Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1899-12-28
A TALK ON ASBESTUS
SOME LIGHT UPON HOW LONG TT HAS
BEEN IN USE
Man with Mine of Information
AstonI, hes Another Who Knew All
About the Mineral. but Who Would
Not Take n Tempting Bet.

ASIOnll hes Another Who Knew All
About the Mineral. but Who Would
Not Take n Tempting Bet.
An elderly man. with a gray mus
tache. looked up from plate Of spa
ghetti which he was eating in a restau-
rant and spoke TO three others
Say. he said. what do you people
know about asbestusG
Two Of his companions preserved
modest silence. but the third. who was
Il little man. spoke up
II know all about asbeStus. be said
DO. ehy queried the man with the
spaghetti on his plate. Then how
longs il been in user
well. said the little man. hesitat-
ingly, "p'raps 80 years
lyon re away off OF course you
didn know that Charlemagne had an
asbestus tableclothT
Who's CharlemagneT
well. said the elderly man,
"Charlemagne was king of the Franks
and emperor of the Romans about LOO
years ago He was great fighter and
owned an asbeStus tablecloth
Don't believe it. said the little
man II never heard Of asbestus until
the Centennial
We'll. Charlemagne had the cloth
all right. said the elderly man HE
used to astonish his friends from the
interior by throwing the tablecloth
into the fire after dinner. and of course
il didn't burn Asbestus became quite
fashionable after that for towels and
napkins II saved laundry bills All
mans wife had to do was to throw the
week wash into the stove and II came
out rs clean as chalk
Say said the little man. incred-
ulously. do you think you can string
me like thatY
Its So declared the elderly man
But of course you never heard that
Benjamin Franklin had an asbestus
purse?'
mo Had he2' asked the little man.
with a sheer
..Of course he had be took IL over
10 England with him and sold il TO
man in Bloomsbury London. for n big
sum
II suppose, said the little man.
with a wink. that the Englishman
was a friend of yours, and you know
his name
mo. replied the first man, II
never saw him but he was called Sir
Hans Sloane and he had museum
Dime museum grinned the little
man
Not bit of it, smiled the elderly
man good naturally lit was sure
enough museum and as matter OF
fact it constituted the nucleus Of the
British museum dare say that Ben
iamin Franklin asbestus purse Is there
yet
The little man looked little crest
fallen but the elderly man consoled
him
Don worry. he said. There are
lots of people besides yourself who are
shy on knowledge regarding asbestus
1t WASH much used during recent cen
turtles In 1875 an asbestus handker-
chief was shown 70 the Royal society
as a great curiosity by DR. Plot who
had bought il from traveller on his
return from China They called 1t sala'
mander's wool DR. Plot saturated the
handkerchief with oil and threw il into
a fierce charcoal fire The oil burned
of. but the handkerchief remained in
tact The fellows Of the society were
much interested and were not greatly
surprised when the price Of asbestus in
Chinese Tartary was quoted at $500
Chinese ell which isn't much more
than an English yard It's likely that
the price had risen since the days OF the
ancients. for those old fellows had big
sheets Of asbestus which they wound
around corpses before cremating them.
That's long time ago. said the
little man sententiously
well continued the elderly man.
eff You want to come down to later
years. there was book published in
London. 30 years ago. giving accounts.
among other things Of remarkable ex.
periments previously made AT Milan. in
Italy by the Chevalier Aldini. who bad
used asbestus in the construction Of a
suit of freproof armor The coverings
for arms legs and body were Of heavy
cloth which had been soaked in a
strong solution Of alum The helmet.
gauntlets and stockings were OF ashes
tus Then there was an oyerdress. Gov
ering the body thighs and feet. Of wire
gauze. 90 meshes 10 the inch With
this armor on. men stood on big
gridiron over blazing fire for ten min
utes and buried their heads in piles OF
burning hay and shavings but never
theless they came out unharmed They
also handled bars Of white hot iron
and did other things which seemed
quite miraculous That was over 40
years ago
We'll said the little man. ''it's
hard TO believe that for several hun
dreds Of thousands Of years the world
was 80 full Of chumps that there wasn't
room for man smart enough 10 utilize
asbsstus On the whole. | guess III go
Oh doubling
IAN right returned the elderly
man I've got s.. 900 that says I'm
right Perhaps your doubts are strong
enough 70 uphold bet Of $40 against
II
But the little man wouldn't bet -
New York Times