42. Chap. 42.-The Method Of Gilding Silver.

CHAP. 42.—THE METHOD OF GILDING SILVER.

At the present day silver is gilded almost exclusively by the agency of hydrargyros;[1] and a similar method should always be employed in laying gold leaf upon copper. But the same fraud which ever shows itself so extremely ingenious in all departments of human industry, has devised a plan of substituting an inferior material, as already mentioned.[2]

1. Artificial quicksilver is still used for this purpose. See Note 24 to Chapter 32 of this Book; also Beckmann's Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 295. Bohn's Edition.

2. In Chapter 32. He alludes to the use of glair of eggs.