207 



times presents a banded structure and is occasionally quite slaty, being 

 frequently marked with spots, veinings and stripes of various colors. 

 The coarser fibrous varieties are known as picrolite and baltimorite ; 

 the fibres themselves being devoid of the soft silky character and lustre 

 which is a peculiarity of the better kinds of the variety known as 

 chrysolite or the asbestus of commerce. 



Asbestus is therefore seen to present a great variety of forms, and 

 in some one or more of these it is found at various places over the 

 greater part of the surface of the globe. Among these may be men- 

 tioned in Europe, small deposits ia England, Scotland and Ireland; in 

 France to a limited extent, except in the extreme southeast in Savoy, 

 more abundantly in Italy and Portugal, and on the island of Corsica, 

 where the beautifully silky variety, amianthus, is quite abundant. 

 In Germany, Bavaria, the Pyernees, Russia, Norway and Sweden de- 

 posits of greater or less extent have been found. 



In South Africa the peculiar bluish variety, crocidolite, has al- 

 ready been referred to, and recent reports state that extensive deposits 

 of asbestus occur in the serpentine belts of Kimbedey, in which the 

 diamond diggings also are situated. Asbestus has also been found in 

 South America, in Brazil, in Australia, and in Asia Minor. In 

 several parts of Newfoundland, excellent fibre, more particularly of 

 the variety known as chrysotile, is known to occur, and in the United 

 States it is also found in connection with the serpentinous rock of the 

 •eastern mountain range in nearly every State from Maine to Georgia 

 •On the west coast also it is reported in considerable quantity from 

 California and British Columbia, and as far north as Alaska, while its 

 presence in the rocks of Ontario and Quebec has been recognized for 

 many years. With such a widely extended distribution, therefore, it 

 would seem natural that the supply of tlie material should be practically 

 unlimited. Such, however, does not appear to be the case ; since in 

 many of these places the quantity is so small as not to be available 

 for general use, and in others the quality is such as to be economically 

 valuable only for the inferior purposes of manufacture; while in others 

 -again the difficulties of access preclude all possibility of successful min- 

 ing, for years to come at least. Prior to 1880, the greater jpart of the 

 fine fibre adapted for spinning came from the mines of Italy and 



