History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c17.s1.24

c17.s1.24

In the beginning of this chapter we have seen that there are certain recipes, which all refer to the floating mass of traditions current at the time of the author on the transmutation of the base metals into gold. They are quite laconic, and are of fragmentary and disjointed character. The meaning, therefore, is not always clear. Various ingenious methods were resorted to for debasing gold, or making an alloy, which will imitate the character of gold. Silver, copper, lead, zinc and mercury were often made into an amalgam, and the latter rendered compact and coloured yellow with the aid of orpiment. No wonder that the law-books prescribe severe penalties on the fraudulent debasers of the precious metals. Thus according to Manu "the king shall cause a goldsmith, who behaves dishonestly, the most noxious of all the thorns, to be cut to pieces with razors."