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Identity of Trechmann's ‘β-tin’ with stannous sulphide1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2018

L. J. Spencer
L. J. Spencer*
Affiliation:
Mineral Department of the British Museum
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Extract

In 1879 the late Dr. C. O. Trechmann described in the pages of this Magazine some orthorhombic crystals from Cornish tin furnaces, which from the analyses of the late Mr. J. H. Collins were stated to be metallic tin. Shortly afterwards Baron Foullon described similar crystals from tin furnaces in Bohemia, arriving at the same results, and thus apparently confirming the observations of the previous authors. At a later date, in 1898, Dr. W. P. Headden analysed crystals of similar appearance, also from Cornish tin furnaces, which he found to be stannous sulphide (SnS), hut he stated that these crystals were monoclinic.

Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical magazine and journal of the Mineralogical Society , Volume 19 , Issue 92 , March 1921 , pp. 113 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1921

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Footnotes

1

Communicated by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum.

References

page 113 note 2 Treehmann, C. O., On a probably dimophous form of tin; and on some crystals found associated with it. Mineralog. Mag., 1879, vol. 3, pp. 186-192, pl. ixGoogle Scholar. The word ' probably ' in this title has reference to an obscure relation noticed by the author between the angles of his crystals and those of tetragonal tin. He evidently had in mind the possibility of a pseudo-orthorhombic form produced by twinning, since twinning is common in tetragonal tin.

page 113 note 3 von Foullnn, H., Ueber krystallisirtes Zinn. Verb. geol. Reichsanstalt, Wien, 1881, pp. 237-244 ; Jahrb. geol. Reichsanstalt, Wien, 1884, vol. 34, pp. 367-884, pl. viiGoogle Scholar.

page 113 note 4 Headden, W. P., Some products found in the hearth of an old furnace upon the dismantling of the Trethellen [Trethellan] tin works, Truro, Cornwall. Proc. Colorado Sci. Soc., [1901], vol. 6 (for 1897-1900), pp. 74-86Google Scholar. The same paper, but much abbreviated, also in Amer. J(,urn. Sci., 1898, ser. 4, vol. 5, pp. 93-96.

page 114 note 1 Stevanovic, S., Zur Kenntnis einiger kiinstlich dargestellter Verbindungen. Zeits. Kryst. Min., 1905, vol. 40, pp. 821-381Google Scholar.

page 115 note 1 The second kind of crystals measured by Trechmann, but not further determined, are identical with the iron arsenide, FeAs, described by Headden and Stevanovic (loc. cir.).

page 115 note 2 Cohen, E. and others, in a lung series of papers 'On the enantiotropy of tin' . Proc. K. Akad. Wetenseh. Amsterdam, 1899-1902, vols. 2-4; 1913: vol. 15, p. 839Google Scholar; translations in Zeits. physik. Chemie, 1899-1909, vols. 30-68. A short popular account is given in my translation of R. Brauns's Mineral Kingdom, 1908-12, p. 188.

page 116 note 1 Grey tin is cubic according to X-ray investigation of tile crystal-structure by A. J. Bijl and Kolkmeijer, N. H., Proc. K. Akad. Wetensch. Amsterdam, 1919, vol. 21, pp. 405 Google Scholar. 501

page 116 note 2 E.g.. Werner, M., Zeits. Anorg. Chemie, 1913, vol. 83, p. 292 Google Scholar.

page 116 note 3 O. Mügge, Uber die einfachen Sehiebungen am Zinn und seine Zustands-anderung bet 161. Centralblatt Min., 1917, pp. 288-289.

page 117 note 1 Trechmann says 'Brittle to mild' (p. 191) and 'The crystals are brittle when strained transversely, but against pressure they seem to be slightly ductile' (p. 188). This ' brittleness' has been emphasized by some authors in their attempts to accommodate the crystals in the tin scheme.

page 118 note 1 From the plane angle, 95° between the edges [(010) (111)] and [(010) (111)] as measured under the microscope.

page 118 note 2 These blowpipe reactions agree with those given by Trechmann and by Collins, who, however overlooked the sulphur. As pointed out by C. F. Rammelsberg in 1880, they are not those of metallic tin. Collins evidently did not make his blowpipe tests on the same kind of crystals that he analysed quantitatively.

page 119 note 1 This photomicrograph was taken in the laboratory of Dr. J. E. Stead, and I have to thank him for his permission to use it in this place.

page 119 note 2 K rough analysis made on this material of sp. gr. 6-45 showed about 17 per cent. of iron, in addition to tin and sulphur. The amount of iron exceeds that required for the iron stannide FeSn~, and suggests that other stannides richer in iron (see p. 122) may also be present.

page 120 note 1 The actual values arranged in order of magnitude are : 4.852 (C J.B. Karsten, 1882), 4.978 (R. Schneider, 1855), 5.0802 (A. Ditto, 1888), 5.267 (P. Boullay, 1880), 5.52 and 5.62 (see above), 5.782 (W. P. Headden, determined on the material analysed by him in 1898; not previously published), 6.81 and 6.45 (see above), 6.525 and 6.557 (C. O. Trechmann, 1879). The first four lower values were determined on crystallized laboratory products and the remainder on impure furnace products. The value 5.0, as calculated above, is probably near the truth.

page 122 note 1 Headden, W. P., Proc. Colorado Sci. Soc., vol. 4 (for 1891-98), pp. 81-122Google Scholar ; Amer. Journ. Sci., 1892, ser. 3, vol. 44, pp. 464-468.

page 122 note 2 Stevanovic, S., Zeits. Kryst. Min., 1905, vol. 40, pp. 327–331 Google Scholar.

page 122 note 3 Rammelsberg, C. F., Ann. Phys. Chem. (Poggendorff), 1863, vol. 120, p. 54 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

page 122 note 4 Stead, J.E., with notes by L. J. Spencer, The ternary alloys of tin-antimonyarsenic. Journ. Instit. of Metals, London, 1919, vol. 22 (no. 2 for 1919), pp. 127-144,Google Scholar pls. VIII-XVII ; reprinted (from the uncorrected proofs) in Engineering, London, 1919, vol. 108, pp. 663-667.

page 122 note 5 J. E. Stead, loc. cit., pl. X, fig. 4A.

page 123 note 1 Headden, W. P., Proc. Colorado Sci. Soc., [1901], vol. 6 (for 1897-1900), p. 80 Google Scholar ; Amer. Journ. Sci., 1898, ser. 4, vol. 5, p. 95.

page 123 note 2 Stevanovic, S., Zeits. Kryst. Min., 1905, vol. 40, p. 326 Google Scholar. His error in stating the chemical formula is corrected by P. Groth, Chemische Krystallographie, 1906, vol. 1, p. 66.