62 
Cryolite  and  its  Uses. 
J  Am.  Tour.  Pharm. 
\      Feb.,  18/7. 
CRYOLITE  AND  ITS  USES. 
By  Willis  Brenton,  Ph.G. 
[From  an  Inaugural  Essay  presented  to  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.) 
The  natural  deposits  of  cryolite  of  any  importance,  as  far  as  known, 
are  in  the  Ural  mountains  between  Russia  and  Siberia  and  on  the 
western  coast  of  Greenland,  the  latter  being  the  great  source  of  our 
cryolite  and  the  only  place  where  it  is  mined  and  exported  to  any  great 
extent.  The  deposits  at  Miask  in  the  Ural  mountains  are  compara- 
tively small  and  quite  impure,  in  combination  with  mica,  fluor  spar,  etc., 
and  being  so  far  from  civilization — in  a  mountainous  wilderness,  with 
very  poor  natural  facilities  for  transportation,  they  have  not  as  yet  been 
of  any  particular  use  to  the  world. 
The  Greenland  deposits  are  remarkably  pure  and  quite  accessible. 
The  veins,  of  a  depth  of  80  feet  usually,  are  near  the  surface  and 
extend  along  the  cliffs  for  many  hundred  feet.  At  this  place  the 
Danish  government  has  established  a  colony,  and  the  mineral  is  exten- 
sively mined  and  shipped  to  Denmark,  and  also  to  the  United  States. 
It  was  first  brought  to  notice  by  a  missionary  who  took  specimens  to 
Copenhagen,  where  it  was  analyzed  and  afterward  imported  as  a  source 
of  crude  soda  for  use  in  the  manufacture  of  soaps. 
Cryolite  is  a  beautiful  mineral.  It  generally  occurs  in  great  white 
masses,  partially  transparent,  of  a  crystalline  structure,  and  has  very 
much  the  appearance  of  snow-ice,  from  which  it  has  undoubtedly 
received  its  name,  the  Greek  word  kryos  signifying  ice.  Cryolite  has 
come  to  be  quite  an  item  of  commerce  in  this  country,  and  is  now 
imported  in  quantities  of  many  thousand  tons  yearly.  For  this  purpose 
many  vessels  are  employed.  It  is  not  often  that  a  vessel  can  make 
more  than  one  voyage  a  season,  on  account  of  the  floating  ice  in  the 
Northern  waters.  So  it  must  necessarily  take  quite  a  fleet  to  get  out 
sufficient  cryolite  to  supply  the  great  demand.  As  imported  to  this 
country,  the  mineral  contains  very  few  impurities.  In  fact,  I  believe 
there  is  a  contract  with  the  Danish  government,  and  only  a  certain 
percentage  of  impurities  are  allowed.  Each  cargo  is  inspected  before 
unloading,  and  if  not  up  to  the  standard  is  rejected.  When  it  is  mined 
at  a  good  depth,  say  80  or  100  feet  from  the  surface,  it  is  very  pure, 
whole  cargoes  containing  but  J  per  cent,  of  impurities.  In  some  of 
the  mines,  as  they  descend,  the  mineral  becomes  of  a  darker  color. 
But  a  peculiarity  about  it  is  that  on  exposure,  or  when  subjected  to  heat, 
the  color  is  entirely  dissipated,  leaving  the  cryolite  perfectly  pure.  The 
