Talc Recognition in Islamic Scholars’ Essays: from Muscovite to Asbestos

Talc as a hydrated magnesium silicate is the softest, pearly luster, heat-resistant mineral, which belongs to the clay group of phyllosilicates, with the chemical formula Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. Muslim scholars knew four different kinds of minerals as Talc, whose descriptions might correspond to micas’ phyllosilicates namely Muscovite and Kaolinite, calcium sulfate or Gypsum, and inosilicate Asbestos as well. Some metamorphic Talc-rich schists, such as steatite or soapstone have been also called Talc in Muslim mineralogist al-Tifashis’ treatise. The goal of this paper is to estimate the above-mentioned minerals from both historical and mineralogical views carefully and to determine how and why these minerals and stones have been confused with talc by some prominent Muslim scholars, looking back to ancient Greek and Latin texts.