A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins, Volume I (of 2). Johann Beckmann
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Название: A History of Inventions, Discoveries, and Origins, Volume I (of 2)
Автор: Johann Beckmann
Издательство: Public Domain
Жанр: Зарубежная классика
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[Among the improvements of recent date there are perhaps none of greater importance than those of electro-gilding and gilding by immersion, which have almost entirely superseded the process of gilding by an amalgam of mercury and gold, so fatal to the workmen exposed to the deleterious effects of the mercurial vapours. It is not our intention to enter at present into a history of the invention of these processes; they will more properly be reserved for a future volume, in which the discoveries of the present century will be treated of. The following short outline may however not prove uninteresting to the reader: – It had long been known to experimentalists on the chemical action of voltaic electricity, that solutions of several metallic salts were decomposed by its agency, and the metal produced in its free state. The precipitation of copper by the voltaic current was noticed by Mr. Nicholson1613 in a paper entitled ‘Account of the new Electrical Apparatus of Sig. Alex. Volta, and experiments performed with the same;’ but the earliest recorded process in electro-gilding is probably that contained in a letter from Brugnatelli to Van Mons1614, in which he states that he had deposited a film of gold on ten silver medals by bringing them into communication by means of a steel wire with the negative pole of a voltaic pile, and keeping them one after the other immersed in ammoniuret of gold newly made and well-saturated. This announcement of a process identical with those now extensively used, attracted no attention at the time it was made, and no further experiments on the application of electricity to the deposition of metals for the purposes of the arts were published until the year 1830, when Mr. E. Davy read a paper before the Royal Society, in which he distinctly states that he had gilded, silvered, coppered and tinned various metals by the voltaic battery1615. The experiments of Brugnatelli and Davy were however completely lost sight of, and the art may be said to date its origin from the period when the late Professor Daniell described his constant battery. Since that time the art has continued to advance most rapidly, either in the perfecting of the apparatus or in the pointing out of more suitable salts of gold and silver, from which the metals might be precipitated. Among those who have contributed to its advancement we may particularly instance the names of our countrymen, Woolrich, Spencer, Jordan, Mason, Murray, Smee, Elkington, Fox Talbot, and Tuck. Nearly all the gilt articles manufactured at Birmingham are now gilded by the process patented by Mr. Elkington, in which, after the articles have been cleansed by a weak acid, they are placed in a hot solution of nitro-muriate of gold, to which a considerable excess of bicarbonate of potash has been added; in the course of a few seconds they thus receive a beautiful and permanent coating of gold.]
29
Lib. xxxiii. cap. 6.
30
Vit. lib. vii. c. 8.
31
In Origin. lib. xvi. c. 18.
32
De Aurilegio, præcipue in Rheno. Argent. 1776.
33
Historia naturale e morale delle Indie. Venetia, 1596.
34
The same account as that given by Acosta may be seen in Garcilasso de la Vega, Commentarios reales; Lisboa 1609, p. 225; in Rycaut’s English translation, London 1688, fol. i. p. 347; and in De Laet, Novus Orbis, Lugd. Bat. 1633, fol. p. 447.
35
Vol. i. p. 414.
36
Hakluyt’s Collection of Voyages. London, 1600, fol. vol. iii. p. 466.
37
See La France littéraire. Paris, 1769, 2 vols. 8vo, vol. ii. p. 410.
38
One may see in Homer’s Odyssey, book iii. v. 432, the process employed for gilding in this manner, the horns of the cow brought by Nestor as an offering to Minerva.
39
Epist. 115.
40
La Sicilia inventrice. Palermo, 1704, 4to.
41
“As we passed, we saw everywhere abundance of flowers, such as the narcissus, hyacinth, and those called by the Turks tulipan, not without great astonishment, on account of the time of the year, as it was then the middle of winter, a season unfriendly to flowers. Greece abounds with narcissuses and hyacinths, which have a remarkably fragrant smell: it is, indeed, so strong as to hurt those who are not accustomed to it. The tulipan, however, have little or no smell, but are admired for their beauty and variety of their colour. The Turks pay great attention to the cultivation of flowers; nor do they hesitate, though by no means extravagant, to expend several aspers for one that is beautiful. I received several presents of these flowers, which cost me not a little.” —
42
See some account of them in Memoriæ populorum ad Danubium by Stritter.
43
The
44
See Martini Lexicon Philologicum, and Megiseri Diction. Turcico-Lat., where the word
45
Balbini Miscellanea Bohemiæ, p. 100.
46
Gesneri Epistolæ Medicinales. Tiguri, 1577, 8vo, p. 79 and 80.
47
Vita Peirescii, auctore Gassendo. 1655, 4to, p. 80.
48
Hakluyt says, “And now within these four years there have been brought into England from Vienna in Austria, divers kind of flowers called tulipas, and those and others procured thither a little before, from Constantinople, by an excellent man, Carolus Clusius.” See Biographia Britannica, ii. p. 164. [Gerarde in his Herbal, 1597, speaks of the Tulip in the following manner: – “My loving friend Mr. James Garret, a curious searcher of simples, and learned apothecary in London, hath undertaken to find out, if it were possible, the infinite sorts by diligent sowing of their seeds, and by planting those of his own propagation, and by others received from his friends beyond the seas for the space of twenty years, not being yet able to attain to the end of his travail, for that each new year bringeth forth new plants of sundry colours not before seen; all of which, to describe particularly, were to roll Sisyphus’ stone, or number the sands.”]
49
This word was coined by Menage.
50
The principal works in which an account of this Tulipomania is to be found are, – Eerste Tzamenspraak tuschen Waermondt en Gaargoed nopens deopkomst en ondergang van Flora. Amsterdam, 1643, 12mo. – Meterani Novi, or New History of the Netherlands, part fourth. Amsterdam, 1640, folio, p. 518, from which Marquard, De Jure Mercatorum, p. 181, has taken his information. – Naauwkeurige beschryving der Aardgewassen, door Abraham Munting. Leyden en Utrecht, 1696, folio, p. 907. – De Koophandel van Amsterdam, door Le Long, ii. p. 307. – Le Negoce d’Amsterdam, par J. P. Ricard. A Rouen, 1723, 4to, p. 11. – Breslauer Samlung von Natur- und Kunst-Geschichten, 1721, May, p. 521. – Francisci Schaubühne, vol. ii. p. 639. – Tenzel, Monatliche Unterredungen, 1690, November, p. 1039. – Année Littéraire, 1773, xv. p. 16. – Martini Zeiler Miscellanea, p. 29. – Christ. Funcii Orbis Politicus, p. 879.
51
A perit is a small weight less than a grain. – Trans.
52
[How well the author’s remarks apply to the recent mania in railway scrip!]
53
In the year 1769, the dearest kinds in England were
Nicholson’s Journal, July 1800, p. 179.
Philosophical Magazine, 1805.
Phil. Trans. 1831, p. 147.