MISPICKEL

This article appears in Volume V18, Page 579 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MIC-MOL

MISPICKEL , a

mineral

MINERAL

consisting of iron sulpharsenide, FeAsS; it contains 46% of arsenic, and is of importance as anore of this

element

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

. It is known also as arsenopyrite or arsenical pyrites (Ger. Arsenikkies) : mispickel is an old name of German origin, and in the form Mistpuckel was used by G. Agricola in 1546. The crystals are orthorhombic, with angles similar to those of marcasite; they are often prismatic in habit, and the prism M is usually terminated by the deeply striated faces of an obtuse

dome

DOME (Lat domus,
house
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
  Gothic
  - GOTHIC
  it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
; Ital. duomo, cathedral)

r. Twinning is not uncommon, the twin-
planes. M (no) and g (1o1) being the same as in marcasite. The colour of the

mineral

MINERAL

is silver-white or steel-grey, with a metallic lustre, but it is often tarnished yellow; the streak is greyish-black. The hardness is 51-6, and the specific gravity 5.96.2.
Mispickel occurs in metalliferous veins with ores of tin, copper, silver, &c. It is occasionally found as embedded crystals, for example, in serpentine at Reichenstein, Silesia. In

Cornwall

CORNWALL

and Devon it is associated with cassiterite in the tin-lodes, but is also found in the copper-lodes: well crystallized specimens have been obtained from the neighbourhood of Tavistock, Redruth and St Agnes. Mispickel is the principal source of arsenious

oxide

OXIDE

or the " white arsenic " of commerce (see ARSENIC). The

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

supplies are from

Cornwall

CORNWALL

and Devon, and Freiberg in Saxony, and from Canada and the United States.
Danaite is a cobaltiferous variety of mispickel, containing up to 9% of

cobalt

COBALT (symbol Co, atomic weight 59)

replacing iron; it was first noticed by J. F. Dana in 1824 at Franconia in New

Hampshire

HAMPSHIRE (or COUNTY OF SOUTHAMPTON, abbreviated HANTS)

. This variety forms a passage to the species glaucodote, (Co,Fe)AsS, which is found as well-developed orthorhombic crystals in copper ore at Hakansboda in Ramberg parish, Vestmanland, Sweden. Other species belonging to this isomorphous group of orthorhombic minerals are marcasite (FeS2), lollingite (FeAs2), safflorite (CoAs2) and rammelsbergite (NiAs2). (L. J. S.)

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