rensselaerite

English

Etymology

After Stephen Van Rensselaer, founder in 1824 of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Noun

rensselaerite (uncountable)

1. (mineralogy) A soft, compact variety of talc, being an altered pyroxene, sometimes worked in a lathe into inkstands and other articles, found in New York and Canada.
   • 1840, [1] ("Assembly: State of New York, Issue 50", published 1840, digitised 2010).

     To this I may subjoin Rensselaerite, which frequently occurs in thick, heavy beds in connexion with the above.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “rensselaerite”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)