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== Name ==
The name “mountain soap” is not so much a [[metaphor]], which is quite often found in mineralogy, as a simple statement of the soapy properties of the mineral, as well as the systematic use that it has had for thousands of years. On the one hand, this ''type of clay'' received its trivial name from its property of softening in water and forming with it a viscous and greasy substance to the touch, similar to thickly diluted soap.<ref name="spass">''[[:de:Grigori Iwanowitsch Spasski|Spassky G. I.]]'' Mountain dictionary. Part one. — S. Petersburg. In the printing house of Nikolai Stepanov, 1843.</ref>{{rp|95}} On the other hand, for a very long time, the population that had access to deposits of such clays systematically used it as a detergent for various purposes: from [[Fulling|waulking]] cloth, canvas and wool to washing hands, face and hair in the bathhouse.<ref name="ogor">''[[:ru:Огородников, Павел Иванович|Ogorodnikov P. I.]]'' ″Essays on Persia″. Shahrud kaleidoscope. Persian coast of the Caspian Sea. Pass over Kuzluk. — S. Petersburg: ed. magazine ″World Traveler″, 1878. — 396 p.</ref> From the combination of two factors inherent in all these varieties, other synonymous names also follow under which washing clays are found. In the literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, mountain soap can be found under the names: soapy earth,<ref name="kraf">Guide to Mathematical and Physical Geography, with the use of the earth's globe and land maps, again translated with notes from French. Theodore Ulr. Theod. Epimus (translation by A. M. Razumov). Second edition. — In St. Petersburg at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1764.</ref> soapy clay, [[soapstone]] or bolus.<ref name="stell">''[[Georg Wilhelm Steller|Steller Georg Wilhelm]]''. Description of the land of Kamchatka. — Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky: Kamchatka Printing Yard. Book Publishing house, 1999.</ref>
The conventional scientific use of the collective term “mountain soap” generally ended by the last quarter of the 19th century, giving way to individual names of the minerals included in this conventional group. Currently, the term is considered completely outdated and does not appear as such even in the latest mineralogical dictionaries.<ref name="kriv">''Krivovichev V. G.'' Mineralogical glossary. Scientific editor [[:ru:Булах Андрій Глібович|A. G. Bulakh]]. — St.Petersburg: St.Petersburg Univ. Publ. House. 2009. — 556 p. — ISBN 978-5-288-04863-0</ref>{{rp|239,531}}
== Gallery ==
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Revision as of 12:31, 5 April 2024
Mountain soap | |
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General | |
Category | Mineral |
Mountain soap (Latin: Argilla saponiformis, German: Bergseife, French: Savon de montagne),[1]: 203 — a partially outdated trivial name for a large group of clay minerals similar in properties from the group of hydrous layered aluminum silicates with variable composition. Minerals from the mountain soap group contain primarily silicates (44-46%), alumina (17-26%), iron oxides (6-10%) and water (13-25%). The mountain soap group included at different times up to two dozen mineral species and varieties. In different cases, this name could mean different minerals, most often halloysite (from the proper name), saponite (soapstone),[2]: 187 bentonite or montmorillonite (from the French: Montmorillon, toponym). The last mineral is a large group, each of which could be called mountain soap. All these minerals received their common colloquial name, which gradually penetrated into mineralogy, for their ability to lather and serve as a detergent for various purposes.
Mountain soap has some common properties that are characteristic of all minerals included in the group. All of them have very low hardness (from 1 to 2 on the Mohs scale) and are a typical weathering product of aluminosilicates. In the form of its main component (bentonite, which is formed during the weathering of volcanic rocks — tuffs and ash), mountain soap is one of the main minerals in many types of soils, and it is also found in many sedimentary rocks. Thanks to its layered “batch” structure, mountain soap has the ability to absorb water, swell strongly and has pronounced sorption properties.
Name
The name “mountain soap” is not so much a metaphor, which is quite often found in mineralogy, as a simple statement of the soapy properties of the mineral, as well as the systematic use that it has had for thousands of years. On the one hand, this type of clay received its trivial name from its property of softening in water and forming with it a viscous and greasy substance to the touch, similar to thickly diluted soap.[3]: 95 On the other hand, for a very long time, the population that had access to deposits of such clays systematically used it as a detergent for various purposes: from waulking cloth, canvas and wool to washing hands, face and hair in the bathhouse.[4] From the combination of two factors inherent in all these varieties, other synonymous names also follow under which washing clays are found. In the literature of the 18th and 19th centuries, mountain soap can be found under the names: soapy earth,[5] soapy clay, soapstone or bolus.[6]
The conventional scientific use of the collective term “mountain soap” generally ended by the last quarter of the 19th century, giving way to individual names of the minerals included in this conventional group. Currently, the term is considered completely outdated and does not appear as such even in the latest mineralogical dictionaries.[7]: 239, 531
Gallery
References
- ^ Nikolay Shcheglov, Mineralogy according to Mr. Haüy′s system: part two. — St. Petersburg: In Marine Printing House, 1824.
- ^ A. N. Krishtofovich, Geological Dictionary. Volume 1. — Moscow: State Publishing House of Geological Literature, 1955.
- ^ Spassky G. I. Mountain dictionary. Part one. — S. Petersburg. In the printing house of Nikolai Stepanov, 1843.
- ^ Ogorodnikov P. I. ″Essays on Persia″. Shahrud kaleidoscope. Persian coast of the Caspian Sea. Pass over Kuzluk. — S. Petersburg: ed. magazine ″World Traveler″, 1878. — 396 p.
- ^ Guide to Mathematical and Physical Geography, with the use of the earth's globe and land maps, again translated with notes from French. Theodore Ulr. Theod. Epimus (translation by A. M. Razumov). Second edition. — In St. Petersburg at the Imperial Academy of Sciences in 1764.
- ^ Steller Georg Wilhelm. Description of the land of Kamchatka. — Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky: Kamchatka Printing Yard. Book Publishing house, 1999.
- ^ Krivovichev V. G. Mineralogical glossary. Scientific editor A. G. Bulakh. — St.Petersburg: St.Petersburg Univ. Publ. House. 2009. — 556 p. — ISBN 978-5-288-04863-0