Talco, talcas, talcat
Posted by Bob Whitworth on August 20, 1998 at 11:22:46:
Talc:
I have not really been familiar with this in the context of my Regency research, so I did a bit of fact hunting, just to see if I’d missed anything. Here goes.
From: A Pocket Encyclopedia; or, Library of General Knowledge, being a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Polite Literature, by Edward Augustus Kendal, London, 1802.
Talc, in natural history, a glossy species of stone, easily separated into thin and transparent scales of leaves.
Talc is found in various parts of the world. In England, Northamptonshire is the district most peculiarly known for this production.
The Romans used the talc brought from Russia both for window-lights, and for the pavement of magnificent buildings. The Russian talc may be used for lanterns, and for covering miniature paintings.
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From Microsoft Encarta: (yes, you can find some info here)
Talc is an exceedingly common mineral and occurs in large beds of crystalline schists together with serpenting, dolomite, and chlorite. The principal deposits occur in the United States....
Because of its great heat resistance and easy workability, talc was widely used in the manufacture of pottery in ancient times and has often been called potstone. It is an ingredient in soaps, lubricants, tailor’s chalk or French chalk, and pigments, and it is used for talcum powder.
^^^^^^
I have not been able to find any reference for it being used in powdered form as a make-up or “dressing”
before, during, and somewhat after the Regency period. If anyone else has any info, please post it.
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Cornstarch: Starch is produced from corn for the first time at Jersey City, N.J. in 1842.
It falls into the early Victorian period -- not the Regency period.
^^^^^^
The info on cornstarch is from “The People’s Chronology”, published by Henry Holt and Company.
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