GALLERY.] 
natural history. (Minerals.) 
63 
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, Szc. ; 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 sulphateeniviforme of Haiiy) 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 w T hich 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 des trippes), 
from the salt mines of Wieliczka. 
Case 55. Sulphates continued :—sulphate of magnesia , or epsomite , 
generally occurring in crystalline fibres : the fine variety from Calatayud 
in Aragon ; also the halotrichite ( haar-salz ) of Idria belongs to this 
species, and the stalactic cobalt-vitriol, as it is called, from Herrengrund 
in Hungary, which is only sulphate of magnesia, coloured red by oxide 
of cobalt.— Polyhalite , a chemical compound of several sulphates, 
formerly mistaken for anhydrous sulphate of lime: compact and fibrous, 
from the salt, formation of Berchtesgaden in Bavaria, and Ischel in 
Austria .—Sulphate of zinc , white vitriol or goslarite—Sulphate of 
iron , green vitriol , or melantherite , (a salt mostly produced by the de¬ 
composition of iron pyrites,) in beautiful large rhombohedral crystals, 
from Bodenmais in Bavaria, and massive, and in stalactic-fibrous forms, 
such as the specimens from the Rammelsberg, in the Hartz, where it 
also occurs in the form of yellow scales, known by the name of misy - 
and as concretions of a red colour, called vitriol-roth or botryogene : 
the plumose vitriol ( federsalz ), and a botryoidal-reniform substance 
called bergbutter, are nothing but casual mixtures of sulphate of iron and 
hydrous sulphate of alumina. — Sulphate of copper , or copper vitriol 
( cyanose , Beud.) :—the finest sky-blue specimens here deposited, toge¬ 
ther with the stalactic, fibrous, and crystallized varieties, (the large group 
of crystals is artificially prepared,) are from Herrengrund in Hungary. 
There are also tw 7 o or three scarce Siberian mineral substances placed 
in this Case (one of them, the brochantite ), which appear to be sub¬ 
sulphates of copper, but stand in need of more accurate chemical 
examination. — Sulphate of uranium oxide or johannite, a very rare 
mineral substance, from Joachimsthal, Bohemia .—Sulphate of lead, 
lead-vitriol , or anglesite, of which we have a suite of specimens with 
brilliant and well-defined crystals from Badenw T eiler in Suabia, from 
the Parys mine in Anglesea, &c. ; the sulphato-carbonate ( lanarkite ), 
and sulphato-tricarbonate ( suzannite ), the cupreous sulphato-carbonate 
( caledonite ) of lead, &c., from Leadhills, &c. — Sulphates of alumina : 
—common alum, crystallized, fibrous, &c., from various places; and 
the hydrous sub-sulphate of alumina , called aluminite, or websterite , 
from Sussex and from Halle in the territory of Magdeburg, which 
was by some mistaken for pure alumina, and by others for hydrate of 
* 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, Reiuhardsbrunn, 
Saxe-Coburg. Presented by H. R. H. Prince Albert. 
