C 12 3 
II. A chemical Analysis of some Calamines . By James Smithson, 
Esq. F. R. S. 
Read November 18, 1802. 
Notwithstanding the experiments of Bergman and others, 
on those ores of zinc which are called calamine, much uncer- 
tainty still subsisted on the subject of them. Their constitution 
was far from decided, nor was it ever determined whether all 
calamines were of the same species, or whether there were se- 
veral kinds of them. 
The Abbe Hauy, so justly celebrated for his great know- 
ledge in crystallography and mineralogy, has adhered, in his 
late work,* to the opinions he had before advanced^ that 
calamines were all of one species, and contained no carbonic 
acid, being a simple calx of zinc, attributing the effervescence 
which he found some of them to produce with acids, to an acci- 
dental admixture of carbonate of lime. 
The following experiments were made to obtain a more 
certain knowledge of these ores; and their results will show 
the necessity there was for their farther investigation, and how 
wide from the truth have been the opinions adopted con- 
cerning them. 
Calamine from Bleyberg. 
a. The specimen which furnished the subject of this article, 
* Traite de Miner alogie, Tome IV. f Journal des Mines. 
