Excerpt from The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, Vol. 29: Fourth Series; January-June, 1865 The native bismuth was found more abundantly on the sur face of the vein, and became very rare as the workings in the mine increased in depth it occurred in irregular lumps or masses, and frequently as if wedged in between the walls Of the lode. The largest mass found in one piece weighed about 400 pounds, and had one side entirely overlaid with a thin plate Of gold Of a rather light colour, not more than 005 inch in thick ness, adherent and as if soldered to the bismuth. No crystals of bismuth were Observed; but on fracture the basal cleavage was perfect, and the fresh surfaces showed the peculiar reddish-white colour so characteristic of this metal. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.