110 Protection of Persons from Fire. 
Art of the sculptor and stone cutter.—A mask of fine metallic 
gauze is precisely what is wanted to guard workman from the chips 
and fine dust which are so injurious to the eyes and lungs. 
Medicine and surgery.—Cannot the organs of sight and respira- 
tion be protected by the means recommended in exposure to disease. 
Precautions against insects in places infested by then.—The me- 
’ tallic gauze placed before windows and doors, while it freely admits 
air, would exclude insects, more effectually than the stuffs used for 
that purpose. 
Amianthine paper and pasteboard.—The packers of elpal may 
avail themselves very usefully of the pasteboard as a substitute for 
the common pasteboard. This has been done in Italy with com- 
plete success. ‘The consumption of a great quantity of pasteboard 
is thus done away with, and also of the disagreeable smell which it 
occasions. 
With respect to the amianthine paper, made by the common pro- 
cess, the author says he has several sheets of it half a yard long and 
a foot wide, and that it would be decidedly the best thing for bank 
notes or paper money ; and more particularly for public records, for 
if an indelible ink were applied to it, it would be exempt from all 
risk of accident by fire. Boxes made of several thicknesses of the 
paper or pasteboard, would effectually preserve their contents, how- 
ever exposed to heat. 
The author states that he has improved the Davy lamp, by en- 
larging the meshes of the gauze, and making some other alterations, 
(not clearly described) which render it a valuable substitute for com- 
mon lanterns for farmers, hostlers, &c. Wire gauze is manufactured 
in almost every considerable town in Europe, but that is not the 
case with fabrics of amianthus. Nature, however, is liberal in this 
production, and suitable encouragement is only wanting to render its 
fabrics far more common and accessible. It is said that Charles V- 
had a manufactory of it near Ghent, and that he used a table cloth 
of it, and amused his guests by throwing it into the fire in order to 
cleanse it. In China, cloth is made of it, but the price is excessive 
ly high; for a piece of it half a yard square, was sold, during the 
last century, for nine hundred francs. In the time of Pliny, amian- 
thus was as dear as pearls, but since that time the price has greatly 
diminished. 
