the Book of Genesis we hear of the “whole Land of Havilah where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good.” Almost everything seems to have been made of gold; lamps, tongs, candlesticks, snuffers, censers, spoons, to say nothing of articles of adornment. “Job” had a quantity of the precious metal, for every one gave him “an ear-ring of gold.” As to Solomon he made the Altars and Tables of gold, 200 targets and 300 shields of gold; and Daniel wore a chain of gold round his neck. Then from most early times rings were made of gold—marriage and betrothal rings. Pythagoras, in one of his maxims, says, “Never wear too tight a ring”; this has been interpreted rightly or wrongly as a warning against matrimony. If, then, so much can be done with gold, it is not to be wondered at that men in later ages sought to transmute it from the other metals; but for the present let me leave my alchymical researches. I have said that marriage or
