Valuable Receipts. How to make a silver tree.

Scientific American, 6.6.1863

Mix one part of a saturated solution of nitrate of silver with twenty parts of distilled water, and pour the mixture upon two parts of metallic mercury in a phial. The phial is now to be left standing quietly for several days, when the mixture within will put forth branches, and the figure of a beautiful tree of silver will appear to grow from the mercury.