Proustite: decaying before memory

January 15, 2008 2:47 PM

Richard Forty's Dry Store Room No. 1describes the archives of the British Natural History Museum. Not on display, among other things, is Proustite, it is a compound of silver, arsenic and sulphur that forms as blood-red crystals that fade, poetically, when exposed to light.' Via Things Magazine.
posted by parmanparman (7 comments total)

Then there's Nabokovite, originally found just east of the Urals, which translates into a pale, fiery hue when exposed to the western hemisphere, and fades and flickers out in the shade of the alps.

Also, there's Fraserite, which delivers a royal flash under the bright sun of, say India or Mozambique.

How about Hemingwayite, which fatally explodes when saturated with alcohol (unlike Fitzgeraldite, which shrivels).

Of course, we all know Rothite, which when rubbed, ejects... ah, never mind.
posted by Faze at 5:14 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Proustite?.. whatever it does I'll bet it does it slowly. Very. Very. Slowly.
posted by clevershark at 6:13 PM on January 15, 2008

Of course, we all know Rothite, which when rubbed, ejects... ah, never mind.

Is that another name for cummingtonite?
posted by clevershark at 6:14 PM on January 15, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Don't forget pigeonite !
posted by lukemeister at 7:49 PM on January 15, 2008

Excuse my pigeon dropping, but the link I meant to include is here.
posted by lukemeister at 7:50 PM on January 15, 2008

Is that another name for cummingtonite?

Amazing.
posted by Alex404 at 9:32 PM on January 15, 2008

Cool!
posted by OmieWise at 11:38 AM on January 16, 2008