Min. [a. F. sylvine (Beudant, 1832), from the old name of the salt, sal digestivus Sylvii ‘digestive salt of Sylvius’: see -INE5.] Native potassium chloride, occurring in some salt-mines and on Mount Vesuvius. Also called Sylvite.
1850. Ansted, Elem. Geol., Min., etc. § 370. Sylvine, Chloride of potash.
1868. Dana, Min. (ed. 5), 111. Sylvite.
1913. Illustr. Lond. News, 22 Feb., 238/3. Sylvine happens to be one of the minerals which, in one of its forms, emits electricity on compression.
