Geology of Massachusetts, 31 
and even columns of large size. In Spain, it is said that churches 
and palaces abound with columns of this description. If ever the 
serpentine of Massachusetts shall be extensively wrought, I doubt not 
that specimens will be obtained, rivalling the finest varieties of Europe. 
It is not at present easy to obtain hand specimens, that shall give a 
fair representation of this rock, because it is injured to a considerable 
depth, from the surface exposure. 
Steatite or Soapstone. 
This is the softest of all the rocks employed in architecture. This 
property, rendering it easy to be sawed or cut without injuring 
an edge tool, and its greasy or soapy feel, are such striking charac- 
teristics of this rock, that most people are acquainted with it. It is 
sometimes called potstone, and sometimes, in this country, freestone. 
Next to the ease with which it may be wrought, its great power in 
resisting heat, is the most valuable property of this rock. Hence it 
is extensively employed for fire places and furnaces. 
It is also turned into crucibles and small furnaces for culinary use. 
Inkstands are made of it in great numbers, and various other articles. 
As it hardens in the fire, it is used m Europe for imitating engraved 
gems. It has been employed in various countries as a substitute 
for soap and fuller’s earth. Spanish and French chalk are varieties 
of steatite. Savage nations are said to mitigate hunger by eating this 
soft mmeral; as however it contains nothing alimentary, it can act 
only as a palliative of hunger.* ‘Those varieties that are most infu- 
sible, are employed in England extensively in the manufacture of 
porcelain. 
Steatite, like serpentine, usually occurs in beds of no great extent. 
They are numerous in Massachusetts, and very commonly they are 
associated with serpentine, or in the vicinity of it. This is the ease 
in the northwest part of Middlefield, where one of the finest beds of 
it, in our State, is found; although it contains small masses of bitter 
spar, which renders it less easy to work. But this quarry has been ° 
explored more extensively than any other in the state; and the blocks 
transported to Northampton, and even to Boston. In Windsor are 
not less than three beds of this rock, from which the New Lebanon 
shakers obtain it, for converting into inkstands. I was told that a bed 
of it exists, in Cheshire. Another occurs in Savoy; one in Hins- 
* See Erongniart’s Mineralegy. 
