Meerschaum

Meerschaum (Sepiolite), a mineral existing in many parts of the world. In Europe it is found chiefly at Hrubtschitz in Moravia, and at Sebastopol and Kaffa in the Crimea; and in Turkey in Asia it occurs abundantly just below the soil in the alluvial beds of several districts—especially at Eski-shehr. It is also found in Spain and South Carolina. Meerschaum, from its having been found on the seashore in some places, in peculiarly rounded snow-white lumps, was ignorantly imagined to be the petrified froth of the sea, which is the meaning of its German name. Its composition is silica, 60.9; magnesia, 26.1; water, 12.0. Almost all the meerschaum found is made into tobacco-pipes, in which manufacture the Austrians have been for a long time pre-eminent. Vienna contains many manufactories, in which some very artistic productions are made; and pipes worth 100 guineas, from the beauty of their design, are by no means uncommon. The French pipe-makers have lately used meerschaum, and have displayed great taste in their works. When first dug from the earth, meerschaum is quite soft and soap-like to the touch, and as it fathers with water, and removes grease, it is employed by the Turks as a substitute for soap in washing. Similarly in Algeria it is sometimes used in place of soap at the Moorish baths. The waste in cutting and turning the pipes was formerly thrown away, but it is now reduced to powder, mixed into a paste, and compressed into hard masses, which are carved into inferior pipes.