Developments in cadmium colours: An historical review Available to Purchase

The wide use of cadmium sulphide pigments and lithopones today brings to mind two anniversaries in the history of the element. 200 years ago Friedrich Strohmeyer who discovered a new element imparting a yellow to orange tint to some zinc carbonate used in preparing pharmaceutical zinc oxide was born. Then 100 years ago cadmium compounds became prominent in artists colours, an application preceding the role of cadmium in electroplating and in bearing alloys. Strohmeyer's researches not only formed a prelude to cadmium being a close associate of zinc, with the element extracted from zinc dust concentrates and not from the rare mineral Greenockite, a natural sulphide. But also his work proved the true nature of a yellow impurity in pharmaceutical zinc preparations, one far more significant than concluding that arsenic or lead was present.