“…Regarding material where bismuth is largely in excess, Berthier (1834) also registered enhanced silver loss and suggested that it mainly occurs by impregnation, as, according to him, bismuth oxide is more fluid than lead oxide and carries away more silver within the pores of the cupel. However, modern data rule out Berthier's hypothesis, since, at 1000 C, the viscosity of PbO is 0.003 Pa s (Oliver, 1965) while the viscosity of Bi 2 O 3 is 0.01 Pa s (Meshalkin and Kaplun, 2005).…”