The metal is soluble in solutions of chlorine, bromine, thiosulphates and cyanides; and also in solutions which generate chlorine, such as mixtures of hydrochloric acid with nitric acid, chromic acid, antimonious acid, peroxides and nitrates, and of nitric acid with a chloride.
As a general rule the modification stable at higher temperatures possesses a lower density; but this is by no means always the case, since the converse is true for antimonious and arsenious oxides, silver iodide and some other substances.
The insufficiency of this argument, however, is shown by the data for arsenious and antimonious oxides, and also for the polymorphs of calcium carbonate, the more symmetrical polymorphs having a lower density.
The antimonious compounds are decomposed on addition of water, with formation of basic salts.
In association with antimonious and arsenious sulphides, silver sulphide forms many important minerals, which sometimes present dimorphous forms, reflecting the dimorphism of silver sulphide; moreover, the corresponding arsenious and antimonious compounds are frequently isomorphous.
