194 TOBACCO-PIPES, CIGARS, ETC. 



bottom of clay, star-shaped, to allow this drainage 

 through the points ; at other times a small receptacle 

 below the bowl of the pipe receives the oil exuded in 

 smoking. A glass tube to the pipe has recently been 

 introduced, which occupies the centre of the stem, 

 and swells to a considerable size in the midst for 

 the same purpose. Since then an improvement has 

 been invented in what is termed the diaphragm pipe, 

 the enlarged centre of the glass 

 tube being divided longitudinally 

 by a glass partition (a), against 

 which the smoke beats, the oil 

 descends, and the regurgitating smoke is drawn in a 

 purified state through the smaller tube (b), which 

 projects from the centre of the division. A glass 

 worm is sometimes made to encircle this central pipe, 

 and so give condensation to the smoke. 



The German pipe is the most important, for the 

 art-workmanship it occasionally exhibits ; and the 

 Meerschaum is the king of European articles of the 

 kind. The name, which literally signifies sea-foam, 

 is a simple translation of the term keff-kill, applied 

 to it by the Tartars. It is found in various parts of 

 Asia Minor. Constantinople is the great mart for its 

 sale. Its component parts are chiefly silica, magnesia, 

 carbonic acid, and water; and it occurs chiefly in 

 veins or lumps among serpentine rocks. When first 

 obtained it is capable of forming a lather like soap, 

 and is used by the Tartars for washing linen. Its 

 name (which the French also adopt in Ecume de Mer), 



