The Red Cloud chief., 1881-04-21


~terestinx story abeas II.
Assgsros IL one Of the most curious
and Interesting of minerals. or. we
nigh, rather say glasses Of minerals.
the nau.s being applied { quite a MN
Der Of voieties Of tremoli,e. a0inolne.
etc. With are themselves rsre,ies cf
amphibcie. or hornsblende. "a 3 Ia mGfv
commonly called Chemically yiexeu.
ihes. are compounds o. silica. maguc-
sra. lime and oxide Of iron- They differ
from other varieties of hornbiende
chiefly in containing little or no alum
ina. and are remarkable for assuming
4 fibrous character. the Ebers being
sometimes very long. hne and iexibse.
aud h.viuS nueh tiis app-arsar Of
Tax. They form cyfnpsct msSses. hu2
4 oNen be easffv srpsr=scd " ere es-
gers. They vary In color from white 20
green and iishs brown.
The name asbestos - from the Greek.
and means incomba, iibility. IL i 10th
ing strange thar \ mineral sronld be
incombustibie. but, tina, delicate threads.
looking ike fax. should not DC de-
stroyed o. Ere. but shonld come forth
from the ordeal only the whis-r. like
ordinary thread when washed IN water.
naturally seemed n remarkable phe-
nomenon To the ~ancients who gay. them
the name. The finest varieiy - called
amianthus, which in the Greek means
unpo.lu,ible. AL the stains that Il re-
ceives being removed by Dire.
The resemblance Of these mineral
threads To fax n once suggests that they
might be woven into m i~ncombustible
fabric; and this was done By the n
clients, the cloth being mainly used for
wrapping corpses for the funeral pile
IN order 10 preserve the ashes vi the
body from being mixed with those OF the
materials used in burning il.
An Italian writer relates an amusing
incident which IS worth relating here.
In 1884 q man working in his vineyard
nea Naples while digging a trench In
which To set out some vines, came
across an old Paruscan tomb in which
he found q garment somewhat like .
large shirt, apparently made OF coarse
linen. He took il home 70 his wife.
who washed IL again and again, but
finding it impossible To get it cloan. nj
last used it for wiping dirty floors. and
similar kitchen work. When il became
too much soiled for this purpose. she
threw IL out on the dust heap. Here IL
was picked up by some boys. one Of
whom carried il home To his father, the
village baker. He. after due eNamina-
ton, decided that it was iii for nothing
but cleaning % his oven. To this use
he put il, until it became so black with
coal dust that he threw il into the oven
with the faggotS To heat il. But what
was his aStonishment. on opening the
oven t. clean il nj before putting in
his bread. To find the old linen shirt
uncousumed. but white and clean
though the faggots were burnt 10 ashes
Frightened out of his wits. he ran into
the street, crying 30. San Giuseppe.
have mercy on me. the devil has got
into NV ovenr' He then went To the
priest for confession, and told him
what had happened. The good
man would not believe the
tale. but on going with the
frightened than his p%arishioher hal
been. Joining the villagers and old
women who had collected round tho
bakers house. be told them. crossing
himself, that the devil indeed had got
into the oven, for he had seen him with
his own ewes. What was to be done?
He must be expelled somehow or other.
Mass must be said, the priests of the
neighboring villages collected. n pro-
cession formed. ceremonies gone
through and the evil n cast out of the
ovcn by exercising him. So all this
was done, and after sprinkling the
oven with consecrated water, the piece
OF bedeviled linen was dragged forth
with a pair of tongs and thrown with
e~xecration upon a dung heap outside
the village. The oven was thus puri-
fed and the village freed from an I'M
welcome visitor. An apothecary Of the
next village hearing of this miraculous
piece of linen, dared to go and look at
it and to carry it away. Seeing that it
was something curious. he took it into
the city and presented it to an anti
quarian friend. After passing through
various hands, it reached the great Ma
tional Museum of Naples, where, en-.
shrined in n glass ease and reposing on
a velvet cushion it found n final resting
place as one of the most perfect
known specimens of ancient asbestos
cloth.
In our day some experiments have
been made with fabrics Of asbestos.
especially as q material for iiremen's
dresses. but we are not aware that these
have led to permanent use for that pur-
pose. Some years ago it was tested in
Palis. where f;remen. wearing hoods or
helmets of tho incombustible cloth, and
garments of it put on over their cloth
ing rendered fireproof by chemical
preparations, remained for some time
without injury in the midst of blazing
piles of wood and straw. Asbestos has
also been used for lining safes, for max
ING incombustible wicks for lamps, and
for chemical filters; but its industrial
application is still very limited.
The mineral is found in many locali-
ties. but the chief deposits OF it are in
Savoy and Corsica. and on Staten Island
in New York harbOr.-B0s,oB Joarna!
Of Chemistry.