"The principal thing in mirrors is to get a white reflecting surface. Silver and mercury are metals which lend themselves to that use. If you polish anything bright enough it will serve as a mirror, but the whiter the surface is the better."
"Then why wouldn't white paper be the best?"
"It would if you could get a fine polish on its surface, but the finest surface on the densest paper is not as smooth as the polished surface of the metals."
"What is the best way to make the mirror?"
"The most available plan for us to follow is to make an amalgam of tin and mercury."
"But what do you mean by an amalgam?"
"It means the combination of mercury, or quicksilver, with any other metal."
"Will it be difficult to combine tin and mercury, so as to make an amalgam?"
"That is one of the simplest things in the arts. Tin and mercury unite by merely rubbing them together; see how easily they combine to form just such a surface as you want."
"Isn't that fine? But as that shines so nicely, what is the need of putting a glass over it?"