Wad

Black, bluish black, brownish black

Wad, wadd, and/or wadt were used as early miner's terms and used for various black mineral substances. The redundant name "black wad" has been frequently attributed to Richard Kirwan in his Elements of Mineralogy (1784) but Kirwan mentioned, but did not cite, neither Josiah Wedgwood's (1783) analysis of "black wadd" nor contemporary experiments with wad by Joseph Banks, nor any earlier sources. (Wad had the unusual oxidizing power of causing an equal mixture of it and linseed oil to combust after an hour or two.) Kirwan did describe the material: "One of the most remarkable ores of manganese is that called black wad; it is of a dark brown colour, partly in powder and partly indurated, and brittle." Earthy wad-like manganese minerals, of course, were used in glassmaking in ancient Rome and wads were used as pigments in prehistoric times. (Manganese metal was first isolated in impure form in 1774.) According to Thomas Robinson (1709), wad was also used relating to graphite by miners in the Westmoreland and Cumberland (Cumbria) regions of England. Robinson (1709) further indicated that the name "wadt" was used in Germany suggesting the black character of a substance. Jonathan Otley (1819) stated that a deed dated November 28, 1614, in Borrowdale, England referred to graphite as wad: "... the several names of wad, black cawke, black lead, plumbago and graphite, by which this mineral has been successively designated..."