CARACT, or CARAT, the name of that weight which expresses the degree of fineness that gold is of. The word is also written caract, carat, caract, and karrat. Its origin is contested: but the most probable opinion is that of Kennet, who derives it from caracta, a term which antiently denoted any weight, and came not till of later days to be appropriated to that which expresses the fineness of gold, and the gravity of diamonds.
These carats are not real determinate weights, but only imaginary. The whole mass, be the weight what it will, is conceived to be divided into 24 carats; and as many 24th parts as it contains of pure gold, it is called gold of so many carats, or so many carats fine. Thus, gold of 18 carats is a mixture, of which 18 parts are pure gold, and the other six an inferior metal, &c. This is the common way of reckoning in Europe, and at the gold mines in the Spanish West Indies, but with
some variation in the subdivision of the carat: among us, it is divided into four grains; among the Germans, into 12 parts; and by the French, according to Mr Helot, into 32. The Chinese reckon by a different division called toucher, of which the highest number, or that which denotes pure gold, is 100; so that 100 touches correspond to our 24 carats, &c.