Dear All,
I'm happy to be corrected if that is indeed the case, but I think Dave
Mogk and I are justified in finding pleasure in a name that reflects a
distinctive property of the mineral.
Also, having had the opportunity to name a mineral, I've been through
all the mind-games involved in finding something appropriate. So I can
quite easily see how crossite would become the ideal name on more than
one criterion, even if only one of these becomes the "official" reason.
In my own case it was, if I'm remembering correctly, Stuart Agrell in
Cambridge circa 1970 who first showed me how the optic axial plane
"crossed" the amphibole prism, and left me with this explanation of the
name.
So let's hear it for inspirational mineralogy teachers!
Dave
Mogk, David wrote:
> All, Kees appears to be correct, that crossite is named for Charles
> Whitman Cross: Source Mindat.org
>
> http://www.mindat.org/min-1160.html
>
>
>
> *Name:*
>
>
>
> <http://www.mindat.org/photo-239099.html>
>
> Named in 1894 by Charles Palache for Charles Whitman Cross [September 1,
> 1854 Southampton near Amherst, Massachusetts - April 20, 1949 Chevy
> Chase, Maryland]. Cross was a petrologist in the United States
> geological Survey and was widely regarded as the greatest field
> petrologist of his generation. He was important in classifying igneous
> rocks, etc
>
>
>
> However (even if incorrectly ascribed in my previous note, as I had
> recalled from other sources), the optical orientation is indeed
> “crossed”, as per Dave Waters’ last note, and the optical properties
> defined the assignation of “crossite” v. “glaucophane”, not strictly
> compositional changes.
>
> Dave Mogk
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* Metamorphic Studies Group
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Linthout
> *Sent:* Friday, February 12, 2010 11:41 AM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: IMA mineral nomenclature
>
>
>
> At 18:01 12/02/2010, Mogk, David wrote:
>
> thus the name crossite as the optic orientation has been crossed.
>
>
> What's in a name?
> I always thought crossite was named was after CROSS, of the CIPW system.
>
> Kees
>
--
Dave Waters - University Lecturer in Metamorphic Petrology
Dept. of Earth Sciences, Parks Rd, Oxford OX1 3PR, UK
Curator, Mineralogy & Petrology, University Museum of
Natural History Tel: +44 1865 272000
Email: [log in to unmask] Direct: +44 1865 282457
http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~davewa/ Fax: +44 1865 272072
-------------------------------------------------------------------
|