specular iron

specular iron

1. Iron ore that contains a small amount of sulfer and which appears to have shiny or reflective facets.
   • 1821, Andrew Ure, Robert Hare, Franklin Bache, A Dictionary of Chemistry:

     Woollen cloth is strongly vitreous with zinc and bismuth, moderately so with silver, copper, lead, and specular iron.

   • 1850, James Dwight Dana, A System of Mineralogy:

     This species includes the old species, specular iron and red iron ore, which are identical in chemical composition, and differ only in the state of aggregation of the particles. Specular iron includes the varieties of a perfect metallic lustre; if the structure is micaceous, it is the micaceous specular iron.

   • 1854, Frederick Overman, The manufacture of iron, in all its various branches, page 20:

     The whole variety is in close connection with the micaceous specular iron, between which and the crystallized oxide of iron is an uninterrupted transition.