SILVER MONEY.

"SILVER is one of the best-known metals. It appears to have been known about 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 colour, without either taste or smell, and, in brilliancy, is inferior to none of the metallic bodies, if we except polished steel. It is softer than copper, but harder than gold. When melted, its specific gravity is 10-47; when hammered, 10.510. It is next in malleability to gold, having been beaten out into leaves only 100.000th part of an inch in thickness. Its ductility is no less remarkable. It may be drawn out into a wire much finer than a human hair -so fine, indeed, that a single grain of silver may be extended about 400 feet in length. Its tenacity is such that a wire of silver 0·078 of an inch in diameter is capable of supporting a weight of 187.13 lbs. (avoirdupois) without breaking. The conductivity of silver for electricity and heat is greater than that of any other metal. Silver melts when heated completely red-hot; and while in the melted state, its brilliancy is greatly augmented. . . . Silver is not oxidized by exposure to the air; it gradually, indeed, loses its lustre, and becomes. tarnished; but this is owing to a different cause. Neither is it altered by being kept under water. But if it be kept for some time melted in an open vessel, it gradually attracts oxygen from the atmosphere; on cooling, this absorbed oxygen is disengaged with effervescence and spirting of the metal. .. When exposed to the direct rays of the sun, it gives out oxygen gas, and is converted into a black powder, probably consisting of a mixture of sub-oxide and metallic silver; when heated to 250°, it is resolved into silver and oxygen. . . . Silver does not burn in chlorine gas, even when heated; but it gradually absorbs the gas, and is converted into the well-known compound formerly called horn-silver, or chloride of silver. This chloride, however, is more easily obtained by dissolving silver in nitric acid, and mixing the solution with a solution of common salt. A copious curdy precipitate falls. When this precipitate is washed and dried, it constitutes pure chloride of silver. Its specific gravity is 5.550. It is completely insoluble in water, but is easily dissolved by ammonia.

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When exposed to the air, it changes from white to a purple or blackish colour; hence its great use in photography. . . . It is well known that when silver is long exposed to the air, especially in frequented places, as churches, theatres, &c., it acquires a covering of a violet colour, which deprives it of its lustre and malleability; this coating is sulphide of silver.

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"Native silver has been distinguished into common and auriferous native silver; the former consists of silver alloyed with a small proportion of antimony, arsenic, iron, &c. ; the latter frequently contains 50 per cent. of gold. Native silver occurs principally in veins, traversing gneiss, clay-slate, and other primitive and transition rocks. There are but few countries in which it is found in any considerable quantity. Among these are the mining districts of Saxony and Bohemia, also Norway and Siberia, but particularly Mexico and Peru. The methods employed in obtaining the silver from its various ores are two in number-smelting and amalgamation. The former is founded on the great affinity of silver for lead, which, when fused with silver, acts as a solvent, and extracts it from its union with baser metals. The silver is afterwards separated from the lead by the wellknown power of cupellation, which consists in exposing the alloy to a stream of atmospheric air, by which the lead is converted into an oxide (litharge), while the silver remains untouched. . . . With respect to the other method of reduction or separation-amalgamation-the first operation consists in the selection of the ores to form a proper mixture with reference to the quantity of silver and sulphur they contain. It has been observed that the amalgamation process succeeds best when the silver produced is about 75 ounces to the ton of ore; at the same time, regard must be had to the quantity of sulphur present, which is ascertained from the quantity of sulphide in the ore, previously learned by an assay in the crucible. The sulphur is got rid of by adding to the mixture of raw ore 10 per cent. of common salt, by which, during the furnace operations, the sulphur is oxidized, and the acid thus formed, uniting with the base of the salt, forms sulphate of soda; whilst the hydrochloric acid thus set free combines with the silver in the ore that was not in the metallic state, and forms chloride of silver. In this state, the ore is subjected to various mechanical operations with riddles, mills, and sieves, until it is reduced to an impalpable powder. It is then submitted to the action of mercury. This operation is performed in barrels, which are arranged so as to revolve on their axles. The mixture, or charge, in each barrel consists of sifted calcined ore, mercury, metallic iron, and water, in certain proportions. The ore is composed of sulphate of soda, chloride of silver, and other metals and earthy matters. The

barrels being made to revolve during a period of sixteen or eighteen hours, the chloride of silver becomes decomposed by the action of the iron, with the production of chloride of iron and metallic silver; the latter combines with the mercury, forming what is termed an amalgam, whilst the sulphate of soda, the chloride of iron, and other salts are dissolved in the water. The silver, combined with mercury, is then filtered, by which the surplus metal is separated, and a compound remains, consisting of six parts of mercury and one of silver. This amalgam is subjected to the action of heat in a distilling furnace, by which the mercury is sublimed, and the silver remains. Silver is also sometimes separated from copper by the process of eliquation. ... Large quantities of silver are now obtained from argentiferous lead ores by Pattinson's process.

"The silver mines of North and South America are incomparably more important than those of all the rest of the world; and at present, the produce of North American mines is far greater than that of the South American mines. The mines of Mexico were worked before the Spanish conquest, and then produced large quantities of silver. . . . In Guanaxuato is the largest known vein of silver in Mexico, traversing the country for upwards of eight miles, and attaining in some places a width of 150 feet. The total value of the silver produced by the Mexican mines, from 1521 up to the present time, has been estimated at between £600,000,000 and £700,000,000. Of late years, the annual production has been valued at about £4,000,000. Great deposits of silver have recently been discovered in the Western States of America, particularly in Nevada; the total produce being estimated, in 1874, at over £6,500,000. The annual production of Chili is estimated at 21,000,000; of Peru, at £800,000. Considerable quantities of silver are also produced in Europe. The average production of Germany is estimated at about £600,000, the districts in which the silver is obtained being chiefly Saxony and the Harz. In Britain, silver is obtained from argentiferous lead ore, the value of the produce in 1873 being over £131,000" (" Popular Encyclopædia ").

During the three centuries and a half subsequent to the discovery of the New World, the addition to the stock of silver was four times greater than the addition made to the stock of gold; nevertheless, silver, during that period, diminished in relative value only one-fifth. In 1500, the value of gold in relation to silver was as 12 to 1; in 1848, it stood at 15 to 1; in 1882, it is about 18 to 1.

The price of silver had been undergoing a slow decline for some years, but in 1876 this suddenly culminated in a fall of prices within a few months from 561d. to 481d. an ounce; the whole fall in four years representing a depreciation of more than 20 per cent. in the value of

the metal, measured in gold. The effect of this fall in silver will be best understood if you imagine gold, the basis of our currency, to be suddenly reduced in value one-fifth. The fall in silver has this effect upon India, as silver is to that country what gold is to ours- the basis of its currency. Here we sell and reckon by the gold sovereign, there they sell and reckon by the silver rupee. So that in 1876, when silver fell to about 48d. an ounce, the value of the rupee expressed in gold, instead of being 2s., was reduced to less than 1s. 7d. Think of your sovereign being reduced in value to 15s. 10d.! In August, 1879, the price was 514d. to 51gd.; week ending March 12th, 1881, it was 521d.; November 15th, 1882, it was 4s. 2d. per ounce.

One of the principal causes of the depreciation in the value of silver is the large additional supply of silver yielded by the Nevada Mines in recent years. In 1875 the aggregate production of silver throughout the world is estimated to have been about £15,000,000, more than half this amount, £8,000,000, being obtained from American mines. Twenty years previously, namely, between 1852 and 1862, the average annual production was only from £8,000,000 to £9,000,000, and at that time no appreciable quantity came from the United States. Simultaneously with this large increase in the supply of silver many circumstances occurred which greatly diminished the demand for silver. Silver was demonetised in Germany; and Germany consequently not only ceased to require the large amount of silver which she had previously used for coinage, but a great portion of the silver in circulation was withdrawn and sold by the German Government. Another circumstance which has produced a very important effect in diminishing the demand for silver is the great increase in recent years in the Indian home charges. The value of the products exported from India has always been in excess of the value of those imported. Until quite lately the balance was liquidated by transmitting silver to India. In some years the silver thus sent amounted to more than £10,000,000. Such a transmission of silver constituted one of the chief sources of the demand for silver, and was indeed one of the most important factors in maintaining its value. Each addition, however, that is made to the home charges diminishes pro tanto this demand for silver. An English merchant, for instance, who has purchased £100,000 worth of Indian produce, instead of sending silver to India to pay for it, purchases bills from the Indian Government in England, drawn upon the Indian Government in Calcutta, and the amount of bills which the Government has to sell in England increases, of course, with each increase in the home charges; and a powerful effect is being exerted at the present time in depreciating the value of silver by the large amount of bills which have to be sold by the Indian

Government in England to provide for the home charges. The loans being chiefly raised in England, it is obvious that the interest on these loans represents so much more which has to be transmitted from India to England, or, in other words, so much added to the home charges. The largest portion of the money which has been borrowed in recent years by the Indian Government has been obtained by loans raised in England; and the additional amount which has to be provided to meet the interest on these loans represents, of course, so much added to the home charges. In 1856 the sum annually required to pay the interest on the Indian debt was £2,190,000, in 1870-1 it was £3,200,000, and in 1876-7 it was £4,350,000. From these figures it appears that in twenty years the indebtednesss of India increased by about 100 per

cent.

The revenue of the two years 1879-80 and 1880-1 exceeded the public expenditure, with the exception of the expenditure on war and famine, by no less than £4,500,000 sterling a-year; although the revenues of India, so often stigmatized as inelastic, have grown during the last twelve years by no less than £9,000,000 sterling a-year, and present every appearance of a further healthy development. The public expenditure during the same period has increased by only £3,250,000, of which £2,750,000 is due to the disturbance of the relations between gold and silver. The credit of the Government of India has of late years steadily improved, so much so that the average rate of interest on the debt has been reduced from 4·6 in 1869-70 to 8.8 in 1880-1. In all ways the financial situation is now better; and Sir John Strachey, at the close of his detailed review of the financial situation in 1882, said: "There remains at the present time, after providing for famine and all other liabilities, excepting always any from the possible charge under loss by exchange, an available surplus of at least £2,000,000." The loss by exchange is still very great, and arises from the obligation under which India is placed, to remit year by year about £18,000,000 sterling in payment of what are called the home charges. The process of remittance is managed in this way: the Secretary of State for India draws bills on the Treasuries at Calcutta and Bombay, and these are bought by the exchange banks, and sent out to India to pay the shippers of an equivalent amount of produce. The depreciation in the value of silver has necessitated a much larger quantity of rupees to pay this £18,000,000 sterling which India has to pay for English rule. In 1874-5 the loss by exchange to the Indian Government was only £500,000, in 1876-7 the loss was £1,676,482, in 1878-9 the loss was nearly £3,500,000.

In 1873, the action of Germany began to have a marked effect in