45 



TAB. CCCXXVII. 



ARGENTUM nativum. 



Crystallized Native Silver, 



Class 3 . Metals. Order 1 . 



Gen. 14. Silver. Spec. I. Native. 



Div. 1. Crystallized* 

 Syn. Argent natif octae'dre. Haiiy, 3. 385. 



This specimen of Crystallized Native Silver, accompanied 

 by Flowers of Cobalt, was sent me from Alva mine in Stirling- 

 shire by my kind friend formerly mentioned in this work by 

 the name of G. Laing, Esq. It is a very useful specimen, as 

 exhibiting a very elegant arrangement of the primitive nu- 

 clei, if I may so call these minute octaedrons, to see which 

 the help of a magnifying glass is required ; and we may in- 

 dulge a conjecture that the Silver settled from its solvent, 

 whatever that was, at the time the mass was soft, which, 

 when hard, retained it in this state for our instruction. — ■ 

 Thus we see the nuclei arranging themselves from loose or 

 distant order, as if preparing to form the close and com- 

 pact order that is sometimes seen. There being small 

 octaedrons placed at right angles, and then others arranging 

 in the intermediate spaces, is admirable. We aFe here in- 

 formed, as it were, that an accumulation of octaedrons may 

 be so minute as nearly to fill the interstices, seeming to 



