Calamine (mineral)

The name calamine was derived from lapis calaminaris, a Latin correption of Greek cadmia (καδμία), the old name for zinc ores in general.

During the early 19th century it was discovered that what had been thought to be one ore was actually two distinct minerals: Although chemically and crystallographically quite distinct, the two minerals exhibit similar massive or botryoidal external form[1][2] and are not readily distinguished without detailed chemical or physical analysis.

[4][5]: 207–209  The only known method for producing the alloy was by heating copper and calamine together in the cementation process and in 1568 a royal charter was granted to the Society of the Mineral and Battery Works to search for the mineral and produce brass, to reduce dependence on imported metal from Germany.

In 1738 a patent was granted to William Champion, a Bristol brass founder, for the large-scale reduction of calamine to produce spelter.

In 1684 a paper presented to the Royal Society described the medicinal and veterinary properties of the compound when in finely powdered form.