Editing Calamine (mineral)

{{short description|Zinc ore group}}
{{about|calamine in mineralogy|the calamine used in calamine lotion|Calamine|other uses|Calamine (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Hemimorphite-Smithsonite-220555.jpg|thumb|Specimen of calamine from mine at [[Granby, Missouri]]]][[File:Hemimorphite-158400.jpg|thumb|Crystalline zinc ore sourced from the [[Sterling Hill Mining Museum|Sterling Hill mine]], New Jersey]][[File:Galmei.jpg|thumb|Mined example from the 17th century brass-producing town of [[Stolberg (Rhineland)|Stolberg, Jülich]]]]
'''Calamine''' is a historic name for an [[ore]] of [[zinc]].  The name ''calamine'' was derived from ''lapis calaminaris'', a Latin [[correption]] of Greek ''cadmia (καδμία)'', the old name for zinc ores in general. The name of the [[Belgium|Belgian]] town of [[Kelmis]], ''La Calamine'' in [[French language|French]], which was home to a zinc mine, comes from this. In the 18th and 19th centuries large ore mines could be found near the [[Germany|German]] [[village]] of [[Breinigerberg]].

During the early 19th century it was discovered that what had been thought to be one ore was actually two distinct [[minerals]]:

* Zinc [[carbonate]] Zn[[Carbon|C]][[Oxygen|O]]<sub>3</sub> or [[smithsonite]] and
* Zinc [[silicate]] Zn<sub>4</sub>[[Silicon|Si]]<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub>(O[[Hydrogen|H]])<sub>2</sub>·H<sub>2</sub>O or [[hemimorphite]].

Although chemically and crystallographically quite distinct, the two minerals exhibit similar massive or [[botryoidal]] external form<ref>[http://webmineral.com/data/Hemimorphite.shtml#.VcFXlvO6fRY Hemimorphite on Webmineral]</ref><ref>[http://www.webmineral.com/data/Smithsonite.shtml#.VcFXjfO6fRY Smithsonite on Webmineral]</ref> and are not readily distinguished without detailed chemical or physical analysis. The first person to separate the minerals was the [[Great Britain|British]] chemist and mineralogist [[James Smithson]] in 1803.<ref name=goode>{{cite book|last=Goode|first=George Brown|title=The Smithsonian Institution, 1846-1896, The History of Its First Half Century|year=1897|publisher=De Vinne Press|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=12–13|url=http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_sic_462}}</ref>  In the [[mining]] industry the term calamine has been historically used to refer to both minerals indiscriminately.

In [[mineralogy]] calamine is no longer considered a valid term. It has been replaced by smithsonite and hemimorphite in order to distinguish it from the pinkish mixture of [[zinc oxide]] (ZnO) and [[iron(III) oxide]] (Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>) known as [[calamine|calamine lotion]].

==Early history==
In the 16th century demand for  [[latten]] (brass) in England came from the needs of [[Carding|wool-carding]], for which brass-wire combs were preferred, and battery pieces (brassware formed by hammering  sheet brass in a [[Stamp mill|battery mill]]).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pollard|first1=A. Mark|last2=Heron|first2=Carl|title=Archaeological chemistry|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologicalch00poll_583|url-access=limited|date=2008|publisher=[[Royal Society of Chemistry]]|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-85404-262-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologicalch00poll_583/page/n221 203]|edition=2}}</ref><ref name=JWG>{{cite book|last1=Gough|first1=John Weidhofft|title=The Mines of Mendip|date=1930|publisher=Oxford University Press|oclc=163035417}}</ref>{{rp|207–209}} The only known method for producing the alloy was by heating copper and calamine together in  the [[Calamine brass|cementation process]] and in 1568 a royal charter was granted to the [[Company of Mineral and Battery Works|Society of the Mineral and Battery Works]] to search for the mineral and produce brass, to reduce dependence on imported metal from Germany. Factories to exploit the process were established at [[Isleworth]] and [[Rotherhithe]].<ref name=JWG /> By the late 17th century enough was known of metallic zinc to make [[Brazing#Cu-Zn|brass solder]] directly by combining copper and  [[Spelter#Zinc ingots|spelter]] (zinc ingots). In 1738 a patent was granted to [[William Champion (metallurgist)|William Champion]], a [[Bristol]] brass founder, for the large-scale [[Smelting#Reduction|reduction]] of calamine to produce spelter.<ref name=JWG /> There were many calamine mines in Shipham, not far from William Champion's brass works.

In 1684 a paper presented to the [[Royal Society]] described the medicinal and veterinary properties of the compound when in [[Calamine|finely powdered form]].<ref name=JWG />{{rp|219–221}} Since then no mechanism of action for the powder has been identified, and {{as of|1992|lc=y}} the only medical effect of the powdered mineral appears to be its ability to absorb moisture secreted from irritated and weeping skin.<ref name="Marcinko1992">{{cite book|author=David Edward Marcinko|title=Medical and Surgical Therapeutics of the Foot and Ankle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uchsAAAAMAAJ|year=1992|publisher=William & Wilkins|isbn=978-0-683-05549-8|page=134}}</ref>

==References==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Calamine}}
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Zinc minerals]]

[[sv:Galmeja]]