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CINNABAR (Ger. Zinnober)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 376 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CINNABAR (Ger. Zinnober) , sometimes written cinnabarite, a name applied to red mercuric sulphide (HgS), or native See also:vermilion, the See also:common ore of See also:mercury. The name comes from the See also:Greek Kivval3api, used by See also:Theophrastus, and probably applied to several distinct substances. Cinnabar is generally found in a massive, granular or earthy See also:form, of See also:bright red See also:colour, but it occasionally occurs in crystals, with a metallic adamantine lustre. The crystals belong to the hexagonal See also:system, and are generally of See also:rhombohedral See also:habit, sometimes twinned. Cinnabar presents remarkable resemblance to See also:quartz in its symmetry and See also:optical characters. Like quartz it exhibits circular polarization, and A. See also:Des Cloizeaux showed that it possessed fifteen times the rotatory See also:power of quartz (see POLARIZATION OF See also:LIGHT). Cinnabar has higher refractive power than any other known See also:mineral, its mean See also:index for See also:sodium light being 3.02, whilst the index for diamond—a substance of remarkable refraction—is only 2.42 (see See also:REFRACTION). The hardness of cinnabar is 3, and its specific gravity 8.998. Cinnabar is found in all localities which yield quicksilver, notably See also:Almaden (See also:Spain), New Almaden (See also:California), See also:Idria (See also:Austria), Landsberg, near Ober-Moschel in the See also:Palatinate, Ripa, at the See also:foot of the Apuan See also:Alps (See also:Tuscany), the See also:mountain Avala (See also:Servia), See also:Huancavelica (See also:Peru), and the See also:province of Kweichow in See also:China, whence very See also:fine crystals have been obtained. Cinnabar is in course of deposition at the See also:present See also:day from the hot See also:waters of See also:Sulphur See also:Bank, in California, and Steamboat Springs, See also:Nevada.

Hepatic cinnabar is an impure variety from Idria in See also:

Carniola, in which the cinnabar is mixed with bituminous and earthy See also:matter. Metacinnabarite is a cubic form of mercuric sulphide, this See also:compound being dimorphous. For a See also:general description of cinnabar, see G. F. See also:Becker's See also:Geology of the Quicksilver Deposits of the Pacific Slope, U.S. Geol. Surv. Monographs, No. xiii. (1888). (F. W.

End of Article: CINNABAR (Ger. Zinnober)

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