Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 91. (Budapest 1999)

Kázmér, M. ; Papp, G.: Minerals from the Carpathians in an eighteenth-century British collection

Table 2. Distribution of Carpathian specimens among localities German or English / Hungarian / Slovak name pes pes Kremnitz / Körmöcbánya / Kremnica 4 Lupscherseiffen / Magurka / Magurka 4 Neusohl / Besztercebánya / Banská Bystrica* 10 Schemnitz / Selmecbánya /Banská Stiavnica* 17 Lower Hungary (probably) 2 Lower Hungarian mining district 37 Upper Hungarian mining district 1 Danube (up to Komorn / Komárom / Komarno) 1 Buda 1 Other Hungarian (s. sir.) localities 2 Transylvanian Ore Mts 2 unknown or unidentified locality 26 Altogether 39 68 *: and/or surroundings accordingly, two or three days after (...) we went with him under ground, till I came where he shew'd me great quantities of it, much to my satisfaction: the Vitriol there shooting upon the Stones and Earth, upon the floor and sides of the passages, as it doth by art in the Pans, and about the sticks, not hanging from the top, as in many other places I have seen it, like Ice-icles" (BROWN 1673). Orpiment and realgar were interesting for alchemists as well, because of their supposed gold content. Cinnabar, as the bearer of the two principia (mercury and sulphur) was among the most studied minerals by alchemists. JOHANN LiNDEMANN, a 17th century German alchemist, looked for materia prima (the "basic material" of gold) in Transylvanian cinnabar (SZATHMÁRY 1928). Stibnite is another mineral, widely used in alchemy. Hungarian stibnite (Antimonium hungaricum) was regarded the best available sort by many alchemists (e.g. BASILIUS VALENTINUS in his Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, or PARACELSUS, quoted by SZATHMÁRY 1928). Ores of noble metals were of course better represented in the collection as compared with the ores of base metals. First of all, Hungary was still one of the most important European sources of gold and silver, and secondly, the collectors obviously preferred to visit gold and silver ore mines and to carry specimens of these noble metals from this remote country than other, less valuable ores. This is the case with pyrite, marcasite and sulphur, it is to be added that the production of these minerals was of only local importance this time (ZSÁMBOKI 1985).