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Joao Paulo Carvalho wrote: > For heavens sake Kathie, is it so ? It is hard for me understand how > this mineral clay(bentonite) would indeed function on ours bodies as > a > desentoxing agent.(It is known though that caulim-another clay > mineral- > helps in some problems in the intestines such as dyarrhia). There are > > experiments with it used alone or single ?How to dose it ? As for > silymarin, well in this case it is a complex organic matter and is > plausible that one may expect a beneficial effect.Pardon me if I seem > to > be too skeptical. > At last a use for a geologist with PD! bentonite (often formed by weathering material from volcanic eruptions) is actually montmorillonite, and is a complex layered silicate. There is a net negative charge on the layers, which is compensated by cations such as =B7 Ca2, Nal, and H301 (i.e., H' + H20) adsorbed between the layers. This explains the swelling of montmorillonite when immersed in water and (with respect to the question above this may be the key?) its property of cation exchange, whereby cations in solution can be exchanged for cations adsorbed in the mineral. It is commonly used in drilling (oil that is) muds. The mineral is also known as Fuller's earth from its use as a degreasing agent in treating sheeps wool. I hope at least someone finds this interesting. Are there any other geologist PDs out there? Best regards david PS afraid I plaugirised a sentance from a text book, I really could not remember the cation exchange mechanism from 25 years ago