heavy spar
[transl. of Ger. Schwerspat, the name given by Werner in 1774.]
The native sulphate of barium, barytes; also improperly applied to barium carbonate, and sometimes to the sulphate and carbonate of strontia (Page Geol. Terms).
| 1789 A. Crawford in Med. Commun. II. 353 The muriated barytes..was obtained by the decomposition of the heavy spar. Ibid. 356 Heavy spar from the lead mines of Derbyshire. 1805–17 R. Jameson Char. Min. (ed. 3) 107 Heavy spar, and actyonite afford examples of the hexahedral prism. 1845 Atkinson in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 13. 137 It is calc-spar, in a setting of heavy-spar or sulphate of baryta. 1892 Dana's Min. 903 The septaria of Durham..have the veinings lined with brown heavy spar. |