CHROME AND MEERSCHAUM OF ASIA MINOR. 179 



expected. The plain in which it is found is a deposit of drift; 

 a valley filled up with the debris of the neighboring mountains, 

 consolidated by lime in which I found no fossils. 



The meerschaum is found in this drift in masses more or less 

 rounded ; the other pebbles are fragments of .magnesian and 

 hornblende rocks. 



I have examined with care the neighboring mountains which 

 surround the plain, and have found that the rocks are of the 

 same nature as the pebbles in the plain, except those of the 

 meerschaum; but on the other hand I found carbonate of mag- 

 nesia in the mountains which is not to be found in the plains. 

 And this makes me suppose that the meerschaum owes its 

 origin to the carbonate of magnesia of the mountains decom- 

 posed after its separation by water containing silica. 



If this supposition be true we should naturally find meer- 

 schaum which not being completely altered contains the 

 carbonate of magnesia. A chemical examination of several 

 specimens has served to establish this fact. Some of the 

 specimens, taken at the depth of ten feet, when placed in 

 hydrochloric acid, give rise to an effervescence that will con- 

 tinue for some time; the piece will not change its form, it only 

 absorbs the acid; the solution will be found to contain chloride 

 of magnesium nearly pure. Another proof that the meer- 

 schaum probably owes its origin to the carbonate of magnesia 

 is that I have found attached to the meerschaum serpentine 

 similar to that found in contact with the carbonate of magnesia 

 of the mountains. 



The meerschaum of Eski-Shehr differs completely from 

 several other specimens that I have seen, coming from other 

 localities, and which exist in the fissures of rocks; it is certain 

 that the quality of the first is most esteemed. 



