GOLDAST AB HAIMINSFELD

goldast ab haiminsfeld, melchior (1576-1635), swiss writer, an industrious though uncritical collector of documents relating to the medieval history and constitution of germany, was born on the 6th of january 1576 (some say 1578), of poor protestant parents, near bischofszell, in the swiss canton of thurgau. his university career, first at ingolstadt (1585-1586), then at altdorf near nuremberg (1597-1598), was cut short by his poverty, from which he suffered all his life, and which was the main cause of his wanderings. in 1598 he found a rich protector in the person of bartholomaeus schobinger, of st gall, by whose liberality he was enabled to study at st gall (where he first became interested in medieval documents, which abound in the conventual library) and elsewhere in switzerland. before his patron's death (1604) he became (1603) secretary to henry, duke of bouillon, with whom he went to heidelberg and frankfort. but in 1604 he entered the service of the baron von hohensax, then the possessor of the precious ms. volume of old german poems, returned from paris to heidelberg in 1888, and, partially published by goldast. soon he was back in switzerland, and by 1606 in frankfort, earning his living by preparing and correcting books for the press. in 1611 he was appointed councillor at the court of saxe-weimar, and in 1615 he entered the service of the count of schaumburg at buckeburg. in 1624 he was forced by the war to retire to bremen; there in 1625 he deposited his library in that of the town (his books were bought by the town in 1646, but many of his mss. passed to queen christina of sweden, and hence are now in the vatican library), he himself returning to frankfort. in 1627 he became councillor to the emperor and to the archbishop-elector of treves, and in 1633 passed to the service of the landgrave of hesse-darmstadt. he died at giessen early in 1635. his immense industry is shown by the fact that his biographer, senckenburg, gives a list of 65 works published or written by him, some extending to several substantial volumes. among the more important are his _paraeneticorum veterum pars i._ (1604), which contained the old german tales of _kunig tyrol von schotten_, the _winsbeke_ and the _winsbekin; suevicarum rerum scriptores_ (frankfort, 1605, new edition, 1727); _rerum alamannicarum scriptores_ (frankfort, 1606, new edition by senckenburg, 1730); _constitutiones imperiales_ (frankfort, 1607-1613, 4 vols.); _monarchia s. romani imperii_ (hanover and frankfort, 1612-1614, 3 vols.); _commentarii de regni bohemiae juribus_ (frankfort, 1627, new edition by schmink, 1719). he also edited de thou's _history_ (1609-1610) and willibald pirckheimer's works (1610). in 1688 a volume of letters addressed to him by his learned friends was published. _life_ by senckenburg, prefixed to his 1730 work. see also r. von raumer's _geschichte d. germanischen philologie_ (munich, 1870). (w. a. b. c.) goldbeating.--the art of goldbeating is of great antiquity, being referred to by homer; and pliny (_n.h._ 33. 19) states that 1 oz. of gold was extended to 750 leaves, each leaf being four fingers (about 3 in.) square; such a leaf is three times as thick as the ordinary leaf gold of the present time. in all probability the art originated among the eastern nations, where the working of gold and the use of gold ornaments have been distinguishing characteristics from the most remote periods. on egyptian mummy cases specimens of original leaf-gilding are met with, where the gold is so thin that it resembles modern gilding (q.v.). the minimum thickness to which gold can be beaten is not known with certainty. according to mersenne (1621) 1 oz. was spread out over 105 sq. ft.; reaumur (1711) obtained 146-1/2 sq. ft.; other values are 189 sq. ft. and 300 sq. ft. its malleability is greatly diminished by the presence of other metals, even in very minute quantity. in practice the average degree of tenuity to which the gold is reduced is not nearly so great as the last example quoted above. a "book of gold" containing 25 leaves measuring each 3-1/4 in., equal to an area of 264 sq. in., generally weighs from 4 to 5 grains. the gold used by the goldbeater is variously alloyed, according to the colour required. fine gold is commonly supposed to be incapable of being reduced to thin leaves. this, however, is not the case, although its use for ordinary purposes is undesirable on account of its greater cost. it also adheres on one part of a leaf touching another, thus causing a waste of labour by the leaves being spoiled; but for work exposed to the weather it is much preferable, as it is more durable, and does not tarnish or change colour. the external gilding on many public buildings, e.g. the albert memorial in kensington gardens, london, is done with pure gold. the following is a list of the principal classes of leaf recognized and ordinarily prepared by british beaters, with the proportions of alloy per oz. they contain. +---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | |proportion |proportion |proportion | | name of leaf. | of gold. | of silver.| of copper.| +---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ | | grains. | grains. | grains. | | red | 456-460 | .. | 20-24 | | pale red | 464 | .. | 16 | | extra deep | 456 | 12 | 12 | | deep | 444 | 24 | 12 | | citron | 440 | 30 | 10 | | yellow | 408 | 72 | .. | | pale yellow | 384 | 96 | .. | | lemon | 360 | 120 | .. | | green or pale | 312 | 168 | .. | | white | 240 | 240 | .. | +---------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+ the process of goldbeating is as follows: the gold, having been alloyed according to the colour desired, is melted in a crucible at a higher temperature than is simply necessary to fuse it, as its malleability is improved by exposure to a greater heat; sudden cooling does not interfere with its malleability, gold differing in this respect from some other metals. it is then cast into an ingot, and flattened, by rolling between a pair of powerful smooth steel rollers, into a ribbon of 1-1/2 in. wide and 10 ft. in length to the oz. after being flattened it is annealed and cut into pieces of about 6-1/2 grs. each, or about 75 per oz., and placed between the leaves of a "cutch," which is about 1/2 in. thick and 3-1/2 in. square, containing about 180 leaves of a tough paper. formerly fine vellum was used for this purpose, and generally still it is interleaved in the proportion of about one of vellum to six of paper. the cutch is beaten on for about 20 minutes with a 17-lb. hammer, which rebounds by the elasticity of the skin, and saves the labour of lifting, by which the gold is spread to the size of the cutch; each leaf is then taken out, and cut into four pieces, and put between the skins of a "shoder," 4-1/2 in. square and 3/4 in. thick, containing about 720 skins, which have been worn out in the finishing or "mould" process. the shoder requires about two hours' beating upon with a 9-lb. hammer. as the gold will spread unequally, the shoder is beaten upon after the larger leaves have reached the edges. the effect of this is that the margins of larger leaves come out of the edges in a state of dust. this allows time for the smaller leaves to reach the full size of the shoder, thus producing a general evenness of size in the leaves. each leaf is again cut into four pieces, and placed between the leaves of a "mould," composed of about 950 of the finest gold-beaters' skins, 5 in. square and 3/4 in. thick, the contents of one shoder filling three moulds. the material has now reached the last and most difficult stage of the process; and on the fineness of the skin and judgment of the workman the perfection and thinness of the leaf of gold depend. during the first hour the hammer is allowed to fall principally upon the centre of the mould. this causes gaping cracks upon the edges of the leaves, the sides of which readily coalesce and unite without leaving any trace of the union after being beaten upon. at the second hour, when the gold is about the 150,000th part of an inch in thickness, it for the first time permits the transmission of the rays of light. pure gold, or gold but slightly alloyed, transmits green rays; gold highly alloyed with silver transmits pale violet rays. the mould requires in all about four hours' beating with a 7-lb. hammer, when the ordinary thinness for the gold leaf of commerce will be reached. a single ounce of gold will at this stage be extended to 75 x 4 x 4 = 1200 leaves, which will trim to squares of about 3-1/4 in. each. the finished leaf is then taken out of the mould, and the rough edges are trimmed off by slips of the ratan fixed in parallel grooves of an instrument called a waggon, the leaf being laid upon a leathern cushion. the leaves thus prepared are placed into "books" capable of holding 25 leaves each, which have been rubbed over with red ochre to prevent the gold clinging to the paper. dentist gold is gold leaf carried no farther than the cutch stage, and should be perfectly pure gold. by the above process also silver is beaten, but not so thin, the inferior value of the metal not rendering it commercially desirable to bestow so much labour upon it. copper, tin, zinc, palladium, lead, cadmium, platinum and aluminium can be beaten into thin leaves, but not to the same extent as gold or silver. the fine membrane called goldbeater's skin, used for making up the shoder and mould, is the outer coat of the caecum or blind gut of the ox. it is stripped off in lengths about 25 or 30 in., and freed from fat by dipping in a solution of caustic alkali and scraping with a blunt knife. it is afterwards stretched on a frame; two membranes are glued together, treated with a solution of aromatic substances or camphor in isinglass, and subsequently coated with white of egg. finally they are cut into squares of 5 or 5-1/2 in.; and to make up a mould of 950 pieces the gut of about 380 oxen is required, about 2-1/2 skins being got from each animal. a skin will endure about 200 beatings in the mould, after which it is fit for use in the shoder alone. the dryness of the cutch, shoder and mould is a matter of extreme delicacy. they require to be hot-pressed every time they are used, although they may be used daily, to remove the moisture which they acquire from the atmosphere, except in extremely frosty weather, when they acquire so little moisture that a difficulty arises from their over-dryness, whereby the brilliancy of the gold is diminished, and it spreads very slowly under the hammer. on the contrary, if the cutch or shoder be damp, the gold will become pierced with innumerable microscopic holes; and in the moulds in its more attenuated state it will become reduced to a pulverulent state. this condition is more readily produced in alloyed golds than in fine gold. it is necessary that each skin of the mould should be rubbed over with calcined gypsum each time the mould may be used, in order to prevent the adhesion of the gold to the surface of the skin in beating.