Geo. Does silver melt easily?
Tut. Silver and gold both melt more difficultly than lead; not till they are above a common red heat. As to the weight of silver, it is nearly one half less than that of gold, being only eleven times as heavy as water.
Har. Is quicksilver a kind of silver?
Tut. It takes its name from silver, being very like it in colour; but in reality it is a very different thing, and one of the most singular of the metal kind.
Geo. It is not malleable, I am sure.
Tut. No; not when it is quick or fluid, as it always is in our climate. But a very great degree of cold makes it solid, and then it is malleable like other metals.
Geo. I have heard of killing quicksilver; pray, what does that mean?
Tut. It means destroying its property of running about, by mixing it with something else. Thus if quicksilver be well rubbed with fat, or oil, or gum, it unites with them, losing all its metallic appearance or fluidity. It also unites readily with gold and silver, and several other metals, into a kind of shining paste, which is called an amalgam. This is one of the ways of gilding or silvering a thing. Your buttons are gilt by means of an amalgam.
Geo. How is that done?
Tut. The shells of the buttons, which are made of copper, are shaken in a hat with a lump of amalgam of gold and quicksilver, till they are all covered over with it. They are then put into a sort of frying-pan, and held over the fire. The quicksilver, being very volatile in its nature, flies off in the form of a smoke or vapour when it is heated, leaving the gold behind it spread over the surface of the button. Thus many dozens are gilt at once with the greatest ease.