LITHOPONE

brilliant white pigment used in paints, inks, leather, paper, linoleum, and face powder. Lithopone was developed in the 1870s as a substitute or supplement for lead carbonate (white lead), to overcome its drawbacks of toxicity, poor weathering, and darkening in atmospheres that contain sulfur compounds. Lithopone is an insoluble mixture of barium sulfate and zinc sulfide that precipitates upon mixing solutions of barium sulfide and zinc sulfate. The precipitate is recovered by filtration, then calcined (roasted) at temperatures above 600 C (1,112 F). Although lithopone has been replaced in many applications by titanium dioxide, introduced after World War I, it is still widely used in a number of products, such as water paints.