d in the country of
Havilah, where the rivers Euphrates and Tigris unite and discharge their
waters into the Persian Gulf. Gold is never found in mass, in veins, or
lodes; it is interspersed, in threads or flakes, throughout quartz or
other rocks. It is the only metal of a yellow color; it is easily
chrystallizable, and always assumes one or more of the symmetrical
shapes,--such as the cube or octahedron. It affords a resplendent
polish, and may be exposed, for any length of time, to the atmosphere
without suffering change, and is remarkable for its beauty. Its
malleability is such that a cubic inch will cover a surface of eighteen
hundred square feet; and its ductility is such that a cube of four
inches could be drawn into a wire which would extend around the earth.

Gold in its relative value to silver has varied greatly at different
periods.

In the days of the patriarch Abraham, it was one to eight; B.C. 1000, it
was one to twelve; B.C. 500, it was one to thirteen; at the commencement
of the Christian era, it was one to nine; A.D. 500, it was one to
eighteen; in 1100, it was one to eight; in 1400, it was one to eleven;
in 1545, it was one to six; in 1551 it was one to two; in 1600, it was
one to ten; in 1627, it was one to thirteen; in 1700, it was one to
fifteen and one-half; it held the latter ratio, with but slight
variation, until 1872, when it began to rise, and in 1876 it rose to one
to twenty; it soon afterwards gradually declined, and now stands one to
nineteen and one-half. The supply of silver beyond a legitimate demand
for financial purposes, the decrease of the export of silver to the
East, and the demonetization of silver by the principal countries of
Europe, have induced a tendency in the ratio of the two metals to again
advance. Gold was extremely abundant in ancient times. It was
plenteously furnished by the rivers of Asia. The sands of Pactolus, the
golden fleece conquered by the Argonauts, the gold of Ophir, the fable
of King Midas, all tend to show the eastern origin of gold. It was
abundant in Cabul and Little Thibet. It abounded in the empire of the
Pharaohs, as is attested by the traces of mining operations, now
exhausted, and by the multitude of objects of gold contained in their
tombs. Dennis ("History of the Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria," vol.
II, p. 50) states that "gold ornaments, whose beauty and richness are
amazing, abound in the tombs of the Etruscans, who were undoubtedly one
of