Meerschaum

For over 200 years meerschaum has been a significant item of trade between the Near East and countries to the west. Best-known for its use in making smoking pipes and cigar and cigarette holders, it is also used in making a variety of decorative and ornamental items. It is easily carved, and is given an attractive, lustrous finish by rubbing. No published specifications are known, but compact form, purity, uniform whiteness or light color, and uniform, porous texture appear to be requisites. Fig. la shows the appearance of a piece of crude meerschaum from Turkey; [Fig. lb a carved item; and Fig. lc, d, and e] show the fibrous and porous texture as revealed by the scanning electron microscope. Neither a major industrial mineral nor a precious stone, meerschaum nevertheless holds a record of long-and continuing-association with art and personal affairs of man. It is also a mineral to which modern methods of exploration and production probably could be profitably applied. An interesting account of the preparation and use of meerschaum in the early part of this century is given by Sterrett (1907). Geology and Mining Mineralogy Meerschaum is recognized now to be the compact variety of sepiolite, the claylike variety of which is one of the minerals included in the chapter on clays. The word "meerschaum," from the German meaning "sea foam," was in earlier times used synonymously with "sepiolite," a word of Greek origin suggestive of the resemblance of the compact variety-then the only variety known-to cuttlefish bone. At one time "meerschaum" was used as the commercial name, and "sepiolite" for the scientific name. However, to think of meerschaum as the name by which sepiolite is known commercially is no longer valid, in view of the recent emergence of the earthy variety as a competitor of bentonite and other clay materials. Present tendency is to restrict the term "meerschaum" to the compact variety, and to use the term "sepiolite" as a more general name to include both the compact and earthy varieties. This is the terminology followed in this publication.