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Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver

Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver Page of 251 Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
BOOK VIII
173
While he was in the mine the attendants used it as a table and he is re­ported to have said, "Emperor Fredrick is powerful and rich but today he does not have such a table as this." I have no knowledge of the weight of this mass but it must have weighed several hundred pounds. Another notable mass has been taken recently from the outcrop of a vein of the Stella and Suice mines in the Joachim valley that weighed five hundred and eighty pounds. We see many masses taken from the Theodore mine weighing from fifty-eight to one hundred and sixteen pounds.
Thus in the channels through rocks both large and small masses of native silver are found either free of stones, marbles and rocks or adhering to them, or in very thin sheets enclosed in these rocks. Nature also pro­duces native silver in a variety of shapes, sometimes arborescent, some­times in branching forms and even in hair-like masses. It is often found in very white ball-like masses consisting entirely of very fine silver threads. We find the silver in this form because it is so stable. I shall speak of silver smelting later.
Silver is next to gold in natural beauty. It is white in color and when polished has an excellent luster although the natural luster is equally pleasing. It melts in a fire and can be cast. When mixed with lead and melted in a large shallow dish the lead is changed, in part, to molibdaena and, in part, to litharge {lithargyrori). Even when copper and other metals are added to this mixture of lead and silver and heated, eventually only pure silver will remain. If heated for too long a time some of the silver is lost and hence gold is a superior metal and is purer. The fact that silver will give a black imark and will soil the hands is additional proof that gold is the purer metal. Acids corrode silver, tint it blue and eventually dissolve it entirely. Some silver is harder than gold but the softer is the best since it is less fragile and spreads under the blows of a hammer to a marked degree although never as much as gold. Like gold it is sometimes drawn into a thread, either with or without wool and can be woven al­though it is not as heavy. Because of its hardness it gives a sound when struck or thrown to the ground. The same objects are made from silver as from gold but in greater quantities, coins, rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, hollow spheres, chains, and crowns. It is used for goblets, basins, dishes, and urns. Silver articles are given to temples by kings, for example, the great silver basin mentioned by Herodotus that Halyattes, King of Lydia, gave to the temple of Delphi when he was convalescing from an illness. Croesus, when the Persians were fighting against him, gave the same temple a silver basin with a capacity of six hundred amphorae,11 four large silver casks, hand vases and wash basins. Silver statues have been erected to Augustus Ceasar and there are a large number of silver statues in German churches. The arms, helmets, breastplates, and greaves of the Parthi were of silver. When the Carthaginians ran out of iron and
11 About three thousand four hundred and fifty gallons.
Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver Page of 251 Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver
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