Concerning The Ore Of Silver And Its Qualities.

THERE are, as I have heard, varying opinions among men experienced in minerals as to whether silver has its own mineral [i.e., occurs native] or not. Mineralogical reasons and the authority of the majority persuade me that it has, not only because I have seen the natural material separate but also because I know that in mines of gold, copper, lead, and other metals pieces of pure metal are found without admixture, and I have heard that pieces of silver, gold, and copper have been found that had been reduced to their ultimate purity by natural causes. This is also confirmed by a German, Georgius Agricola, who says* that in a mine in Saxony a piece of metallic silver was found so large that the Duke who was prince and patron of the place had a whole dining table of square German style made from it without its being enlarged or worked on by any human artifice except for the tripod legs, and he often boasted that in this he surpassed the greatness of the Emperor. In truth I have never seen any metal except copper that was brought out from the mine pure and without any mineral, but I think that such a thing is indeed possible, since I believe in the greatness and power of Nature, who strives toward no other goal than perfection and purity. Indeed most of the minerals that I have seen have not been without admixture, not only of their earth but also of other metals, and this is more true of that which I have heard called silver than of any of the others. I except the silver that is mined in Schio in the region of Vicenza. These doubts, therefore, are not born without some shadow of apparent reason. As I told you above I believe that silver may have and does have its own mineral, for every substance that is converted into metal can exist pure by itself in its own species, as it also exists separately even though it be mixed with others, since it is seen that in each ore its metal is generated in a single body. Therefore it happens many times that whoever speaks of the ore of silver in one breath, without distinction, speaks of that of all the other metals, because there are few ores that are not mixed. But because the most noble things always have the prerogative of including in their name that of the others, where there is gold or silver the ores are not called