Silver
4 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Silver. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a precious metal. It appears to have been known almost as early as gold, and, without doubt, for the same reason, because it occurs very frequently in a state of purity in the earth and requires but an ordinary heat for its fusion. Pure silver is of a fine white color. It is softer than copper but harder than gold. When melted its sp. gr. is 10.47; when hammered, 10.510. Its chemical symbol is Ag. It is next in malleability to gold, having been beaten into leaves only .00001 of an inch in thickness. It may be drawn out into a wire much finer than a human hair, and a wire of silver 0.078 of an inch in diameter is capable of supporting a weight of 187.13 pounds avoirdupois. It excels all other metals as a conductor of heat and electricity. Silver melts when heated completely red hot, and may be boiled and volatilized by a very strong and long-continued heat. When cooled slowly crystals of silver may be obtained. Silver is not oxidized by exposure to the air, or affected by water, but it is blackened or tarnished by sulphuretted hydrogen. The at. wt. of silver is 107.9. Oxide of silver (Ag₂O) is produced by dissolving silver in a solution of nitric acid and precipitating with an alkali. Its sp. gr. is 7.14. The compound called horn silver or chloride of silver (AgCl) is obtained by dissolving silver in nitric acid and mixing the solution with a solution of common salt. Its sp. gr. is 5.550. When exposed to the light it turns to a blackish color, hence its great use in photography. Bromide of silver is the most sensitive to light of any known solid. It is used for coating the "dry plates" employed in photography. When silver is long exposed to the air it acquires a covering of a violet color, which deprives it of its luster; this coating is sulphide of silver. Sulphide of silver occurs native as silver glance. Silver readily forms alloys with iron, steel, lead, tin, and mercury. Of the combinations of acid and silver the most important is nitrate of silver (AgNO3), obtained by dissolving silver in nitric acid. If the silver and acid are pure the solution of silver nitrate is colorless, very heavy, and caustic; it stains the skin and all animal substances an indelible black; after evaporation it deposits, on cooling, transparent crystals of NITRATE OF SIL- VER (q. v.). There are five important silver ores, native silver, vitreous silver (or silver glance), black silver, red silver, and horn silver. The first is usually found in dentiform, filiform, and capillary shapes, also in plates formed in fissures and in superficial coatings; luster metallic; color silver-white, more or less subject to tarnish; ductile; hardness between gypsum and calcareous spar; sp. gr. 10.47. Native silver occurs principally in veins, traversing gneiss, clay-slate, and other palæozoic palæozoic rocks, but not usually in great quantity. It often forms a natural alloy with gold. Vitreous silver presents itself in various shapes, and is of a blackish lead-gray color with a metallic luster. It is malleable, about as hard as gypsum, and subject to tarnish; sp. gr., 7.19. It is more or less pure silver sulphide, and has been found almost exclusively in veins along with ores of lead, antimony, and zinc. It occurs in Saxony, Bohemia, Hungary, Mexico, and Peru; and is an important species for the extraction of silver. Black silver generally occurs in granular masses of an iron-black color. It is sectile and about as hard as gypsum; sp. gr., 6.2. This mineral is a composition of silver (about 68.5 per cent.) with antimony and sulphur and traces of iron, copper, and arsenic. It is found in veins along with other ores of silver, and is a valuable ore for the extraction of silver. It occurs chiefly in Saxony, Bohemia, Hungary, and the American continent. Red silver is found in crystals and often massive, granular, and even as an impalpable powder. It is a double sulphide of silver and antimony, containing on an average 60 per cent. of silver. It occurs in veins with other silver ores, galena, and blende. It is found in various parts of Saxony, also in Bohemia, Hungary, and Norway; but chiefly in Mexico, Peru, and the western United States. Horn silver, or silver chloride, occurs in crystals and also in crusts and granular masses. It contains about 76 per cent. of silver. It is found in the upper parts of veins in clay-slate, and also in beds with other silver ores or with iron ochre. It is not abundant in Europe, but occurs in large masses in Mexico and Peru. Silver is extracted from its various ores by smelting or amalgamation. The silver mines of North and South America are incomparably more important than those of all the rest of the world. The Mexican mines were worked before the Spanish conquest, and produced large quantities of silver. There are great deposits of silver in Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and Utah. Silver ore, chiefly argentiferous galena, has also been found in great quantities in the Barrier Ranges of New South Wales. In the Andes Mountains and adjacent sections are marvelous deposits of silver and other minerals, especially iron and copper. Bolivia is unsurpassed in her possession of extensive and rich silver mines. Peru is but little less fortunate in her silver resources and it is said more than 2,000 yielding mines are within her boundaries. At Hualgayoc, in northern Peru, and at the base of the W. spur of the Andes, there are within 40 square leagues 400 silver mines, some of them yielding 300 ounces to the ton. Indians are employed to work in these mines and their only tools are drills, hammers, and raw-hide sacks. They fairly burrow through the mountain, gathering only the richest parts of the ore. Considerable quantities of silver are produced in Europe. The average production of Germany (before the World War) was about $8,000,000. In Great Britain silver is obtained from argentiferous lead ore. The following is the production of silver in the United States in 1919: State or Territory Fine ounces Value Alaska $ 773,570 690,151 Arizona 6,392,222 5,702,911 California 1,153,614 1,293,051 Colorado 6,687,790 5,966,606 Georgia Idaho 5,933,076 6,650,207 Illinois 6,000 6,725 Maine 4,643 4,142 Michigan 425,610 477,054 Missouri 85,176 75,991 Montana 15,012,258 16,826,790 Nevada 7,045,395 7,896,972 New Mexico 851,821 954,781 North Carolina 19 21 Oregon 265,220 236,620 Philippine Islands. 15,715 17,614 South Carolina 2 2 South Dakota 122,068 136,822 Tennessee 97,554 109,345 Texas 539,483 604,690 Utah 14,058,650 .12,542,623 Vermont 2,200 2,466 Virginia 9 8 Washington Wyoming 289,487 258,270 300 336 56,682,445 $63,533,652 SILVER QUESTION. See BIMETAL- LISM: BRYAN, WILLIAM JENNINGS; Mc- KINLEY, WILLIAM. SILVESTER I., Pope, elected in 314. The Arian heresy commenced in his pontificate, and he distinguished himself against the Donatists. He died 336. SILVESTER II., was at first a monk in Auvergne, but his superior talents exciting the envy and hatred of his companions, he withdrew from the monastery and went to Spain. The Duke of Barcelona took him to Italy where he was noticed by the Emperor Otho, who gave him an abbey, which he afterward quitted, and proceeding to Germany became preceptor to Otho III. He was afterward tutor to the son of Hugh Capet, by whom he was made Archbishop of Rheims. By the interest of Otho he gained the papacy in 999. He was a man of considerable learning, particularly in the mathematical sciences. He died in 1003.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a lustrous white metal ten and one-half times as heavy as water. It is not acted on by air, oxygen, or water. The tarnish of silver spoons used with eggs, fruit, or acquired in a coal-heated house, is derived from a trace of sulphur, for which silver has a strong affinity. As a consequence, silver ores are usually a compound of silver and sulphur with a third metal, as lead, zinc, copper, or arsenic. In fact a percentage of silver is often relied upon for the sole profit in working many lead and copper mines. Sometimes silver occurs free from other metals. It then takes the form usually of cubes or else eight-sided masses, or again the silver may occur in a fibrous mass. One piece of silver in the Copenhagen Museum weighs 500 pounds. The greatest single silver vein ever known is the famous Comstock lode of Nevada. Since its discovery in 1858, it has yielded over $335,000,000 worth of silver and gold. Virginia City and practically the state of Nevada were built up on the wealth of the Comstock. The vein consists of a belt of quartz several hundred feet wide and about 10,000 feet long descending to unknown depths. Unaccountable heat, bad air, and water render it difficult to work the Comstock lode at the depths to which the miners are now required to go, and production has fallen off from $36,000,000 in 1877 to possibly a present thirtieth of that sum. Colorado now leads the Union in production of silver, notably from lead ores in the Leadville district. The Coeur d'Alene mine of Idaho yields a large amount of silver from lead ores. Montana copper ores, largely at Butte, yield silver. Other silver-producing states are named in the following table of production for 1908: Alabama $962 Alaska 107,053 Arizona 1,614,452 California 966,501 Colorado 5,385,498 Georgia 98 Idaho 3,333,480 Illinois 186 Michigan $123,057 Missouri 13,250 Montana 6,105,024 Nevada 4,941,099 New Hampshire 1,845 New Mexico 197,663 North Carolina 8,527 Oregon 58,109 Philippine Islands 1,961 South Dakota 104,938 Tennessee 31,734 Texas 244,709 Utah 4,091,002 Virginia 4,448 Washington 36,132 Wyoming 336 Other states 80,897 Total $27,452,961 The reputation of the New World for silver, though ably sustained by the United States , was made really by Mexico and the countries of the Andean region. The almost fabulous mines of Potosi, in Brazil, discovered in 1545 and worked more or less continuously until 1850, have yielded over $3,000,000,000 worth of silver. The chief silver-producing countries are shown in the following table of the world's production of silver for 1907: North America- United States . . . . . $38,445,236 Canada 8,329,205 Mexico 43,814,896 Central America 447,390 South America- Argentina 44,422 Bolivia 4,409,573 Chile 511,211 Colombia 620,606 Ecuador 26,131 Peru 3,429,668 Uruguay 653 Europe- Austria 881,824 Hungary 277,306 France 147,585 Germany 8,116,610 Greece 493,562 Italy 454,056 Norway 114,633 Russia 108,562 Spain 2,677,835 Sweden 21,150 Turkey 341,293 United Kingdom 90,311 Asia- Dutch East Indies 124,121 Japan 1,623,987 Australasia 11,442,960 Africa 333,168 Other countries 32,663 Totals $127,520,029 Prior to 1873 silver was readily exchangeable for coin at a fixed price, but about that date the leading countries decided upon gold as a single standard, and silver has since sold like lead and iron at whatever price it could command in the market. The average commercial value of silver for 1908 was fifty-three cents per ounce. The chief consumers of silver are the manufacturers of jewelry and silverware. Silver is a beautiful but expensive metal for outdoor trimmings. It is exceedingly desirable for that purpose except in districts where various industries, involving the consumption of coal, liberate sulphur-laden gases, which, as stated, tarnish silver. Silver is not only an ornamental but a useful metal. It is still used as an alloy in gold coinage, and large quantities of silver coins are issued by the various governments. At the present time four ounces of silver are sufficient to make nearly five silver dollars, or, to be exact, 10,000 ounces of silver make 12,929 silver dollars. Coinage silver is alloyed with copper to make it wear better. See Gold ; Peru ; Mexico ; Aztecs
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
This metal is found native and in combination with sulphur, as the sulphides of lead, antimony, and copper; native silver occurs in fibrous or crystalline masses. The metal is obtained from the sulphuret by mixing the crushed ore with salt and roasting it, by which means it is converted into a chloride which, together with water, iron scraps, and mercury, is revolved in a large barrel. By this process the chlorine is removed by the iron and the mercury amalgamates with the silver, from which it is subsequently freed by distillation. Silver is freed from lead by melting the alloy and cooling slowly; the lead then solidifies in crystals, leaving the almost pure silver. The process of cupellation in shallow porous vessels made from bone-ashes gives a still greater degree of refining. Being melted with access of air, the lead oxidizes; the oxide or litharge melts, and, being absorbed by the cupel, the silver is left pure. Silver is the whitest of all metals, of high metallic lustre, is very ductile and tenacious, may be hammered to the ten-thousandth of an inch thick, and one grain may be drawn into four hundred feet of wire. Polished, it is an excellent reflector of light, and it is a good conductor of heat and electricity. To give silver the requisite hardness for coin and silver-plate, it is usually alloyed with about one tenth of its weight of copper. The specific gravity of silver is 10.5, and it is harder than gold, but softer than copper. See AMALGAMATION; MERCURY METALS.
American Watchmaker and Jeweler (1892)
A soft, white, precious metal, very malleable and ductile and capable of taking a high polish. For Silver Plating, see Electro-Plating