In 1862 Bahr analysed the mineral Orthite—
Allanite-(
Y)—from the
Norwegian island
Rönsholm and found an oxide which he concluded contained a new element. In the following years several articles were published making clear that the wasium oxide was a mixture of several other elements.[3][4][5]
Wasium was said by M. Bahr to exist in
Norwegianorthite and orthite from
Ytterby. Bahr also said that it existed on the island of
Raenshohm.[6] Wasium was supposedly found in the mineral
wasite, which is a form of
allanite.[7]