Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1892 — How Nature Makos Silver. [ARTICLE]

How Nature Makos Silver.

The process by which nature forms such accumulations of silver are very interesting. It must be remembered that the earth’s crust is full of water, which percolates everywhere through the rocks, making solutions of elements obtained fjom them. These chemical solutions take - up small particles of the precious metal which they And scattered, here and there. Sometimes the solutions in question are hot, the water having got so far down as to be set a-boiling by the internal heat of the globe., Then they rush upward. picking up the bits of metal as they go. Naturally, heat assists the performance of this operation. Now and then the streams thus formed, perpetually flowing hither and thither below ground, pass through cracks or cavities in the rocks, they deposit their loads of silver. This is kept up for a great length of time, perhaps thousands of years, until the Assure or pocket is fllied up. Crannies permeating the stony mass in every direction may become filled with the metal, or occasionally a chamber may be stored full of it, as if a myriad hands were fetching the treasure from all sides and hiding away a future bonanza for some lucky prospector to discover in another age.—Minerals.