[841] The reading here is doubtful.
[842] A.U.C. 612.
[843] See B. xix. c. 6.
[844] Chapter 57.
[845] In fact, no colour at all.
[846] In this climate, the light of most of the stars has the complexion, not of gold, but of silver.
[847] The topaz, for instance.
[848] For ductility and malleability, both which terms may perhaps be included in the “facilitas” of Pliny, gold is unrivalled among the metals. As to weight, it is heavier than lead, the specific gravity of gold being 19.258, and that of lead 11.352. Pliny is therefore wrong in both of these assertions.
[849] He forgets asbestus here, a substance which he has mentioned in B. xix. c. 4.
[850] Chlorine, however, and nitro-muriatic acid corrode and dissolve gold, forming a chloride of gold, which is soluble in water. Ajasson remarks, that gold becomes volatilized by the heat of a burning-glass of three or four feet in diameter; and that when it acts as the conductor of a strong current of electricity, it becomes reduced to dust instantaneously, presenting a bright greenish light.