Calamine (mineral) enough was known of metallic zinc to make brass solder directly by combining copper and spelter (zinc ingots). In 1738 a patent was granted to William Champion, a Bristol brass founder, for the large-scale reduction of calamine to produce spelter. In 1684 a paper presented to the Royal Society touched on the medicinal and veterinary properties of the compound when in finely powdered form. Calamine (mineral) Calamine is a historic name for an ore of zinc. The name "calamine" was derived from "lapis calaminaris", a Latin corruption of Greek "cadmia (καδμία)", the old name for zinc ores in general. The
Schlangenberg Nature Reserve the interest in the ore which was mostly used for weapons and vessels. The greatest interest in calamine had been in the 18th century when brass manufactures settled in Stolberg (Rhineland). For the production of the alloy they needed large amounts of calamine which was melted together with copper. Before 1800 digging small reaching only surface based ore was the only technique available to the miners. In the 19th century mining changed and more than 20 adits enabled the workers to reach calamine up to 105 m below the surface. During this time the Schlangenberg-area was perforated like a Swiss