Summary

This mineral sample is sodium chloride also know as common or rock salt. The sample, which consists of lumps of a brownish red colour and probably contains some impurities, comes from Stassfurt, Germany. It was exhibited at the 1888 Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition. At the close of the exhibition in 1889 Captain Wagemann donated the sample to the Industrial &Technological Museum.

The Industrial &Technological Museum's annual report states that, from the Centennial International Exhibition, the Stassfurt Industries collection of minerals, salt and other products, raw and manufactured, from Stassfurt and neighbourhood, was presented to the Museum through Captain Wagemann. Captain Wagemann had earlier provided evidence at an 1881 inquiry into a fatal explosion onboard the Cerberus; from his testimony he appears to have been an expert in dynamite/ chemical reactions. - 'Report of the Board Appointed to Enquire into the Circumstances Connected with, and to, Discover the Cause of the Fatal Accident to the Boat's Crew of the 'Cerberus' at Queenscliffe by the Explosion of a Torpedo', 1880-81.

Physical Description

The sample consists of lumps of a brownish red colour.

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