550 
MERCURY. 
occurs in almost all the mines which contain mer- 
cury in a mineralized state, when it trickles along 
the fissures of the rocks, and sometimes collects in 
considerable quantities in their natural basons. 
Sometimes this metal is amalgamated with native 
silver, when it forms a solid shining white substance, 
very brittle, and easily decomposed by heat. In 
this state of amalgam it is found at Stalberg in 
Sweden, at Rosenau in Hungary, and especially at 
Moschel-Landsberg in the duchy of Deux-Ponts, 
where it is met with in common ferruginous clay, 
mixed with other mercurial ores. 
The other states in which this metal is prin- 
cipally found, are mixed with sulphur in the shape 
of cinnabar, or mineralized by the vitriolic and ma- 
rine acids. The former is of a fine deep red, but 
subject to vary in the depth of its colour, as well as 
in its form, being sometimes found in a mass, and 
sometimes in regular hexaedral crystals. The lat- 
ter is a pearly gray, frequently inclining to a yel- 
lowish green. It has the softness of wax, is generally 
transparent, and may be volatilized by the blow- 
pipe without being decomposed. 
The mines of this valuable and singular metal are 
chiefly confined to Europe and America. 
In Spain , that of Almaden in the province of 
La Mancha is particularly famous for producing 
abundance of quicksilver. It is said to be the most 
antient in Europe, since, according to Pliny, it was 
worked five hundred years before the Christian sera ; 
and he tells us, that in his time ten thousand 
