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[Pers.] (Min.) A mineral allied to soap-stone, entering into several crystalline rocks (talc-schist, protogine), almost entirely silica + magnesia ; silvery white, greenish white, green ; soft ; greasy to touch ; generally massive ; when in thin plates, subtranslucent ; fissile, not elastic. French chalk is powdered talc. Mica (quite a different mineral) is called "tale" in commerce.
By Henry Percy Smith
Word of the day
flame-bearer
- One who bears flame or light; name given to members a genus humming birds, from their being furnished with tuft flery crimson-colored feathers round neck like gorget. little flame-bearer inhabits inner side extinct volcano Chiriqui, in Veragua, about 9000 feet above the level of sea. It measures only 1/2 inches length. There are various other species, all tropical American.