MODE II. TALCOUS SLATE. 309 



MODE II. TALCOUS SLATE. 



Texture, nearly resembling that of massive Characters, 

 talc, but easily divides into undulated fragments, 

 of a quarter or half an inch in thickness, the feel 

 being extremely unctuous, as that of soft steatite 

 or soap-rock. 



Hardness, cretic. Fracture, foliated. Frag- 

 ments, amorphous, blunt, and soft. 



Weight, carbonose. 



Lustre, glimmering. Faintly translucent on 

 the edges. 



The colour is changeable, greenish or reddish, 

 mingled with silvery white. It is found in the 

 Swiss Alps, in Scotland near Portsoy, and in 

 many other primitive regions. Being of recent 

 observation, it is little known in books of mine- 

 ralogy. It may perhaps be the laminar steatite 

 of Wallerius, which he describes as of a grey 

 colour, and found at Norberg, Salberg, and Gar- 

 penberg in Sweden. 



To this Mode may also be referred the follow- Taicous slates 



* of Saussure. 



ing rocks, described by Saussure : 



" The asbestiform steatite rested on a stone, 

 which Mr. Struve says had received from Wer- 

 ner the name of chlorite slate. But the speci- 



