Sulphur History

Sulphur (Sanskrit, sulvere; Latin sulphur) was known in ancient times, and is referred to in the Biblical Pentateuch (Genesis). The word itself is almost certainly from the Arabic sufra meaning yellow, from the bright color of the naturally-occurring form.


English translations of the Bible commonly refer to sulphur as "brimstone", giving rise to the name of 'Fire and brimstone' sermons, which sinners are reminded of their fate of eternal damnation It is from this part of the Bible that hell is implied to "smell of sulphur", although as mentioned above sulphur in fact is odorless. The "smell of sulfur" usually refers to the odor of hydrogen sulfide, e.g. from rotten eggs. Burning sulphur, as may be anticipated in hell (rumor has it) gives sulphur dioxide, the smell associated with burnt matches.

Homer mentioned "pest-averting sulfur" in the 9th century BC and in 424 BC, the tribe of Boeotia destroyed the walls of a city by burning a mixture of coal, sulphur, and tar under them. Sometime in the 12th century, the Chinese invented gun powder which is a mixture of potassium nitrate (KNO3), carbon, and suphur. Early alchemists gave sulphur its own alchemical symbol which was a triangle at the top of a cross. In the late 1770s, Antoine Lavoisier helped convince the scientific community that sulphur was an element and not a compound. In 1867 sulphur was discovered in underground deposits in Louisiana and Texas. The overlying layer of earth was quicksand, prohibiting ordinary mining operations. Therefore the Frasch process was utilized.