rathite Min.
(ˈrɑːtaɪt, ˈræθaɪt)
[ad. G. rathit (H. Baumhauer 1896, in Zeitschr. f. Kryst. und Min. XXVI. 594), f. the name of G. vom Rath (1830–88), German mineralogist: see -ite1.]
Any of a group of sulpharsenites of lead found in the Binnental in southern Switzerland.
| 1897 Mineral. Mag. XI. 225 Characteristic of rathite, but not invariably present, are parallel systems of very fine striæ..on the crystal faces and on the fractured faces. 1905 [see hutchinsonite]. 1953 Amer. Mineralogist XXXVIII. 330 Weissenberg and precession camera studies on baumhauerite, dufrenoysite and rathite, lead to the following new structural dara... Rathite-II is monoclinic... The unit cell dimensions do not agree with previous structural or morphological data on rathite, although they were obtained on a fragment of the original material. 1965 Zeitschr. für Kristallogr. CXXII. 434 Rathite-I, (Pb,Tl)3As4(As,Ag)S10, is a mineral of a sulfosalt group, to which rathite-II, rathite-III, rathite-IV, dufrenoysite, baumhauerite and scleroclase belong. Ibid., Rathite-I and -III form two modifications of a single species and should perhaps have a name different from rathite-II... In the Lengenbach quarry rathite-II is frequently found, whereas rathite-I occurs rarely, and then usually polysynthetically twinned. 1974 Neues Jahrb. für Mineral.: Monatshefte 530 Several kinds of minerals which belong to a group of lead sulfarsenites called ‘rathite group’ have been found in Lengenbach quarry (Ct. Wallis, Switzerland) and crystallographically investigated. The existence of two common periods of about 7·9 Å and 8·4 Å is a marked characteristic of them. |