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Gilt letters or figures on paper may be formed of {hellgold, tempered with gum water : or the characters maybe drawn with a milky solution of gum ammoniacum,made in water, and gold leaf applied upon them whenalmost dry : if they have become quite dry, they mayagain be sufficiently moistened for receiving the gold bybreathing on them. For raised letters, such as are seenin some ancient manuscripts, whiting, yellow ochre, orother earthy powders, are tempered with strong gum wa-ter, and the letters formed of this composition, by a pen,or more commodiously, by means of a type or stamp, pre-viously oiled, as hinted in a pamphlet on drawing andpainting in water-colours, publislied in 1731; when driedto a due degree of tenacity, the gold leaf is laid on. Ifthe characters are formed of hard bodies, as powderedglass or crystal, they may be covered with a burnishedgolden coat, by carefully rubbing them with a piece ofsolid gold.

On the covers of books, the gildings arc depressedbeneath the surface, and cemented with whites of eggs.The part being rubbed with this liquid, the gold leaf isapplied all over it, and the letters or figures made after-wards by heated stamps or rollers, which, at the fametime that they form the cavities, press down and fix thegold in them ; while the gold, on the prominent orsmooth surface, adheres so loosely as to be easilywiped ess.

In the posthumous papers of Mr. Hooke, a method isdescribed of gilding live craw-fiffi, carps, &c. withoutinjuring the fiffi. The cement for this purpose is prepared,by putting some Burgundy pitch into a new earthen pot,and warming the vessel till it receives so much of thepitch as will stick round it; then strewing some finelypowdered amber over the pitch when growing cold, add-