Silver - The Magical Metal

Silver is an element that has been used for thousands of years. Silver has been used as money. During one of the world wars, silver was used occasionally for wiring in electronic devices. I have heard that one of the atomic bombs, that was used in World War 2 contained silver wiring. That makes silver very famous, or infamous. Silver has also been used in photography for many years.
There is another use for silver though, which has pretty much been forgotten about. Before antibiotics were discovered, silver was used to treat infectious diseases and infected wounds. Years before antibiotics, silver solutions were used to kill micro organisms. The solution of silver is called colloidal silver.
Colloidal silver is made using electricity. Thin strips of silver are attached to wires and suspended in pure distilled water. The metal you use must be pure, 100% silver. The wires are connected to several batteries or a high voltage source of electricity. The silver breaks down in the water, into an ion form, and is suspended in the water. The electricity causes the silver to mix with the water at a microscopic level. The tiny microscopic particles of silver are electrically charged and suspended in the water. Often the color of a colloidal silver solution is light yellow, with an almost golden tint.
Colloidal silver is described by the FDA as being a pre-1938 drug. It is still legal to advertise, sell and use colloidal silver for the same treatments used at that time. It is thought that colloidal silver, destroys viruses, fungi, bacteria or other micro organisms by turning off their oxygen metabolism enzyme. Without receiving the oxygen the organism needs, it will die.
It is likely that this property was first found when someone dropped a pure silver coin in a cup of milk, and came back much later to find the milk still fresh and good to drink.
Silver coins come in two types, numismatic and bullion coins. Bullion coins are made of the pure metal so a silver bullion coin would be close to 100% silver content. Numismatic coins are not pure metal coins. They are made of an alloy, a mixture of metals. Their value is derived more from their rarity, than their metal content.
The advantage to using real silver or gold coins as a monetary system, the way it was done in the old days, is that they have real value in themselves. The silver or gold has its own value, and is recognised as having real value. Contrast that with paper money, which only has an artificial value placed on it by the governmental body which issued the bank note. A note legally speaking is an instrument of debt, the opposite of what money should be. A note indicates someone owes something to by paid to another person.
Silver is a wondrous metal. It is almost magical. It has value in itself. It can help capture an image, help show your reflection in a mirror, kill what is making you sick and at a pinch wire your electronic devices.