BOOK VII.

253

generally is ; I have written elsewhere of its nature 38 . First the gold isrubbed on the touchstone, whether it contains silver or whether it is obtainedfrom the mines or from the smelting ; silver also is rubbed in the sameway. Then one of the needles, that we judge by its colour to be of similarcomposition, is rubbed on the touchstone ; if this proves too pale, anotherneedle which has a stronger colour is rubbed on the touchstone ; and if thisproves too deep in colour, a third which has a little paler colour is used. Forthis will show us how great a proportion of silver or copper, or silver andcopper together, is in the gold, or else how great a proportion of copper is insilver.

These needles are of four kinds . 39 The first kind are made of gold andsilver, the second of gold and copper, the third of gold, silver, and copper,and the fourth of silver and copper. The first three kinds of needles areused principally for testing gold, and the fourth for silver. Needles of thiskind are prepared in the following ways. The lesser weights correspondproportionately to the larger weights, and both of them are used, notonly by mining people, but by coiners also. The needles are made inaccordance with the lesser weights, and each set corresponds to a bes,which, in our own vocabulary, is called a mark. The bes, which is employedby those who coin gold, is divided into twenty-four double sextulae, which

Hill’s trans.) This humid " exudation of fine-grained stones in summer ” would not soundabnormal if it were called condensation. Pliny (xxxm, 43) says: “ The mention of“ gold and silver should be accompanied by that of the stone called coticula. Formerly,“ according to Theophrastus, it was only to be found in the river Tmolus but now found in“ many parts, it was found in small pieces never over four inches long by two broad. That“ side which lay toward the sun is better than that toward the ground. Those experienced“ with the coticula when they rub ore (vena) with it, can at once say how much gold it contains,“ how much silver or copper. This method is so accurate that they do not mistake it to a“ scruple.” This purported use for determining values of ore is of about Pliny’s averageaccuracy. The first detailed account of touchneedles and their manner of making, which wehave been able to find, is that of the Probierbiichlein (1527? see Appendix) where many of thetables given by Agricola may be found.

3s De Natura Fossilium (p. 267) and De Ortu et Causis Subterraneorum (p. 59). Theauthor does not add any material mineralogical information to the quotations fromTheophrastus and Pliny given above.

39 In these tables Agricola has simply adopted Roman names as equivalents of theold German weights, but as they did not always approximate in proportions, he coined termssuch as “ units of 4 siliquae,” etc. It might seem more desirable to have introducedthe German terms into this text, but while it would apply in this instance, as we havediscussed on p. 259, the actual values of the Roman weights are very different from theHerman, and as elsewhere in the book actual Roman weights are applied, we have con-sidered it better to use the Latin terms consistently throughout. Further, the obsoleteGerman would be to most readers but little improvement upon the Latin. For convenienceof readers we set out the various scales as used by Agricola, together with the German :—

6 Siliquae4 Scripula2 Sextulae24 Duellae

Roman Scale.

1 Scripulum1 Sextula1 Duella1 Be s

Old GermanGrenlinGran

24 Kratt

24 Grenlin12 “ Nummi'

Scale.GranKratMark

or

Also the following scales are applied to fineness by Agricola :—3 Scripula = 1 Drachma

2 Drachmae = 1 Sicilicus

2 Sicilici = 1 Semuncia

16 Semunciae =- 1 Bes

The term “ nummus,” a coin, given above

4 Pfennige4 Quintlein16 Loth

“ Nummus :Mark.

Quintlein

Loth

Mark

and in the text, appears in the German

anslation as pfennig as applied to both German scales, but as they are of different values,