Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-11-04

thousands OF miles by the long -distan
telephone, and In other ways a fresh de-
mand for 1t arose. Thus the price has been
Silver is far more widely used In the arts
To-Day than ever before. The commonest
ailSies are now plated with II, or even
staue Oh the pure substance. In various
Shapes Ii is sold in dry goods shops in
stead of being dealt in exclusively by lew
eiers' as was the case a few years ago
Many novel employments for IL are already
touIiu. Much OF II is used and entirely lost
IN photography, in the shape of a nitrate
whlch Is sensitive to light In medicine the
same nitrate is taken for epilepsy-the
symptoms OF which it mitigates, but does
tbe Ie. whi,e turning the complexion of
me patient blue-and of course lunar
causuc Is simply nitrate of silver. Silver Is
Dstltuted for bone in surgery in ire
phillhg and otherwise. Good looking
With - are packed with silver. and not
m,an mercury H as is popuiarly supposed The
glass is laid back down in a ham Of NJ
trate-that is, silver dissolved in nitric
a asmses a, the addition of Epson salts
chemically pure film over the surface IT,,
fnnys time. by the way, mirrors were
commonly made of silver though nrev,ousiv
lney We're manufactured out of a mixture
or tin and copper.
The Deposits of Silver.
Whereas gold is found pretty nearly
eVerywhere-in sea water, in sand. In rocks
quite generally-silver is an element NOT
often come across. comparatively speak,
ing Ii readily combines with all sorts of
other elements, and thus ordinarily occurs
IN tne shape OF chlorides, su;phates and
carponates, being seldom discovered ma
lVe" or pure Produced by nature in such
Shapes, 1t Is not pretty to look at. the
richest ore sometimes resembling blue sand
That Is one reason why ii was utilized to
aoorgines up to the time of Columbus
They knew little of it. though some of
their ornaments were covered with plates
of II, beaten very thin
me great deposits Of silver in Nevada,
Colorado and elsewhere in the world were
made by water. That innocent element
percolating through the earth picked up
out OF the rocks small particles Of the metal
ana carried them along in solution Pass
ing through cracks and cavities the subter-
ranean currents deposited their loads of
the metal and thus after thousands Of
years pockets and assures were filled with
II. sometimes these deposits were enor-
nous. as in the case of the Big Bonanza
which was slice of ore 800 feet wide and
OF unknown depth. extending across the
famous Comstock lode. 1t yielded $500 10
$1,000 a ton. This was pretty rich consider
irg the fact that a ton of ore equals only
IL cubic feet. but ore has been dug in Colo
RADIO recently which produced $4,000 a ton.
The great silver deposits Of the world
have been struck by chance. The Com
stock lode was an accidental discovery.
Perus famous mines were found by a shep-
herd, who. while climbing a slope of the
Andes, lighted some brambles for cooking
a frugal repast pebble. heated by the
flames. attracted his notice by it's shining
He took IL to Lima, where IL was eyom
ined and declared to be precious ore The
care-taker OF focks became a millionaire.
In South America.
The richest veins Of silver in Chile were
W ot,rf ina
hunted guanacos in the Andes One day.
bein. fatigued he sat down under the shell
ter Of a huge rock and was struck by the
color and brightness Of a projecting part.
He Clipped OFF a piece of the stone with his
knife. and, finding that II cut like cheese
took specimen. Metallurgists declared
that 1t was chloride Of silve--otherwise
known as "horn-silver" because il has
somewhat OF the texture of horn. The mine
developed silver in masses, but Godoy sold
his share. dissipated the proceeds. and died
without a penny. Among the employees of
the mine discovered by Godoy wee two
brothers named Bolados. who gained a
miserable livelihood by carrying wood on the
backs OF asses TO the smelling house. One
DAY they came across crevice in the earth,
opened by an earthquake. i'm which was an
enormous block of silver ore. From this
block more than sixty-five quintals of silver
were taken by merely removing the soft
gether $4,000. which the brothers souan-
deie in gambling and otherwise being left
poorer than before the discovery.
Silver I'm the Bible.
The first mention Of silver occurs in the
Bible. where Ephron values his field at 400
shekels of silver, which are weighed out to
him by Abraham. 1t is stated later on that
Josephs brothers sold him for 20 pieces of
the same metal. Silver and gold were used
by weighing long before they were coined
The ratio at which they were first coined
was the ratio at which they had previously
gone into use by weight. In Greece and
the Greek cities OF Asia Minor the ratio
was Ii to 1, but IL fell to 10 to 1 after the
conquest Of Athens. In ancient times gold
was the variable metal; il fiuctuated great
ly in value. while silver was always the
commercial standard.
Here are few unclassified facts:
The total production of silver since the
year 800 is reckoned at 100000 600 pounds
The ring of silver is best initiated in q
counterfeit by admixture of powdered
glass with base metal
The silver dollar of 1904 is worth $500: the
silver quarter of 1897 is worth $40; the hair
dime of 1902 is worth $50; the scent silver
piece of 1873 is worth $50 and the dime of
1904 is worth 81.
What would happen IL the United States
market? ~
The most frightful financial panic that
mas ever been seen would ensue The
S5olO0,Oo worth of the metal now held hy
lhe Ieasury mere than equals the present
circulation OF silver in the world Such ac-
uon on the part Of this government. han
ply impossible, would almost DESTROY this
substance as money, reducing IL to the
Status or base metal After all. IL is only
rarity that makes value. II gold were nlen-
tiful as iron. ii would fetch no higher price.
RENE BACHE