Abstract
FURTHER details concerning the new element, whose probable existence was announced in a paper communicated to the Chemical Society at their meeting on April 21, are contributed to the number of the Chemiker Zeitung dated May 11. The mineral containing the new substance was discovered in 1890 by Johnson Pacha in the bed of an old river in Upper Egypt long since dried up, but of the former existence of which there are records dating back some 6000 years. Indeed, the name by which it is known in the neighbourhood is “Bahr-bela-Mā,” or “river without water.” Here and there in the track of the old watercourse are small lakes whose water is of considerable repute for its medicinal value. Specimens of the mineral were sent by Johnson Pacha to the Khedivial Laboratory at Cairo, where it was examined by Messrs. H. Droop Richmond and Hussein Off, the authors of the paper laid before the Chemical Society. The mineral is found to be a fibrous variety of a mixed aluminium and iron alum containing ferrous, manganous, and cobaltous oxides. In addition, however, to these ordinary constituents, a small quantity of the oxide of another element would appear to be present, having properties entirely different from those of any yet known. This element the discoverers have termed masrium, from the Arabic name for Egypt, and the mineral has accordingly received the name of masrite. The symbol adopted for masrium is Ms. The composition of masrite may be expressed by the formula (Al,Fe)2O3. (Ms, Mn, Co, Fe)O. 4SO3. 20H2O. The amount of masrium present is very small, averaging only about 0˙2 per cent., but by working upon fifteen kilograms of the mineral a considerable quantity of the element in the form of various salts has been accumulated. A typical analysis of masrite published in the Proceedings of the Chemical Society is as follows:—
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TUTTON, A. The New Element, Masrium. Nature 46, 79–80 (1892). https://doi.org/10.1038/046079b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/046079b0