In 1840 when the Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock
railway line was being constructed a new mineral was discovered while a tunnel
was being dug near Bishopton. It was
named Greenockite.
It is seemingly quite a rare mineral - a
naturally occurring cadmium sulphide.
You can read more about its structure and analysis here.
Greenockite was named after Earl Charles
Murray Cathcart, the then Lord Greenock (1783-1859) who became the second Earl
Cathcart on the death of his father. He
had a passion for geology and minerology and was a fellow of the Royal Society
of Edinburgh. Cathcart had a
distinguished military career and was Governor General of British North America.
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| Charles Murray Cathcart |
Arthur Connell (1794-1863), Scottish
chemist and mineralogist was responsible for describing and naming the mineral.
