[107] PAGE 46, LINE 7. Page 46, line 8. _Jofrancus Offusius._--The reference is to the treatise _De divina astrorum faculitate_ of Johannes Franciscus Offusius (Paris, 1570). [108] PAGE 47, LINE 15. Page 47, line 18. _Græci vocant_ [Greek: êlektron], _quia ad se paleas trahit._ In this discussion of the names given to amber, Gilbert apparently conceives [Greek: êlektron] to be derived from the verb [Greek: helkein]; which is manifestly a doubtful etymology. There has been much discussion amongst philologists as to the derivation of [Greek: êlektron] or [Greek: êlektron], and its possible connection with the word [Greek: êlektôr]. This discussion has been somewhat obscured by the circumstance that the Greek authors unquestionably used [Greek: êlektron] (and the Latins their word _electrum_) in two different significations, some of them using these words to mean amber, others to mean a shining {32} metal, apparently of having qualities between those of gold and silver, and probably some sort of alloy. Schweigger, _Ueber das Elektron der Alten_ (Greifswald, 1848), has argued that this metal was indeed no other than platinum: but his argument partakes too much of special pleading. Those who desire to follow the question of the derivation of [Greek: êlektron] may consult the following authorities: J. M. Gessner, _De Electro Veterum_ (Commentt. Soc. Reg. Scientt. Goetting., vol. iii., p. 67, 1753); Delaunay, _Mineralogie der Alten_, Part II., p. 125; Buttmann, _Mythologus_ (Appendix I., _Ueber das Elektron_), Vol. II., p. 355, in which he adopts Gilbert's derivation from [Greek: helkein]; Beckmann, _Ursprung und Bedeutung des Bernsteinnamens Elektron_ (Braunsberg, 1859); Th. Henri Martin, _Du Succin, de ses noms divers et de ses variétés suivant les anciens_ (Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres, Tome VI., 1^{re} série, 1^{re} partie, 1860); Martinus Scheins, _De Electro Veterum Metallico_ (Inaugural dissertation, Berlin, 1871); F. A. Paley, _Gold Worship in relation to Sun Worship_ (Contemporary Review, August, 1884). See also Curtius, _Grundzüge der griechischen Etymologie_, pp. 656-659. The net result of the disputations of scholars appears to be that [Greek: êlektôr] (he who shines) is a masculine form to which there corresponds the neuter form [Greek: êlektron] (that which shines). Stephanus admits the accentuation used by Gilbert, [Greek: êlektron], to be justified from the _Timæus_ of Plato; see Note to p. 61. [109] PAGE 47, LINE 16. Page 47, line 19. [Greek: harpax] dicitur, & [Greek: chrusophoron].--With respect to the other names given to amber, M. Th. Henri Martin has written (see previous note) so admirable an account of them that it is impossible to better it. It is therefore given here entire, as follows: