208 



(1) Canada. (.50888.) 



BULLETIN 42, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 

 Chrysotile. 



I (2) Cauada. (50889.) 

 Bornblende. 



(1) Manitoba. (5U904.) 



(2) Nova Scotia. (.50911.) 



(3) Newfoundland. 



(4) Victoria, B. C. 



(50919.) 

 (50902.) 



Mountain cork {Bornblende). 



(1) Venezuela. (50884.) 



Hornblende. 



(1) Australia. (5089.3.) 



(2) Tasmania. (50918.) 



(3) France. (50881.) 



(4) France. (50882.) 



(5) France. (50883.) 



(6) Spain. (50913.) 



(7) Italy. (.50894.) 



(8) Smyrna. (50901.) 



(9) China. (50900.) 



(10) Transvaal, South Africa. 



(50877.) 



Application of Asbestos. 



Ill theaccouiit which Marco Polo gives of his travels he mentions an 

 incombustible cloth which he saw in China. It was said to have been 

 made from the hide of the salamander, but he found it to be asbestos, 

 and he describes its manufacture. The Greeks made asbestos cloth, 

 and it is supposed used it in the cremation of their dead to keep the 

 ashes of the body separate. In modern days the most frequent use of 

 asbestos is for the packing of steam joints, especially where high pres- 

 sures are used. For this purpose it is made into paper or mill board, 

 one thirty-second to one half an inch thick, Irom which gaskets can 

 be cut as desired, and into yarn or rope of various sizes and shapes 

 to suit individual cases, and into special gaskets. 



The very best quality is spun into thread and small-sized yarn, which 

 can be woven into cloth for a variety of purposes, for filters, especially 

 for corrosive fluids ; for drop curtains for theaters ; for clothes, especially 

 gloves, for furnace men and firemen; for ladders and ropes for fire es- 

 capes ; in fact, for any use exposed to heat. The j^oorer qualities are 

 used as the basis of fireproof paint, for making nonconducting covering 

 for steam boilers and pipes, for fireproof cement, and various other pur- 

 poses. 



The preparation and uses of asbestos are fully illustrated by a collec- 

 tion presented by the H. W. Johns Company, New York. 



Chrysolite. 



