abortive claims. The first of these was put forth in 1803, shortly after the announcement of cerium, when he was not yet 25 years old ( I ) . "In his enthusiasm, Berzelius believed he had found yet another new element. In honor of Johan Gottlieb Gahn (1745-1818). the berg-master in Falun, . . . he called it Gahnium. This, however, proved to he zinc oxide." In 1815, Berzelius claimed (2) to have obtained a peculiar substance from a sample of gadolinite from Koroufvet. This new substance differed from other earths in its properties hut because it was detected in only one of the analyses, and only a small quantity was available, he decided not to include it in his published results until its existence could he demonstrated more conclusively. During the next year, Berzelius continued his examination of unusual Swedish minerals and reported (3) on the composition of several new ones. This work was finally collected into a single article which was published in the fifth volume of Afhandlingar i Fysik, Kemi och Mineralogi, a journal edited by Berzelius and William Hising (1766-1852), later Baron von Hisinger. This article carried the names of Gahn, Berzelius, Wallman, and Eggertz as coauthors and dealt with the analyses of eight minerals found in the vicinity of the village of Fahlun (Falun), Sweden. In two of the minerals examined, a new earth was detected which proved to he identical with that obtained from gadolinite the preceding year. A variety of reactions was reported to establish the individuality of this new earth and in recognition of the fact that many of the experiments had been conducted in Gahn's laboratory at Fahlun, Benelius suggested the name "thorine" for it, deriving this term from the name of the ancient Scandinavian god, Thor. In the German extract of this article, however, Editor Ludwig Wilhelm Gilbert (1769-1824) suggested (41 that "the suffix -ine is not appropriate for an earth and that it should he named thorina or thora, by analogy with silica, alumina, and magnesia.'' The true nature of thorine was established in 1824 by Berzelius himself in connection with his researches (5) on fluorides. The following year, a "Note on Thorine" was appended (6) to a paper on zirconium. Here Berzelius admitted that his subsequent experiments had convinced him that his earlier conclusions had been erroneous. "As a result of that research, the substance which I have described under the name thorine is nothing but the subphosphate of yttria." Not one to let a good name go to waste, however, Berzelius again chose to honor Thor when he did discover the element now called thorium (7) in 1828. But an interesting postscript can be added. Despite his retraction, Berzelius' misidentification was not forgotten by everyone for it subsequently was associated wth another misnomer which has persisted. The mineral in which the recognized element was found is known as thorite, although the suggestion was made at the time that it be called berzelite. Ideally, it is the ortho-silicate of thorium. The mineral involved in the 1815 investigation, later identified as yttrium phosphate, is now called xenotime. This name is due to the French mineralogist, Francois Sulpice Beudant (1787-1850). but spelled in this manner, it is a misprint of his original proposal. As he later stated (8).the name was supposed to be kenotime derived from the Greek KC"&, vain, and T L F ~ honor, , and was intended to recall the fact that in 1815 Berzelius had made a mistake in claiming that it contained a new metal. Whatever the irony thus introduced by an unknown typesetter's misspelling, Berzelius might well have had the last laugh for thorium is found as a vicarious constituent in xenotime in quantities up to 2.5%. Literature Cited (11 Jome,. .I. E.. "Jac Benelius. His Life and Work." i T m s i a t o r stee1e. 5.1. Almqvist and Wihell. Stoekhoim. 1966. p. 29.
(21 Gahn. J. G.. Berzeliu~.J . J.. Wallman. C. A,. and Emrtz. H. P., A m . Chim.
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