At the Madras Exhibition of 1857, a rich ore of argentiferous galena was exhibited from Martaban by Dr. Brandis, granular or in minute crystals, with silver passing through it in thready veins. This ore, assayed by Dr. Scott, was found to con tain about 80 per cent. of silver lead. The quantity of silver was found to vary in the portion examined from 70 to 300 ounces in the ton of ore. By Pattinson's mode for separating the silver, the process proves remunerative where only 7 ounces of silver can be obtained frona a ton of metal. The Rev. Francis Mason, M.A., says the limestone of the provinces probably contains a larger quantity of lead. In the valley of the Salwin there is a , rich vein of argentiferous galena, which is reported to appear on the surface. Dr. Morton sent a specimen to England for analysis, and Professor Mitchell said it contained lead, sulphur, silver, gold (trac.es), lime, magnesia, iron, silica, and carbonic acid. It is a sulphuret of lead or galena.
Mr. O'Riley had a specimen of an ore of silver, antimony, copper, and sulphur brought him, which produced 35 per cent. of silver ; and the Tavoy gold, it would appear, contains nearly 10 per cent. of the same metal.
Much silver was brought forinerly from Tonquin in Annam in exchange for zinc, and from Cam bodia.
Crawfurd says that no veins of this metal have been discovered in any of the islands of the Malay or Philippine Archipelagos, many of which con tain abundant stores of iron, gold, tin, and anti mony. A small quantity of it, however, appears to be contained in all the gold of these countries, and it is said that on the island of Banca there are silver mines, but the sultan had a great objec tion to their being worked.
Silver mines are quite as numerous in Japan as those of gold. In one year the Portuguese, while they had the trade, exported in silver £587,500 sterling.
Silver is brought from Yunnan, near the borders of Cochin-China, and the mines in that direction must be both extensive and easily worked to afford such large quantities as have been exported. In China, silver is obtained from Cbing-shui, Lien chau, Shati-chau-fu, Chau-clian-fu, Shau-king-fu, and Kau-chau-fu (Kwang-tung); also from the island of Hainan, from Kwei-lin-fu, Liu-chau-fu, King-yuen-fu, and Sin-chau-fu in Kwang-si ; from Wu-ting-chau in Yunnan ; from Chang-teh-fn and Ho-nan-fu in Ho-nan ; from Si-gnan-fu Shen-si ; and from Kung-chang-fu in Kan-sn. According to the Wan-chau topography, the working of silver was discontinued in the reign of 1Van-lih (1615) in consequence of imperial prohibition.
There have been in all countries in historic times great changes in the value of silver com pared with that of gold. In British India, in the earlier part of the 19th century, a tola (180 grains) of gold could be purchased for 15 or 16 Wilts of silver, but in the period between 1870 rind 1883, tolat of gold was costing even 23 tolas of silver. Silver has long been selected as a medium of exchange or standard of value ; but at certain periods of history its purchasing power has under gone very great alterations. Between tho reign of Edward tit. and the accession of Elizabeth, silver rose steadily in value, at the end of that period its purchasing power being double what it was at the beginuing. In other words, one ounce of silver at the accession of Elizabeth would buy almost as much as two ounces in the tinie of Edward itt. The causes of this extraordinary rise seem to have been the gradual exhaustion of the old mines and the growth of wealth and trade in Europe. The discovery of tho mines of Mexico
and Peru caused a great and rapid fall, so that at the accession of Charles 4. the purchasing power of silver was only about one-third of what it had been at the accession of Elizabeth. During the following two centuries and a half there was little alteration. The working of the Spanish American mines thus so reduced the value of silver that it took three ounces to buy what one ounce previ ously would have bought. Silver thus became thrice as cheap as in the niiddle of the Tudor period, and fifty per cent. cheaper than at the time of Crecy. The mines of Mexico and Peru yielded gold as well as silver, but the latter far more abundantly. Gold therefore also fell in value, but not so much as silver. In the middle ages one ounce of gold exchanged for ten of silver ; in 1792, when the United St,ates adopted the dollar coinage, they fixed the proportion at one to fifteen. In other words, the silver dollar was to weigh as much as fifteen gold dollars. By this Act silver was overvalued, and accordingly, in 1803, when France adopted the franc system, the Minister Gaudin fixed the proportion at one to fifteen and a half. Gaudin undervalued as Hamilton overvalued silver, and the consequences were very curious. Fifteen dollars' weight of silver in the open market and as bullion would not buy one dollar's weight of gold, but when coined it would. Consequently it was profitable to every person who had silver to get it coined. Furthermore, it was profitable to every person who had to pay money to pay it in silver, for the silver passed for more than it was intrinsically worth. Silver, therefore, was alone sent to the mint, and silver only passed from hand to band. What became of the gold ? It was legal tender just as silver was, for the United States adopted the bi-metallie system. Either gold or silver, therefore, would discharge debts to any amount. I3ut to pay gold would be to incur loss. Con sequently it disappeared from the American circulation, and was exported to France. France also adopted bi-metallism, but as she undervalued silver it would have been a loss to send it to the mint. Accordingly, silver was exported from France to the United States in return for tho gold sent by the latter. The United States find ing their gold gone, decided upon getting it back ; and in 1834 they re-valued the nietals, fixing the proportion then at one to sixteen. They thus passed from one error to another. As they had ' previously over-estimated Filver, they now under estimated it, and the result was precisely tho reverse of what had before occurred. The whole of the silver was exported, and gold took its place. So complete was the substitution, indeed, that since 1854 not a aingle silver dollar had been coined by the American mints, although the law making silver a legal tender equally m ith gold re mained upon the Statute Book until 1873. Here we have a double illustration, as complete 11A if it had been intended for verification, of the influence of mere coinage laws on the movement of the precious metals. In the course of half a century we find gold expelled from the United States and silver from France, and then silver swept away from the former and gold from the latter. Not withstanding previous experience, Germany has recently demonetized a silver coinage, substituting for it a gold one.