metallick ftone, commonly called the ore in which the gold forms itfelf, is brought out of the mine, it is broke, pounded, wafhed, and put into the furnace. The firft melting is called only filver, for there is always fome mingled with the gold. The fcum, which rifes in the furnace, is called Scoria in Latin. This is the drofs of the metal, which the fire throws up, and is not peculiar to, gold, but common to all metallick bodies. This drofs is not thrown away, but pounded pounded and calcined over again, to extract what remains of good in it. The crucible, It is called in which this preparation is made, ought to be Tafconium. of a certain white earth, not unlike that used by the potters. There is fcarce any other, which can bear the fire, bellows and exceffive heat of this fubftance melted. This metal is very precious, but cofts infinite Diod. 1. 3. pains in getting it. Slaves and criminals condemned to death, were employed in working the mines. The thirst of gold has always extinguished all fenfe of humanity in the human. heart. Diodorus Siculus obferves, that these unhappy creatures, laden with chains, were allowed no reft either by night or day; that they were treated with exceffive cruelty; and that to deprive them of all hopes of being able to escape by corrupting their guards, foldiers were chofen for that office, who fpoke a language unknown to them, and with whom, in confequence, they could have no correspondence nor form any confpiracy. 3. Gold found in the mountains. There is another method to find gold, which plin. 1.33. regards properly only high and mountainous c. 4. places, fuch as are frequently met with in Spain. * These are dry and barren mountains in every other refpect, which are obliged to give up their gold, to make amends, in fome measure, for their fterility in every thing else. The work begins at firft by cutting great holes in the right and left. The mountain it Cætera montes Hifpa- huic bono fertiles effe coniarum aridi fterilefque, in guntur. Plin. quibus nihil aliud gignatur, |