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CONSUMPTION OF THE

CHAP. V.

other colour but black was adopted, and that itwas used only for ornamenting drinking vessels,statues, vases, urns, and other large articles offurniture. At the present day, one of the greatestcauses of the consumption of gold is the use ofit in the smaller personal ornaments, and in avariety of trinkets, whose basis is gold, but whosechief value is the enamelling, which is wroughtby skilful artists upon it. These, when thefashion changes, or the work of the artist be-comes obliterated, the gold being in very minuteportions, are lost or destroyed, or at least thesame care is not taken to preserve such frag-ments as is applied to the larger pieces of orna-mental furniture. In the present day it is sup-posed both in England and in France , that thequantity of the precious metals applied to theseminor purposes by far exceeds that which isconverted into larger objects, and that the lossin them is increased in some degree in propor-tion to the small size of the articles.

The consumption of silver in our age andcountry has been vastly increased by the appli-cation of the mechanical powers to the construc-tion of flatting mills. By these machines awedge of copper or tin and another of silvermay be converted into a substance, homogeneousto every sense but the sight, exhibiting on oneside the most brilliant silver, and on the otheran appearance of a different metal. This plated