Mineral: WHEWELLITE
Locality: Bílina coal mine, Bílina, Teplice District, Ústí nad Labem Region, Czech Republic
Dimension (mm): 39 x 37 x 30 mm
Weight (gr): 63 gram

Description / Notes: Whewellite from this Czech locality forms colorless, yellowish, vitreous, translucent, sometimes double-terminated crystals,which grow on a bed of pelosiderite from all sides.

• Formula:Ca(C₂O₄) · H₂O
• Colour:White, yellow, brown, colourless; colourless in transmitted light.
• Lustre:Vitreous, Pearly
• Hardness:2½ - 3
• Specific Gravity:2.21 - 2.23
• Crystal System:Monoclinic
• Name:Named in honor William Whewell (24 May 1794, Lancaster, Lancashire, England - 6 March 1866, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England), naturalist and scientist, Professor of Moral Philosophy and inventor of the system of crystallographic indexing. He coined the words 'scientist', 'physicist', and many others.
• IMA status: Approved, 'Grandfathered' (first described prior to 1959)

The type locality is uncertain, however, the most likely type locality is Cavnic, Romania (Papp, G. (2004) History of minerals, rocks and fossil resins discovered in the Carpathian Region. Hungarian Natural History Museum publ., Studia Naturalia 15, 215p.)

A rare low-temperature primary hydrothermal mineral in carbonate-sulphide veins; also occurs in geodes, or septarian nodules; associated with coal measures and surrounding rocks with organic material; in some uranium deposits. As microscopic crystals in living plant cells and as calculi or as a sediment in the human urinary tract. Also described as a product of fungal activity (e.g., Burford et al., 2003; compare 'Unnamed (Pb Oxalate Dihydrate)'), e.g. in Nali Limecrusts, some calcretes, leaf litter and soils in forests; also formed by lichen on various rocks (basalts, serpentinites, Cu-bearing rocks, gabbroes, dolerites, andesites); many organisms produce the mineral (e.g., Acarospora, Aspicilia, Lecanora, Lecidea, Parmelia).

• Whewellite: Mineral information, data and localities. (mindat.org)
• Whewellite Mineral Data (webmineral.com)