gems, beryl, aquamarine

An important chemical investigation of aquamarine (beryl) by Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin, in which he announced the discovery of a previously unknown earth in the mineral. Through chemical analysis, Vauquelin distinguished this substance from alumina and identified what became known as glucina (beryllia), beryllium oxide, thereby establishing beryl as chemically distinct from minerals with which it had previously been associated. The discovery ultimately led to recognition of the element beryllium. The paper is particularly important to gemology because it demonstrated that emerald and aquamarine are varieties of the same mineral species, beryl, despite their markedly different colors, and illustrates the growing importance of chemical composition in the scientific classification of gemstones.