Beryllium. Mineralogy, petrology and geochemistry / Бериллий. Минералогия, петрология и геохимия

The Be mineral beryl and its colored variants emerald, aquamarine, and “chrysoberyl” (= golden beryl, not the present chrysoberyl) were known to the ancients, and Pliny the Elder had noted that many persons considered emerald and beryl “to be of the same nature” (Sinkankas 1981, p. 20; also Dana 1892; Weeks and Leicester 1968). However, not until 1798 was it realized that beryl contained a previously unknown constituent; analyses before then yielded only silica, alumina, lime and minor iron oxide (Vauquelin 1798; Anonymous 1930; Weeks and Leicester 1968; Greenwood and Earnshaw 1997). The mineralogist René Just Haüy asked Nicolas Louis Vauquelin (Fig. 1) to analyze beryl and emerald in order to test his supposition that these two minerals were identical as his measurements of crystals, hardness and density implied. In the process, Vauquelin (1798) not only demonstrated the near chemical identity of beryl and emerald, the latter differing in its tenor of chrome, but also isolated a new earth from both, his terre du béril, similar yet distinct from alumina. The editors of the Annales de Chimie et de Physique proposed to name it glucine (Greek, sweet) because its watersoluble salts had a sweet taste, and because this name would be easy to remember. However, Klaproth (1802, p. 79) thought it would be more sensible to call the new earth “Beryllerde (Beryllina)” because yttrium salts are also sweet-tasting, and the name beryllium is now generally accepted for the element. <...>