Min. [SOAP sb.] Steatite; magnesian clay.
1746. Hill, Theophr. (1774), 242. The Steatites of the Soap Rock of Cornwall.
1758. Borlase, Nat. Hist. Cornw., 66. The most curious of all our clays in Cornwall, is the steatites near the Lizherd, generally called the Soap-rock.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 465. Steatites, or soap-rock, is generally of a greenish colour.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 456. The magnesia has obtained the name of soap-rock, and a marked variety of it steatite.
