Berlin, Germany/berlin100
Previous | Home | NextThis is the famous label to the Humboldt specimen which documents the history of the error. In a curious blend of French and German, this note holds old (incorrect) interpretation of the sample and new (correct) analysis. Humboldt spent a great deal of his time in Paris, associating with the French Academy of Science, and the original part of this label is in French in Humboldt's own handwriting. Parts in German are identified below in brackets: "Mexico. Vanadium-lead-ore [in German; this notation had been added later by Gustav Rose]. Brown lead ore [in German] from a vein in Zimapán from the northern part of Mexico. Chromium of lead. Monsieur del Río had believed he had recognized a new metal which he had called 'erythronium,' then 'panchromium,' but it was finally recognized as ordinary chromium."
