Oil Argenlat Mercury. 4* 



fudh grofs errors. An artlft' pofleffing common fenfe will 

 never aS. fo abfurdly as to mix in the fame pifture things an- 

 tique a:ul modern; an error common among thii Venetian, 

 Flemijhj and Dutch mafters/ 



If the fubjecSl we mean to handle lies in Egypt, Athens, 

 or Rome, let us endeavour to tranfport ourfelves thitlier hy 

 the warmth and activity of our imagination, and, by remov- 

 ing every thing local, lead the fpeftator through the delight- 

 ful and magical mazes of fcience, fo that he may actually 

 jmaeine the fcene tranfaftins; before his eves. 



W. ■' ExtraSi of a ATemoir on Ar genial Mercioy. Read 

 - before the French National Injiitute) hj' C. Cordieb, 

 Engineer of jSlincs *. 



Ti 



HE mineral called formerly native amalgam of filver, 

 and which fince the labours of C. Haiiy is now known under 

 the name of argental viercvrj, is one of thofe natural me- 

 tallic combinations, the mineraloglcal and chemical pro-* 

 perties of which had been the Icalt perfetlly defcribed and 

 examined. It is however probable that an accurate know- 

 ledge of this fpecies would have been obtained, had not its 

 great rarity prt^vented chemi(ts from facrificing the only fpe- 

 cimens of it which they pofl'effed in order to fubjeft them to 

 complete examination. The places where argental mercury 

 is found are the mines of Rofenar in Hungary, thofe of Morf- 

 fcldt in the ci-devant Palatinate, now the department of 

 IVlont-Tonncrre, and particularlv thofe of Mufchcl-Landlberg 

 in the fame countrv : thcfe are the only mines by which it 

 has been hitherto furniflied. 



Thou<ih this mineral is at prefont too rare to be the object 

 of the laTjours of the miner, it will be feen that it deferves the 

 attention of the mineralogilt, and to make a figure among 

 the moft remarkable of the metallic fpecies. 



Argental mercury is found always dilleminated throughout 

 the mafs of the veins, fometimes in very thin leaves which 

 fill up the fiflures, fometimes in fmall crvftals totally engaged 

 in the matrix, or entirely infulated in the cavities. 



This mineral fubdancc has the colour and refplendence of 

 filver or polillied tin, or rather more frecpiently of liipiid 

 mercury, ijecaufe it almoft always retains at its lurface a ihiu 

 llratum of the laft mentioned niclal. 



Its regular forms are the dodecacdral-rhomboidal, and all 

 its niudiilcations. 



■ From the Jumna! cles Mhics, No. 67. 



The 



