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plied, auii concerning the adaptability of which fresh discoveries are 

 being made almost daily. The great importance attached to the deposit 

 in the province of Quebec is seen in the fact that several of the largest 

 companies interested in the manufacture of asbestus products have 

 found it to their interest to secure mines of their own in this district, 

 anion 0, which may be mentioned the Bell Asbestus (Jo. and the United 

 Asbestus Co., of London, Eng., and the great German firm of the 

 Wertheims, of Frankfort, while American firms are also largely inter- 

 ested in several of the mines. In spite, therefore, of the wide geograph- 

 ical distribution of the mineral, it is evident that the asbestus of this 

 country has, from its excellent qualities and from the ease with which 

 it is obtained, risen to this prominent place, and in view of the fact that 

 the sources of supply appear to be limited, it is doubly important that in 

 all mining operations the minimum of waste should be permitted by the 

 employment of the most improved machinery applicable to the purposes 

 of mining and dressing, consistent with its economical and profitable* 

 output. This view of the case is now rapidly engaging the atteution of 

 those who possess the keenest insight into the great possibilities of this 

 industry, and rapid strides have taken place in this direction during 

 the last two years. 



I trust that sufficient has been said in this paper to show that in 

 asbestus we have a substance which is almost unique in the mineral 

 kingdom — a substance of such ready adaptation to such a variety of 

 vises that its neglect for so many years seems wonderful to those who 

 have but superficially glanced at the subject. Doubtless, however, the 

 crreat expense attendant upon its use prior to the discovery of the 

 deposits of Thetford and Coleraine, in Quebec, is largely accountable 

 for this state of things, and as in the case of many other substances 

 when once they have come into general use, one wonders how the man- 

 ufacturing and commercial world ever got along without them. It is 

 possible that within the capacious bosom of mother earth there are 

 stored up other treasures of the mineral kingdom, whose uses are also 

 unknown at the present day,but which await the fortunate coming of some 

 clever renins to show their great importance. A very striking case in 

 point is seen in the enormous nickel deposits of Sudbury, and, to go a 

 little further back, in the great petroleum wells and the reservoirs 



