The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-04-11
THE MEERscHAUM CENTENARY.

THE MEERSCHAUM CENTENARY.
One Hundred Years Since the Ideal Pipe Was
Presented TO the world OF smokers.
From the Courier des Etafs Cnis.
The centenary Of the tall hat was not quite
SO brilliant as It's promoters expected. and the
lovers Of anniversaries will be glad to learn
that there is still another chance for them to
exercise their zeal in the centen iry of the
meerschaum pipe. 1t now lacks only a few
week. OF being Just one hundred years since
the French smokers enjoyed their first i'm
ported pipes Of silicate of magnesia. and Just
factured In France.
According to the best authorities upon the
subject. the idea Of using white tale in the
manufacture Of pipes lie OF comparatively recent
date. compared with the age OF the habit Of
smoking. and WI at is still more curious Is the
fact that in the Oriental countries which PR
duce white tale, or meerschaum. az 1t is called,
and where the use of tobacco forms part OF the
education of the faithful. the people never
dream of making this substance into pipes.
They make bowls and Goblets Of 1t, but no
pipes. II may be that the lons Dido stems which
allow tho smoke t. cool and lose fits acr.d!ty
before reaching tho mouth leave the Oriental
smoker quite Indifferent in regard to the quail.
lIY Oh tno OCHle Az hll ONclIS. Ou0 mover sees
n Turk With a meerschaum pipe.
The first meerschaums appeared in Hungary
toward the close OF the eighteenth century. and
were afterward sold at the fairs OF Leipsic and
Frankfort. Then the Viennese went into the
business and sold their products. which were
made on n uniform model. at exorbitant
prices. They knew whore to procure'the raw
material. in regard to the nature of which
tho smokers. and the chemists. too. were
very much divided in their judgment.
At first 1t was thought that the substance
was a paste. invented by a mere liant named
GUNNER. and the learned Of The period took
advantage Of their erudition to make fun OF
the ignorant who called II meerschaum or
ecume de mer. instead OF GUNNER. an unpar-
donable barbarism. in their opinion. 1t was
also claimed by others that tho thing was
merely . trituration of egg shells blended with
some particular oil. To distinguish the gen.
ulne meerschaum from the bogus. the wise:
acres prescribed a simple moth ID. consisting OF
sticking . needle through the bowl whom It
was hot. After the piercing the hole should
was tho lnfallible old-tlme proof OF genuine
meerechaum. but those who tried 1t must have
become convinced that the real material was
When by analysis tho nature OF the sub
stance wa: proved beyond q doubt, the difcov-
came numerous. At the price at which the
material Tas sold. and is still sold. the search
IOr IL was certainly worth tho lTOuDIe- ll6
seekers declared. and probably with some do
gree Of, reason. that, there was nothing to
prove that Anatolia had a monopoly, of the
they started to hunt for II almost every where.
In 1864 one of the Paris papers took it's read
that the Quarries Of Montmartre were full OF
the precious material that people werc taking
long JOURNEYS to procure. That was a diseov-
tures OF, Rocambole himself. But. %unfortu-
nately. the high hopes OF the good people of
Mont m art ra lnnuta1 IN dian ypnintTn.pf
Later the geogra pliers affirmed that the
Crimea was the land Of promise for those WHO
siege OF Sebastopol a Captain in the Engineer
Corps. while digging a trench. fancied that he
h had d, s'r cyoso one ne OF 9hs those S., p Sso g d Sacs rs, and md
share OF the booty a box containing some
blocks OF the, material which he, had found
to a Partisan manufacturer. and asked him to
turn them as quickly as possible in 10 pipes,
brother officers as souvenirs OF the Crimea.
The manufacturer told the story as follows;
This ofieer; how returned with the epau-
the visit which. he had previously announced
by letter. and showed me his find. Tbs APP
strong. a resemblance to meerschaum that .
trained eye might easily at first sight be de-
s ss, . y him I'M My 0S Foreman e = o'r u1dsr.oo x the aho
painful task. He took up one Of the blocks,
e1smtPsh It my %ifn ri.nd., f .aid io the F coIen tine You
schAum pipes
".YoG mean chalk piOes. Colonel
"'That Is just what y is. but ! must admit
that I never ga y anything OF the kind that
could compare with It in quality. 1t would DO
Just the thing for the tailorr.'
And. going. owe. to the door OF the work.
shop; he traced some clear lines with the sup
posed meerschaum."
Several European specimens OF what was be-
lieved TO no genuine meerschaum. on. being
examined. were found TO be similar to the ono
described above. In reality Asia Minor is the
only country where tho real thing exists; and II
was u French merchant. E.. Carbon. who. in
tween Europe, and those distant regions IN
Asia Minor whe-e the tale exists. His trav-
ellinR impressions, gathered In that country.
were published In q little volume full OF hn-
NOR and giving all tho dramatic episodes OF his
bold attempt. Even at the present time trav-
half q century ags a trip there might almost
be called rash. Carbon was regularly black
mailed by the functiOnaries of several do
tricts, and was captured and robbed by brig
andS In the less civilized portions OF tho coun-
try. In shor. he returned with nothing but
mere rubbish. not worth confscating. But he
managed TO establish copImunieat On with
the Arabs. with q view OF procurin the do
sired material. The result for French trade
despiss., France was freed from the German
monopoly In mo~erschaum, and on account of
the variety of tho models French pipes became
tho mistress In that branch of trade In the Eu-
ropeAn market; The manufacture OF meer-
schAum pipes In France. which. in 1850. was
mission inQuirinR into Partisan industries. now
amounts IN millions of francs a year,
II would DO we'll 10 inAuguratea bust 10 Car
don. At tho coming centenary and 70 have II