ties to a greater extent than any other wood 

 known. It will be described in more detail later. 



Myall, a native Austrian wood of a very dark 

 color, hard and of good grain has many excel- 

 lent qualities for pipes, but is brittle. 



Maple, junipe and cherry and several other 

 woods are used to a limited extent. 



MEERSCHAUM 



Meerschaum is a light, porous, clayey sub- 

 stance composed of magnesium, oxygen and 

 silicon. It is chemically described as a hydrated 

 silicate of magnesia and its chemical formula is 

 Mg Si 2 04 + 2H 2 0. 



The work meerschaum is composed of two 

 German words, i. e., Meer, the sea; and Schaum, 

 foam, and literally means "the foam of the 

 sea." A popular belief being that the substance 

 was petrified sea foam. 



The circumstances under which meerschaum 

 came to be used for smoking pipes have already 

 been detailed. Meerschaum occurs as a mineral 

 more or less scattered all over the world, but 

 the largest quantities and probably the best 

 qualities occur in Asia Minor. In the United 

 States, the mineral is found in South Carolina. 

 Other mines occur in Spain, Greece and Moroc- 

 co. The principal mines in Asia Minor are 

 situated about 250 miles southwest of Constan- 



155 



