On Friday, September 26, 2003, at 04:24 PM, Nick Honerkamp wrote:

> I found a delftware drug jar base this summer at an early 19th century
> plantation site in Greeneville, TN. There was a mystery substance
> still in
> the jar base, so I sent part of it out for spectographic analysis and
> got
> the following:
>
> No arsenic or mercury, but they did list as "strong" ( > 10%) barium,
> calcium and lead.
>
> "Medium" (1% - 10%) estimates were given for aluminum and silicon.
> Trace (<
> 0.1%) for copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, silver titanium.
>
> Organics (volatiles @ 1100' F) = 13.99%
>
> It bubbles like crazy in hydrochloric acid, so carbonate is present.
> Next
> step is an XRD. So far I've gotten three suggestions from various
> chemists:
> paint, a laxative, and a dental amalgam (i.e., what you fill cavities
> with). Anybody have any other ideas, or sources I can check?

Try the following site which has the info listed below:

http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/elements/56.html

History

(Gr. barys, heavy) Baryta was distinguished from lime by Scheele in
1774; the element was discovered by Sir Humphrey Davy in 1808.

Properties

Barium is a metallic element, soft, and when pure is silvery white like
lead; it belongs to the alkaline earth group, resembling calcium
chemically. The metal oxidizes very easily and should be kept under
petroleum or other suitable oxygen-free liquids to exclude air. It is
decomposed by water or alcohol.

Uses

The metal is used as a "getter" in vacuum tubes. The most important
compounds are the peroxide, chloride, sulfate, carbonate, nitrate, and
chlorate. Lithopone, a pigment containing barium sulfate and zinc
sulfide, has good covering power, and does not darken in the presence
of sulfides. The sulfate, as permanent white is also used in paint, in
X-ray diagnostic work, and in glassmaking. Barite is extensively used
as a weighing agent in oil well drilling fluids, and is used in making
rubber. The carbonate has been used as a rat poison, while the nitrate
and chlorate give colors in pyrotechny. The impure sulfide
phosphoresces after exposure to the light. All barium compounds that
are water or acid soluble are poisonous. Naturally occurring barium is
a mixture of seven stable isotopes. Twenty two other radioactive
isotopes are known to exist.


******************************************

Dental amalgams I'd thought were used after the 3rd quarter of the 19th
century. Barium  was definitely used in paints up to World War I when
the Germans shut off supplies due to their control of African sources
and it died out in that particular use. Most folks who ingest barium
for radiological investigations view it as the antithesis of a laxative.

Lyle Browning