[1] "Employ" comes through Fr. from Lat. _implicare_, to enfold, Late
Lat. to direct upon something.
EMPOLI, a town of Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Florence, from
which it is 20 m. W. by S. by rail. Pop. (1901) 7005 (town); 20,301
(commune). It is situated 89 ft. above sea-level, to the S. of the Arno.
The principal church, the Collegiata, or Pieve di S. Andrea, founded in
1093, still preserves the lower part of the original arcaded facade in
black, white and coloured marble. The works of art which it once
contained are most of them preserved in a gallery close by. Some of the
other churches contain interesting works of art. The principal square is
surrounded by old houses with arcades. The painter Jacopo Chimenti
(Jacopo da Empoli), 1554-1640, was born here. Empoli is on the main
railway line from Florence to Pisa, and is the point of divergence of a
line to Siena.
EMPORIA, a city and the county-seat of Lyon county, Kansas, U.S.A., on
the Neosho river, about 60 m. S.W. of Topeka. Pop. (1890) 7551; (1900)
8223, of whom 686 were foreign-born and 663 were negroes; (1910 U.S.
census) 9058. It is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the
Missouri, Kansas & Texas railways. The city has a Carnegie library, and
is the seat of the state normal school and of the College of Emporia
(Presbyterian; 1883). Emporia's industrial interests are mainly centred
in commerce with the surrounding farming region; but there are small
flour mills, machine shops, foundries and other manufacturing
establishments,--in 1905 the value of the factory product was $571,601.
The municipality owns and operates the water-works and the
electric-lighting plant. Emporia was settled in 1856 and was chartered
as a city in 1870. The Emporia _Gazette_, established in 1890, was
purchased in 1894 by William Allen White (b. 1868), a native of Emporia,
who took over the editorship and made a great stir in 1896 by his
editorial entitled "What's the matter with Kansas?"; he also wrote
several volumes of excellent short stories, particularly _The Court of
Boyville_ (1889), _Stratagems and Spoils_ (1901) and _In Our Town_
(1906).
EMPORIUM (a Latin adaptation of the Gr. [Greek: emporion], from [Greek:
en], in, and stem of [Greek: poreuesthai], to travel for purpose of
trade) a trade-centre such as a commercial city, to which buyers and
dealers resort for transaction of business from all parts of the world.
The word is often applied to a large shop.
EMPSON, SIR RICHARD (d. 1510), minister of Henry VII., king of England,
was a son of Peter Empson, an influential inhabitant of Towcester.
Educated as a lawyer he soon attained considerable success in his
profession, and in 1491 was one of the members of parliament for
Northamptonshire and speaker of the House of Commons. Early in the reign
of Henry VII. he became associated with Edmund Dudley (q.v.) in carrying
out the king's rigorous and arbitrary system of taxation, and in
consequence he became very unpopular. Retaining the royal favour,
however, he was made a knight in 1504, and was soon high steward of the
university of Cambridge, and chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; but
his official career ended with Henry's death in April 1509. Thrown into
prison by order of the new king, Henry VIII., he was charged, like
Dudley, with the crime of constructive treason, and was convicted at
Northampton in October 1509. His attainder by the parliament followed,
and he was beheaded on the 17th or 18th of August 1510. Empson left, so
far as is known, a family of two sons and four daughters, and about 1513
his estates were restored to his elder son, Thomas.
See Francis Bacon, _History of Henry VII_., edited by J.R. Lumby
(Cambridge, 1881); and J.S. Brewer, _The Reign of Henry VIII_., edited
by J. Gairdner (London, 1884).
EMPYEMA (from Gr. [Greek: en], within, and [Greek: pyon], pus), a term
in medicine applied to an accumulation of purulent fluid within the
cavity of the pleura (see LUNG: _Surgery_).
EMPYREAN (from the Med. Lat. _empyreus_, an adaptation of the Gr.
[Greek: erpnros], in or on the fire, [Greek: pyr]), the place in the
highest heaven, which in ancient cosmologies was supposed to be occupied
by the element of fire. It was thus used as a name for the firmament,
and in Christian literature for the dwelling-place of God and the
blessed, and as the source of light. The word is used both as a
substantive and as an adjective. Having the same Greek origin are the
scientific words "empyreuma" and "empyreumatic," applied to the
characteristic smell of burning or charring vegetable or animal matter.
EMS, a river of Germany, rising on the south slope of the Teutoburger
Wald, at an altitude of 358 ft., and flowing generally north-west and
north through Westphalia and Hanover to the east side of the Dollart,
immediately south of Emden. After passing through the Dollart the
navigable stream bifurcates, the eastern Ems going to the east, and the
western Ems to the west, of the island of Borkum to the North Sea.
Length, 200 m.
Between 1892 and 1899 the river was canalized along its right bank for a
distance of 43 m. At the same time, and as part of the same general
plan, a canal, the DORTMUND-EMS CANAL, was dug to connect the river
(from Munster) with Herne in the Westphalian coal-field. At
Henrichenburg a branch from Herne (5 m. long) connects with another
branch from Dortmund (10-1/2 m. long). Another branch, from Olfen (north
of Dortmund), connects with Duisburg, and so with the Rhine. There is,
however, a difference in elevation of 46 ft. between the two branches
first named, and vessels are transferred from the one to the other by
means of a huge lift. The canal, which was constructed to carry small
steamers and boats up to 220 ft. in length and 750 tons burden, measures
169 m. in length, of which 108-1/2 m. were actually dug, and cost
altogether L3,728,750. The surface width throughout is 98-1/2 ft., the
bottom width 59 ft., and the depth 8-1/6 ft.
See Victor Kurs, "Die kunstlichen Wasserstrassen des deutschen
Reichs," in _Geog. Zeitschrift_ (1898), pp. 601-617 and 665-694; and
_Deutsche Rundschau f. Geog. und Stat_. (1898), pp. 130-131.
EMS, a town and watering-place of Germany, in the Prussian province of
Hesse-Nassau, romantically situated on both banks of the Lahn, in a
valley surrounded by wooded mountains and vine-clad hills, 11 m. E. from
Coblenz on the railway to Cassel and Berlin. Pop. 6500. It has two
Evangelical, a Roman Catholic, an English and a Russian church. There is
some mining industry (silver and lead). Ems is one of the most
delightful and fashionable watering-places of Europe. Its waters--hot
alkaline springs about twenty in number--are used both for drinking and
bathing, and are efficacious in chronic nervous disorders, feminine
complaints and affections of the liver and respiratory organs. On the
right bank of the river lies the Kursaal with pretty gardens. A stone
let into the promenade close by marks the spot where, on the 13th of
July 1870, King William of Prussia had the famous interview with the
French ambassador Count Benedetti (q.v.) which resulted in the war of
1870-1871. A funicular railway runs up to the Malberg (1000 ft.), where
is a sanatorium and whence extensive views are obtained over the Rhine
valley. Ems is largely frequented in the summer months by visitors from
all parts of the world--the numbers amounting to about 11,000
annually--and many handsome villas have been erected for their
accommodation. In August 1786 Ems was the scene of the conference of the
delegates of the four German archbishops, known as the congress of Ems,
which issued (August 25) in the famous joint pronouncement, known as the
Punctation of Ems, against the interference of the papacy in the affairs
of the Catholic Church in Germany (see FEBRONIANISM).
See Vogler, Ems, _seine Heilquellen, Kureinrichtungen_, &c. (Ems,
1888); and Hess, _Zur Geschichte der Stadt Ems_ (Ems, 1895).
EMSER, JEROME, or HIERONYMUS (1477-1527), antagonist of Luther, was born
of a good family at Ulm on the 20th of March 1477. He studied Greek at
Tubingen and jurisprudence at Basel, and after acting for three years as
chaplain and secretary to Raymond Peraudi, cardinal of Gurk, he began
lecturing on classics in 1504 at Erfurt, where Luther may have been
among his audience. In the same year he became secretary to Duke George
of Albertine Saxony, who, unlike his cousin Frederick the Wise, the
elector of Ernestine Saxony, remained the stanchest defender of Roman
Catholicism among the princes of northern Germany. Duke George at this
time was bent on securing the canonization of Bishop Benno of Meissen,
and at his instance Emser travelled through Saxony and Bohemia in search
of materials for a life of Benno, which he subsequently published in
German and Latin. In pursuit of the same object he made an unsuccessful
visit to Rome in 1510. Meanwhile he had also been lecturing on classics
at Leipzig, but gradually turned his attention to theology and canon
law. A prebend at Dresden (1509) and another at Meissen, which he
obtained through Duke George's influence, gave him means and leisure to
pursue his studies.
At first Emser was on the side of the reformers, but like his patron he
desired a practical reformation of the clergy without any doctrinal
breach with the past or the church; and his liberal sympathies were
mainly humanistic, like those of Erasmus and others who parted company
with Luther after 1519. As late as that year Luther referred to him as
"Emser noster," but the disputation at Leipzig in that year completed
the breach between them. Emser warned his Bohemian friends against
Luther, and Luther retorted with an attack on Emser which outdid in
scurrility all his polemical writings. Emser, who was further embittered
by an attack of the Leipzig students, imitated Luther's violence, and
asserted that Luther's whole crusade originated in nothing more than
enmity to the Dominicans, Luther's reply was to burn Emser's books along
with Leo X.'s bull of excommunication.
Emser next, in 1521, published an attack on Luther's "Appeal to the
German Nobility," and eight works followed from his pen in the
controversy, in which he defended the Roman doctrine of the Mass and the
primacy of the pope. At Duke George's instance he prepared, in 1523, a
German translation of Henry VIII.'s "Assertio Septem Sacramentorum
contra Lutherum," and criticized Luther's "New Testament." He also
entered into a controversy with Zwingli. He took an active part in
organizing a reformed Roman Catholic Church in Germany, and in 1527
published a German version of the New Testament as a counterblast to
Luther's. He died on the 8th of November in that year and was buried at
Dresden.
Emser was a vigorous controversialist, and next to Eck the most eminent
of the German divines who stood by the old church. But he was hardly a
great scholar; the errors he detected in Luther's New Testament were for
the most part legitimate variations from the Vulgate, and his own
version is merely Luther's adapted to Vulgate requirements.
Bibliography.--Waldau, _Nachricht von Hieronymus Emsers Leben und
Schriften_ (Anspach, 1783); Kawerau, _Hieronymus Emser_ (Halle, 1898);
_Akten und Briefe zur Kirchenpolitik Herzog Georgs von Sachsen_
(Leipzig, 1905); _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, vi. 96-98 (1877).
All histories of the Reformation in Germany contain notices of Emser;
see especially Friedensburg, _Beitrage zum Briefwechsel der
katholischen Gelehrten Deutschlands im Reformationszeitalter_.
(A. F. P.)
ENAMEL (formerly "amel," derived through the Fr. _amail, esmal, esmail_,
from a Latin word _smaltum_, first found in a 9th-century life of Leo
IV.), a term, strictly speaking, given to the hard vitreous compound,
which is "fused" upon the surface of metallic objects either for the
purpose of decoration or utility. This compound is a form of glass made
of silica, minium and potash, which is stained by the chemical
combination of various metallic oxides whilst in a melted condition in
the crucible. This strict application of the term was widened to signify
the metal object coated with enamel, so that to-day the term "an enamel"
generally implies a work of art in enamel upon metal. The composition of
the substance enamel which is used upon metal does not vary to any great
extent from the enamels employed upon pottery and faience. But they
differ in this respect, that the pottery enamel is usually applied to
the "biscuit" surface of the ware in a raw state; that is, the compound
has not been previously "run down" or vitrified in the crucible by heat,
as is the case with enamelling upon metal, although, in most of the
enamelled iron advertisement tablets, the enamel is in the raw state and
is treated in a similar manner to that employed upon pottery.
Examination of the enamels upon brick of the Assyrians shows that they
were applied unvitrified. It was upon pottery and brick that the ancient
Egyptians and Assyrians achieved their greatest work in enamelling. For
as yet no work of such magnificence as the great enamelled walls of the
palace of Rameses III. at Tell el-Yehudia in the Delta of the Nile, or
the palace of Nimrod in Babylon, has been discovered upon metal of any
kind. But there were gold ornaments and jewelry enamelled of noble
design in opaque turquoise, cobalt, emerald green and purple, some of
which can be seen at the British Museum and the Louvre. An example is
shown in Plate I. fig. 3.
In the subsequent Greek and Roman civilizations enamel was also applied
to articles of personal adornment. Many pieces of jewelry, exquisite in
workmanship, have been found. But a greater application was made of it
by the Greek sculptors in the 4th and 5th centuries B.C. For we find, in
many instances, that not only were the eyes made of enamel--which
(artistically speaking) is a somewhat doubtful manner of employing
it,--as in the fine bronze head found at Anticythera (Cerigotto) in
1902, but in the colossal figure of Zeus for the temple at Olympia made
by Pheidias the gold drapery was gorgeously enamelled with figures and
flowers. This wonderful work by the greatest sculptor the world has ever
seen was destroyed, as so many priceless works of art in enamel have
been: doubtless on account of the precious metal upon which they were
made. It was in all probability the crowning triumph of a long series of
essays in this material. The art of ancient Rome lacked the inspiration
of Greece, being mainly confined to copying Greek forms and style, and
in the case of enamelling it did not depart from this attitude. But the
Roman and Etruscan glass has many beautiful qualities of form and colour
that do not seem entirely borrowed, and the enamel work upon them so far
as we can discern is of graceful design and rich colour. No doubt, were
it not, as has been remarked, for the fact that enamelling was generally
done upon gold and silver, there would still be many works to testify to
the art of that period. Such as there are, however, show a rare
appreciation of enamel as a beautiful material. With the decline of this
civilization the art of enamelling probably died out. For it has ever
been one of those exquisite arts which exist only under the sunshine of
an opulent luxurious time or sheltered from the rude winds of a poorer
age by the affluence of patrons. The next time we hear of it is in an
oft-quoted passage (c. A.D. 240) from the writings of the great sophist
Philostratus, who says (_Icones_, i. 28):--"It is said that the
barbarians in the ocean pour these colours into bronze moulds, that the
colours become as hard as stone, preserving the designs,"--a more or
less inaccurate description of the process of _champleve_. This has been
understood (from an interpretation given to a passage in the commentary
on it by Olearius) to refer to the Celts of the British Islands. It also
goes to prove that enamelling was not practised at this day in Greece.
We have no British enamels to show so early as this, but belonging to a
later period, from the 6th to the 9th century, a number of the finest
gold and bronze ornaments, horse trappings, shields, fibulae and ciboria
have been discovered of Celtic and Saxon make. The Saxon work has
nothing to show so exquisitely wrought as that found in Ireland, where
one or two pieces are to be seen now in the Dublin Museum, notably the
Ardagh chalice and some gold brooches. In the chalice the enamel is of a
minute inlaid character, and appears to have been made first in the form
of a multi-colour bead, which was fused to the surface of its setting,
and then polished down. Many of the pieces seem to have been made after
this fashion, which does not speak very highly of the technical
knowledge of enamelling, but it is none the less true enamelling of an
elementary character. The shield at the British Museum has an inlay of
red enamel which is remarkable in its quality. For centuries such a
fine opaque red has not been discovered. An example of Irish work is
shown in Plate II. fig. 10.
From Ireland the art was transferred to Byzantium, which is to be seen
by the close resemblance of method, style, design and colour. The style
and design changed in course of time, but the craft remained. It was at
Byzantium that it flourished for several centuries.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Byzantine Cloisonne Cross (c. 11th century)
(South Kensington Museum).]
The finest work we know of belonging to this period is the Pala d'Oro at
St Mark's, Venice, believed to have been brought from Constantinople to
Venice about 1105. This magnificent altar-piece is in _cloisonne_
enamel. A typical example is the ciborium and chalice belonging to the
South Kensington loan collection. The design entirely covers the whole
of the surface in one rich mass composed of circular or vesica-shaped
medallions filled with sacred subjects and foliated scrolls. These are
engraved and enamelled, and the metal bands of the scrolls and figures
are engraved and gilt. The characteristic quality of the colour scheme
is that it is composed almost wholly of primaries. Red, blue and yellow
predominate, with a little white and black. Occasionally the
secondaries, green and purple, are used, but through the whole period of
Byzantine enamelling there is a total absence of what to-day is termed
"subtle colouring." The arrangement of the enamels is also distinct, in
that the divisions of the colours are not always made by the cloison,
but are frequently laid in side by side without the adjoining colours
mingling or running together whilst being melted. For instance, in a
leaf pattern or in the drapery, the dress may be cobalt, heightened with
turquoise or green. Thus it is interesting to observe that the artist
employed the metal dividing lines frequently for the sake of aesthetic
result, and was not much hampered by technical difficulties. This was
the rule when opaque enamels were used. It is also worthy of remark that
these opaque enamels differ from those in common use to-day, in that
they are not nearly so opaque. This quality, together with a dull,
instead of a highly polished surface, gives a much softer appearance to
the enamels. Again, the whole tone of the enamels is darker and richer.
Many examples of Byzantine work (see fig. 1.) are to be seen in the
public and private art collections throughout Europe. They are
principally upon ecclesiastical objects, missal covers, croziers,
chalices, ciboria, pyx, candlesticks, crosses and tabernacles. In most
instances the enamels are made in separate little plates rudely fastened
with nails, screws or rivets to a metal or wooden foundation.
Theophilus, a monk of the 13th century, describes the process of
enamelling as it was understood by the Byzantines of his time, which
probably differed but little from earlier methods. The design and
drawing of the figures in Byzantine enamels is similar to the mosaic and
carving. The figures are treated entirely as decorations, with scarcely
ever the least semblance of expression, although here and there an
intention of piety or sorrow is to be descried through the awkward
postures in which they are placed. In spite of this, the sense of
decorative design, the simplicity of conception, the strength of the
general character, and the richness of the colour, places this period as
one of the finest which the art of enamelling has seen, and it leads us
to lay stress upon the principle that the simplest methods in design and
manipulation attain a higher end than those which are elaborate and
intricate. It might be asserted with truth that this style never arrived
at the degree of delicacy and refinement of later styles. But the
refinement was often at the expense of higher qualities.
The next great application of these kinds of enamelling was at Cologne,
for there we find not only the renowned work of Nicolas of Verdun, the
altar front at Klosterneuberg, which consists of fifty plates in
_champleve_ enamel, but in that Rhenish province there are many shrines
of magnificent conception. From here the secrets of the craft were taken
to Limoges, where the greatest activity was displayed, as numerous
examples are found throughout England, France and Spain, which no doubt
were made there (see Plate I. fig. 6.) But no new method or distinct
advance is to be noticed, during these successive revivals at Byzantium,
Cologne or Limoges, and it is to early 14th-century Italy that we owe
one of the most beautiful developments, that of the process subsequently
called _basse-taille_, which signifies a low-cut relief upon which
transparent enamel is fused.
In this process enamelling passed from a decorative to a fine art. For
it demanded the highest knowledge of an artist with the consummate skill
of both sculptor and enameller. Witness the superb gold cup, called the
King's Cup, now in the British Museum, and the silver cup at King's
Lynn. The first is in an excellent state of preservation, as it is upon
gold, but the latter, like most of the ancient enamelling upon silver,
has lost most of its enamel. This was due--as the present writer
believes after much experiment--to the impurity of the silver employed.
The King's Cup is one of the finest works in enamelling extant. It
consists of a gold cup and cover, hammered out of pure gold; and around
the bowl, base and cover there are bands of figures, illustrating the
scenes from the life of St Agnes. The hands and faces are of pale
jasper, which over the carved gold gives a beautiful flesh tone. The
draperies are in most resplendent ruby, sapphire, emerald, ivory, black
and orange. The stem was subsequently altered by an additional piece
inserted and enamelled with Tudor roses. It is a work of the 13th
century, and belonged to Jean, duc de Berry, who gave it to his nephew,
Charles VI. of France, in 1391. It afterwards came into the possession
of the kings of England, from Henry VI. to James I., who gave it to Don
Juan Velasco, constable of Castile. It was purchased by subscription
with the aid of the treasury for the British Museum.
Other well-known pieces are the silver horn in the possession of the
marquess of Aylesbury, and the crozier of William of Wykeham at New
College, Oxford. The discovery about the same time of the process called
_plique-a-jour_ forms another most interesting and beautiful
development. Owing to the difficulty of its manufacture and its extreme
fragility there are very few examples left. One of the finest specimens
is now at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington. It is in the
form of two bands of emerald green enamel which decorate a silver
beaker. They are in the form of little stained glass windows, the
cloisons forming (as it were) the leads. These fine cloisons and shapes
are most correct in form, and the whole piece shows a perfection of
craftsmanship rarely equalled.
The end of the 15th century saw a development in enamelling which was
not only remarkable, but revolutionary in its method. For until then the
whole theory of enamelling had been that it relied upon the enclosing
edges of the metal or the cloison to hold it to the metal ground and in
part to preserve it in the shape of the pattern, much in the same way as
a setting holds a stone or a jewel. All the enamel before this date had
been sunk into cells or cloisons. Two discoveries were made; first, that
enamels could be made which require no enclosing ribbon of metal, but
that merely the enamel should be fused on both sides of the metal
object; secondly, that after an enamel had been fused to a surface of
metal, another could be superimposed and fused to the first layer
without any danger of separation from each or from the metal ground. It
is true that such processes had been employed upon glass on which enamel
had been applied, as well as upon pottery; and it is probably due to the
influence of a knowledge of both enamelling upon metal and upon glass or
pottery that the discovery was made.
In most of these enamel paintings the subject was laid on with a white
enamel upon a dark ground. The white was modulated; so that possessing a
slight degree of translucency, it was grey in the thin parts and white
in the thick. Thus was obtained a certain amount of light and shade.
This gave the process called _grisaille_. But strange to say, it was not
until a later period that this was practised alone, and then the
modelling of the figures and draperies became very elaborate. At first
it was only done in a slight degree, just sufficiently to give
expression and to add to the richness of the form. For the enamellers
were thinking of a plate upon which to put their wonderful colours, and
not only of form. The painting in white was therefore invariably
coloured with enamels. Probably the earliest painter in enamel was
Nardon Penicaud, many of whose works (one of them, dated 1503, is in the
Cluny Museum) have been preserved with great care. He had many
followers, the most distinguished of whom was Leonard Limosin (i.e. of
Limoges). He excelled in portraiture. Examples of his work (between 1532
and 1574) are to be found in most of the larger public and private
collections. Leonard Limosin and his Limoges contemporaries were very
largely addicted to the employment of foil, which became too largely
used, thus spoiling their otherwise fine serious work.
The family of Jean Penicaud, Jean Court de Vigier, Pierre Raymond and
Pierre Courteys were all great names of artists who excelled in the
_grisaille_ process. _Grisaille_ is similar to _pate-sur-pate_ in
pottery, and depends for its attractive quality entirely upon form and
composition. No comparison should be made with enamels in colour, for
they occupy a different category--similar to cameo.
The casket shown in Plate II. fig. 9 is by Jean Penicaud. It is a fine
example of the enamelling in this style, very beautiful in colour. The
hands and faces are in opaque white enamel; the draperies, garlands and
flowers are in transparent green, turquoise blue, purple and cobalt over
foil. The background is in transparent violet over white enamel ground,
which is _seme_ with gold stars. The draperies are also heightened with
gold.
One of the most marvellous pieces of brilliant craft is the missal cover
(Plate I. fig. 5) at the South Kensington Museum, said to have belonged
to Henrietta Maria, queen of Charles I. The subjects are the "Creation
of Adam and Eve" and the "Fountain of Youth." It is about 4 in. by 7
when opened out. The enamel is encrusted upon the figures, ornament and
flowers which are beaten up in pure gold into high relief. The
extraordinary minuteness and skill of handling, and the extreme
brilliancy of the enamels, which are as brilliant to-day as on the day
they were made, together form one of the unique specimens of art
craftsmanship of the world. To the subdued taste of to-day, however, the
effect is tawdry. The conception and design are also alike unworthy of
the execution.
Since the Assyrian and Egyptian civilizations, there has been a
succession of luxurious developments followed by lapses into the decline
and death of the art of enamelling upon metals. In each revival there
has been something added to that which was known and practised before.
The last revival took place five hundred years ago, accompanying the
rebirth of learning and the arts; but after flourishing for over a
century, the art gradually fell into disuse, and remained so until the
recent revival and further development. The development consists, first,
in the more complete knowledge of the technical processes, following
upon the great advances which science has made; and secondly, in a finer
and more subtly artistic treatment of them. The advance in technical
knowledge comprises greater facility and perfection in the production of
the substance enamel, and its subsequent application to metal
surfaces; more intimate knowledge of metals and their alloys to which it
is applied, and greater ease in obtaining them from the metalliferous
ores and reducing them to suitable dimensions and surfaces. For
instance, it is now a simple matter to obtain perfectly pure copper by
means of electricity. Again, formerly a flat sheet of metal was obtained
by hammering, which involved an infinite amount of hard labour, whereas
it is accomplished to-day with ease by means of flatting and rolling
mills: i.e. after the metal has been obtained from the ore in the form
of an ingot, it is stretched equally to any degree of thinness by steel
rollers. Further, the furnaces have been greatly improved by the
introduction of gas and electricity as the heating power, instead of the
wood or charcoal employed.
[Illustration: Plate I.
Fig. 3.--GRAECO-BACTRIAN GOLD AMULET, SHOWING THE GOLD STRIP FOR
SETTING STONES, WHICH EXEMPLIFIES THE MANNER IN WHICH THE CLOISONS ARE
SOLDERED FOR CLOISONNE.
Fig. 4.--CHINESE CLOISONNE BOWL.
Fig. 5.--MISSAL COVER, ENCRUSTED ENAMEL. (French, 17th century.
Debased style.)
Fig. 6.--BOX IN COPPER PARTLY ENAMELLED IN OPAQUE ENAMELS CHAMPLEVE
WITH COATS OF ARMS. (13th century, English or German. South Kensington
Museum.)
Fig. 7.--PRAYER-BOOK COVER IN ENAMEL AND SILVER GILT, SET WITH RUBIES
AND EMERALDS, BY ALEXANDER FISHER. (Size, closed, 4 X 3 in.)]
[Illustration: Plate II.
Fig. 8.--OVERMANTEL (24 X 18-1/2 in.) IN CHAMPLEVE ENAMEL ON SILVER.
SUBJECT: THE GARDEN OF THE SOUL. BY ALEXANDER FISHER.