Muséum national d'histoire naturelle _ The species

FROM : Province du Hunan, China
SIZE : 5 x 4 cm

This cinnabar is on ecru crystallized dolomite. Crystals are twinned, tehy are transludent and colored in a beautiful blood-red.

This sample, acquired thanks to tsupport from Total, comes from Hunan state in China, the exact locality is unknown. It is kept in the storage rooms of the collections of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (i.e., not yet displayed to the public).

Photography: Louis-Dominique Bayle, © MNHN.

SPECIE : Cinnabar

HISTORY : Name derived from Latin "cinnabaris" from Persian "zinjifrah" meaning "dragon blood", in reference to ist red color

Species first described in -315 by Theophraste (372-287), Greek philosopher and naturalist

Type-locality: undefined because species already known from the Ancients
ANCIENT NAME : Mercure sulfuré, mine de mercure en cinabre

CHEMICAL FORMULA : HgS
CRYSTAL SYSTEM : Rhomboedric
COLOR : red
DIAPHANIETY : Transparent
LUSTER : Adamantine
STREAK : Brownish red
MORPHOLOGY : Rhomboedric crystals, massive
HARDNESS : 2,0-2,5
DENSITY : 8,2

CHEMICAL CLASS : II - Sulfures, sulfosels
GROUP : Cinnabarite - Hypercinnabarite
STRUNZ CLASS BEFORE 2001 : 2/C.18-10
STRUNZ CLASS AFTER 2001 : 2.CD.25

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MNHN N°195.61

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