78 
natural history. (Minerals.) 
[north 
Case 52. Besides the nitrates, (such as the nitrate of potassa, na- 
tive nitre or saltpetre , found as efflorescence, mixed with other salts, 
and as crystalline crusts, from Pulo di Molfetta in Apulia, from near 
Burgos in Spain, &c. ; nitrate of soda , Sfc. ;) this case contains part 
of the sulphates : — sulphate of soda, or glauber salt ; — thenardite, an 
anhydrous sulphate of soda, found in crystalline crusts, at the bottom of 
the briny waters of Espartines in Spain, five leagues from Madrid 
glauberite, a mineral composed of the anhydrous sulphates of soda and 
of lime, from the salt mines of Villarubia and Aranjuez in Spain, em- 
bedded in salt and clay. The rest of this, with half of the next case, 
is occupied by sulphates of baryta and baroselenite, denominated 
also heavy-spar, among which may be specified the splendid groups 
of straight-lamellar crystallized heavy-spar, especially those from 
Schemnitz in Hungary, and Clausthal in the Hartz, Traversella in 
Piedmont, the large very perfect crystals from Dufton, Cumberland, 
&c. ; the curved-lamella varieties ; the columnar, resembling car- 
bonate of lead ; the radiated, to which belongs the Bolognese spar, 
from Monte Paterno, near Bologna, from Bavaria, 8zc. ; the beautiful 
variety called ketten-spath, or chain-spar, from the Hartz ; the fibrous 
and the granular varieties ; the compact, called barytic or ponderous 
marble, &c. ; fetid baroselenite or hepatite, an intimate mixture of sul- 
phate of baryta with bituminous matter; earthy baroselenite: — also 
the wolnyne from Muzsay in Hungary is only a variety of sulphate of 
baryta. 
Case 53. Sulphate of baryta continued, and sulphate of strontia 
among the specimens of the latter salt, to which has been given the 
name of celestine, on account of the sky-blue tint of some of its varieties, 
the most remarkable are, the splendid groups of limpid prismatic crystals 
from La Catolica in Sicily, accompanied by sulphur ; those from the 
vicinity of Bristol, from St. Beat in the Dep. des Landes ; those 
from Falkenstein in Tyrol; from the salt mines of Aranjuez; the 
acicular variety in the hollows of compact sulphate of strontia from 
Montmartre ; in the fissures of flint, and in chalk, from Meudon ; the 
radiated and fibrous celestine from Pennsylvania, &c. 
Case 54 contains the sulphates of lime, the principal varieties of 
which are, — the selenite* or sparry gypsum, in detached crystals and 
splendid groups, from Bex in Swisserland, Montmartre near Paris, Ox- 
ford, &c. ; from St. Jago di Compostella, stained by red iron ochre; 
the fibrous gypsum with silky lustre, from Derbyshire, Swisserland, 
Montserrat ; the granular gypsum or alabaster ; the compact variety, to 
which belongs the stalagmitical gypsum from Guadaloupe ; the scaly 
gypsum (chaux sulphatee niviforme of Haliy) from Montmartre ; com- 
mon earthy gypsum, &c. — Anhydrous sulphate of lime, or anhydrite, 
(also called cube-spar and muriacite ,) crystalline, fibrous, granular and 
compact; to the last of which belong some of the Italian varieties 
known by the name of bardiglio and bardiglione, as also the singular 
fibrous-compact variety, familiarly called tripe-stone (pierre destrippes), 
from the salt mines of Wieliczka. 
Case 55. Sulphates continued : — sulphate of magnesia, or epsomite, 
* A remarkably fine group of selenite crystals is placed on a separate stand be- 
tween Table 54 and the window : it is from Herzog Ernst level, Reinhardsbrunn, 
Saxe-Coburg. Presented bv H. R. H. Prince Albert. 
