"Then the cup increased a hundred fold in value to the owner, and nothing could influence him to part from it. Years afterward, the owner of the present carried it to the place where he was employed, for the purpose of exhibiting it to a fellow workman. During the day, in passing the shelf where it rested while he was engaged in moving some valuable goods, he carelessly knocked the cup from the shelf, and it fell into a vessel of fluid. Thinking at the moment that the vessel contained nothing but water, the owner waited until his arms were released from the valuable load they contained, before seeking to remove the cup from the place into which it had fallen. When he returned, he found, to his sorrow, that his cup had disappeared. Upon investigation, imagine his sorrow, when he discovered that the vessel contained nitric acid instead of water, and that the cup had been eaten up by the fluid. He thought of how he had valued that keepsake, how much he revered the memory of the giver, and how foolish he was to bring the prize from his home that morning. At this moment, his employer happened along, and noticing his grief enquired for the cause. After listening to the poor man's story, and learning that the cup was made in a neighboring town, he rather startled the sorrowing man with this remark: 'Don't feel bad, my man, I promise, you shall again have your cup.' "The workingman, thinking his words meant that he should receive the amount of its real value, or another cup, explained that it was not its cost, neither would another cup fill its place. It was the loss of this particular article, which came from the hands of a friend who had since died, that caused him grief. "'Never mind, I say, whether you believe my words or not, I promise, and will make good that promise, that you shall again have your cup, and it shall be made of the same identical silver, having the same form, and being composed of nothing but the same metal. I don't mean the same kind, but the very same silver you dropped into that fluid.' "And with this he took a few hand fulls of common salt, flung them into the liquid, and there formed in the solution a white solid; this he removed, dried and heated in a crucible, and the result was a lump of silver of the highest lustre. "'Now, you see,' said the kind-hearted man, 'how easy it is to restore when you understand the method by which it is done. All the silver composing that cup of yours is now in my hands. How easy it is for me to have it remoulded in the same moulds! and who will say you have not the same cup resurrected from the grave?'