Selenite die, you accursed term!(Let's Get It Right) From: Rocks & Minerals | Date: November 1, 2003| Author: White, John S. | COPYRIGHT 2003 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

This is not the first time that I have had a go at the annoying term selenite. In 1971 I published an editorial in Mineralogical Record titled "Variety Selenite?" (White 1971). I do not know who first coined the term and what it was supposed to suggest or imply. Dana's seventh edition (Palache, Berman, and Frondel 1951, p. 482) associates the term selenite with J. G. Wallerius in 1747, but I seriously doubt that that particular reference sheds much light on the issue. The very same...