ne. These can certainly not have been cut without emery, and
scarcely without such devices as rapidly revolving points, or discs, of
the kind used by modern lapidaries. Though the devices are in general
rude, the work is sometimes exceedingly delicate, and implies a complete
mastery over tools and materials, as well as a good deal of artistic
power. As far as the mechanical part of the art goes, the Babylonians
may challenge comparison with the most advanced of the nations of
antiquity; they decidedly excel the Egyptians, and fall little, if at
all, short of the Greeks and Romans.

The extreme minuteness of the work in some of the Babylonian seals and
gems raises a suspicion that they must have been engraved by the help of
a powerful magnifying-glass. A lens has been found in Assyria; and there
is much reason to believe that the convenience was at least as well
known in the lower country. Glass was certainly in use, and was cut into
such shapes as were required. It is at any rate exceedingly likely that
magnifying-glasses, which were undoubtedly known to the Greeks in the
time of Aristophanes, were employed by the artisans of Babylon during
the most flourishing period of the Empire.

Of Babylonian metal-work we have scarcely any direct means of judging.
The accounts of ancient authors imply that the Babylonians dealt freely
with the material, using gold and silver for statues, furniture, and
utensils, bronze for gates and images, and iron sometimes for the
latter. We may assume that they likewise employed bronze and iron for
tools and weapons, since those metals were certainly so used by the
Assyrians. Lead was made of service in building; where iron was also
employed, if great strength was needed. The golden images are said to
have been sometimes solid, in which case we must suppose them to have
been cast in a mold; but undoubtedly in most cases the gold was a mere
external covering, and was applied in plates, which were hammered into
shape upon some cheaper substance below. Silver was no doubt used
also in plates, more especially when applied externally to walls, or
internally to the woodwork of palaces; but the silver images, ornamental
figures, and utensils of which we hear, were most probably solid. The
bronze works must have been remarkable. We are told that both the town
and the palace gates were of this material, and it is implied that the
latter were too heavy to be opened in the ordinary manner. Castings
on a