Cerium

Cerium (syn. Ce, eq. 92) is a rare metal found in cerite and a few other minerals. It is a white metal, has not been obtained in any quantity, is not therefore employed in any manufacture, and forms two basic oxides and a numerous class of salts. The nitrate and oxalate of cerium have been employed in the vomiting of pregnancy, their action being somewhat similar to that of the subnitrate of bismuth. Cerium biscuits are biscuits containing a small proportion of the oxalate, and they form a very convenient medium for the administration of the salt. Cerite or Ochröite is the silicate of cerium, and is found as a mineral in gneiss, near Riddarhytta, in Westmanland in Sweden.