BREISLAK, SCIPIONE (1748-1826), Italian geologist of German parentage, was born at Rome, where he was a professor in the college of Ragusa, and then in the Collegio Nazareno. The king of Naples invited him to inspect the mines and similar works in that kingdom, and appointed him professor of miner alogy to the royal artillery. The vast works for the refining of sulphur in the volcanic district of Solfatara were erected under his direction. His Topografia fisica della Campania (1798) con tains the results of much accurate observation. He was an exile in Paris from until 1802, when he was appointed inspector of the saltpetre and powder manufactories near Milan. The mineral Breislakite was named after him.