Calomel

Common card · No. 239199

Calomel is a mercury chloride mineral with formula Hg2Cl2 (see mercury(I) chloride). It was used as a medicine from the 16th to early 20th century, despite frequently causing mercury poisoning in patients. The name derives from Greek kalos (beautiful) and melas (black) because it turns black on reaction with ammonia. This was known to alchemists. Calomel occurs as a secondary mineral which forms as an alteration product in mercury deposits. It occurs with native mercury, amalgam, cinnabar, mercurian tetrahedrite, eglestonite, terlinguaite, montroydite, kleinite, moschelite, kadyrelite, kuzminite, chursinite, kelyanite, calcite, limonite and various clay minerals. The type locality is Moschellandsburg, Alsenz-Obermoschel, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Kelly Nash, CC BY 3.0