46 
at Schneeberg, which was 6 feet broad and 12 long, 
and on which Augustus, then Elector of Saxony, is said 
to have dined. The Cordilleras of Peru and Chili have 
also produced immense masses of silver; and in the 
year 1803 the mines of Mexico alone yielded 2,340,000 
marks ; those of Peru 600,000 marks. In Chili the silver 
veins of Copiapo, in 1850, yielded 335,000 marks. In 
earlier times, Spain, too, had very rich silver mines; and, 
according to the testimony of the Scriptures, Asia must 
also have been rich in this metal. The price of silver is 
generally officially fixed, and the fine mark of 8 oz. valued 
at from 48s. to 50s. The application of silver to articles of 
furniture and luxury, to ornamental and artistic purposes, 
especially to embossed and chased work, to wire, plates, 
and silver-foil, to silvering and plating, as well as to coin¬ 
age, is well known. It is generally, for these purposes, 
alloyed with copper. 
The alloying with copper renders the silver harder, 
and, consequently, less subject to wear; nevertheless, 
coins, and articles of furniture, by being used, are gradu¬ 
ally much worn, and there is thus an annual loss of a 
large quantity of silver. Blackened silver-wares may be 
again blanched by boiling them in a solution of cream of 
tartar and common salt, or in a solution of borax, if they 
are immersed in a perforated zinc vessel; and the polish may 
be restored by means of wet chalk or prepared hartshorn. 
Fig. 6—8.—Antimonial Silver. 
A silver-white silver ore, frequently tarnished yellow 
or black, slightly friable, which occurs in right rhombic 
prisms, like Fig. 7, of distinctly foliated fracture, or in 
hexagonal prisms, arising from truncation of the acute 
lateral edges, like Fig. 6; also in foliated masses, or 
granular, like Fig. 8, with a hardness of 3*5, and a specific 
gravity of 9*4—9’82. It melts on the charcoal, and 
tarnishes it with a white antimonial smoke, which may be 
easily blown off; at last there remains only a pure, 
malleable grain of silver. The crystallised and foliated 
varieties, as well as the coarsely granular antimonial silver 
of St. Wenzel in the Black Forest, where it formerly oc¬ 
curred in great richness, consist of 76 parts of silver, and 
24 of antimony; and therefore have the formula, Ag 3 Sb. 
The finely granular variety, from the same place, contains 
84 of silver and 16 of antimony, and is therefore Ag 3 Sb. 
This rare ore is now only found near Andreasberg in the 
Hartz, and at Allemont in France. 
The arseniuret of silver, of scaly foliated structure, con¬ 
tains from 8—13 per cent of silver, besides iron, arsenic, 
and antimony, and is found in the Samson mines, near 
Andreasberg. 
The telluret of silver may have a rhombohedral crys¬ 
tallization, but occurs principally in granular, lead-grey 
masses, with metallic lustre, and a hardness of from 2*5 to 
3, and a specific gravity of from 8*4 to 8'83. The amount 
of silver it contains varies from 46*76 to 62*32, and it 
sometimes contains a little gold. It is found in the Savo- 
dinski mines in the Altai mountains, and at Nagyag in 
Siebenburg. 
Figs. 9 and 10.—Silver Glance, Sulphate of Silver. 
Crystallises in cubes (Fig. 9), wdiich sometimes take 
an arborescent arrangement, and are distorted, as in Fig. 
10; sometimes also in octahedrons, arborescent, capillary, 
and as crusty like coatings. The crystals exhibit the 
crossings of the leaves of the cube, and are sometimes 
aggregated with red silver ore, or also with native silver, 
of a lead to iron-grey colour, of slight metallic lustre, and 
so malleable that they can be easily cut and engraved with 
a knife, by which peculiarity the ore may be readily recog¬ 
nised. The hardness is == 2*0—2*5, the specific gravity 
= 6*8 to 7*2. Before the blow-pipe it melts readily, with 
evolution of sulphurous vapours, and there is left as residue 
a grain of pure silver. With borax and salt of phosphorus 
a small amount of copper and iron are generally indicated. 
The constituents are as follows : simple sulphuret of silver 
/ 
= Ag, with 87*1 of silver and 12*9 of sulphur. In nitric 
acid it is easily soluble with separation of sulphur, which 
by boiling is changed by agitation into sulphuric 
acid. 
It is one of the most valuable of silver ores, and 
occurs in the Erzgebirge of Saxony and Bohemia, fre¬ 
quently also in S chemnitz and Kremnitz in Hungary. 
Fig. 11.— Brittle Glance Silver, Melanglance, 
Prismatic Black Silver. 
Crystallises in right rhombic prisms of 115° 39' and 
64° 21 1 ; it occurs, however, in hexagonal prisms, like 
Fig. 11, in secondary tables, and with truncation of the 
basal edges, also compact and disseminated. Iron-grey, 
with metallic lustre, somewhat friable, of 2*0—2*5 hard¬ 
ness, and 6*2—6*3 specific gravity. It is a combination 
of 6 eq. of simple sulphuret of silver and 1 eq. of 
/ nr 
sesqui-sulphuret of antimony = Ag 6 Sb, the sulphuret of 
antimony being sometimes replaced by the sulphuret of 
arsenic, and a part of the silver by iron or copper. Before 
the blowpipe it fuses readily, gives off antimonial (or 
arsenical) vapours ; at last there is left a grey metallic 
grain, wdiich, when heated with soda, yields pure silver. It 
is soluble in nitric acid. An extremely valuable silver ore, 
which principally occurs in the primary rocks in Bohemia 
and Hungary, as well as at the Hartz, and not unfre- 
quently in Peru and Mexico, and is, in all these places, 
made use of for obtaining silver. It was also at one time 
found in the Black Forest of Bohemia. 
White silver ore may occur in rectangular octahedrons ; 
it is usually, however, finely granular, inclining to com¬ 
pactness, without distinct foliated structure, lead-grey 
passing into iron-grey; so that, with regard to colour and 
lustre, it holds a middle place between lead-glance and 
grey copper or fahlore. Specific gravity 5*4. There are 
lighter and darker varieties. The principal elements are 
sulphuret of silver, sulphuret of lead, and sulphuret of an¬ 
timony ; the light variety contains, according to Klaproth, 
20*4, the dark 9.25 per cent of silver. A very valuable 
silver ore, which occurs principally at Freiberg in Saxony 
and at Przibram in Bohemia. 
The polybasite (Fig. 12) crystallises in rhombohedrons 
and hexagonal prisms, sometimes wdth truncations of the 
basal edges, as in Fig. 12, it is iron-black and soft, wdth a 
hardness of 2/0—2*5. It is a silver-glance containing 
copper, which occurs at Freiberg, Schemnitz, and in Mexico. 
