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Striking the Right Balance

Pressed through pores and holes within the rock molten silver turns into spiral curls, due to amalgamation sometimes upto a centimeter thick. Such silver curls can be admired in mineral collections.
The precious metal was used not only for jewelry and for minting coins. In his cosmography the polymath Qazwini wrote in the 13th century: “It also helps against bad breath and is useful to cure scabies, mange and the blockage of urine. Furthermore it is an ingredient of the remedy against palpitations of the heart and is of extraordinary usefullness. In an ointment together with quicksilver it helps against haemorrhoids.”
Swallowed without restrictions silver can cause the loss of sense of taste and smell or cerebral spasms, not to mention irreversible slate grey discolourations of skin and mucosa. Yet the medical efficacy od silver can not be denied; its antibacterial properties are used today in salves and bandages. The therapeutial taking of colloidal silver that some internet pages promote probably belongs into the realm of urban myths.