Grahamite

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A glossy, brittle natural asphalt that occurs in veins in rock and is valued as a source of hydrocarbons
2. A solid, lustrous form of naturally occurring bitumen that fills cracks and fissures in certain rock formations
3. A hard mineral-like pitch found in underground veins, used in the past in varnishes and as a fuel material

Etymology: Grahamite is a naturally occurring black, lustrous asphaltite, a hard form of bitumen. Its name honours James Lorimer Graham, a figure who saw commercial promise in the mineral deposits of West Virginia. The chemist Henry Wurtz gave the substance its name, pairing Graham's surname with the suffix "-ite", the standard ending for minerals and mineral-like substances, so the word reads as "Graham's stone" in spirit, though it never meant a rock in the strict sense. Graham's interest was commercial rather than scientific. He hoped the deposits could be developed for industrial use, and the name lodged in the vocabulary of the trade as a label for this particular grade of bitumen. The word therefore records a businessman's ambition as much as a geologist's classification, fixed to a single place and a single substance.