36

Great authorised the burial of bishops, princes, and people ofrank within the body of the church, and consequently theremains of the saints were either removed into the church,or as frequently happened, the church was built upon the spotwhere they were buried—in either case, the tomb became thealtar; and to this day, altars in all the catholic churches havethe relics of some saints inclosed in them : the horns of thealtar, according to Du Cange , is that side of it where theepistle and gospel are read. In ancient cathedrals there was aciborium, or arch, over the altar, in imitation of the propiti-atory, which covered the ark, or otherwise there was a canopyhung over the altar, and curtains, called the tetravellum, drawnround to prevent the priest being disturbed by the sight of thespectators ; under the canopy, or ciborium, hung the pix, orbox, containing the host, commonly a dove, of goldsmith’swork j over the altar was the palla, carried out against fires ;and over the pall, the corporal, always made of linen, accord-ing to an order of Sextus I.

In the year 1550, Bishop Kidley issued injunctions for tak-ing down all altars, requiring the church-wardens of everyparish to provide a table decently covered, and to place it insuch a part of the choir or chancel as might be most conve-nient, so that the ministers and communicants should be sepa-rated from the rest of the people : some of the bishops refu-sed to comply with this order, and suffered themselves to bedeprived of their bishopricks for contumacy.

AMALGAMATION. The knowledge of the solvent powerwhich mercury exercises over various metals, especially gold,was not only known to the ancients, but, as is related by Pliny ,actually employed by them in the separation of gold from thebaser materials, and in the gilding of silver. Mercury wasfirst applied to the extraction of silver from the ores of Peru and Mexico , by Fernandez de Velasco, in 1571-