CERARGYRITE, the name usually applied by mineralogists to naturally-occurring silver chloride, though sometimes taken to include the bromide and iodide as well, or mixtures of them. It crystallizes rarely in the cubic system, but usually forms horn like masses, known to miners as horn-silver. It is very soft, being easily cut with a knife, and usually of a dirty grey or yellowish colour. It is an important ore of silver, occurring in considerable quantity in the oxidation zone of silver lodes in dry climates, such as Chile, Peru, and Broken Hill in New South Wales, where the surface waters are rich in chlorides, bromides and iodides.
(R. H. RA.)