354 LETTERS ON NATURAL MAGIC. 



and cap are single, but the gloves are made of double 

 amianthus cloth, to enable the fireman to take into his 

 hand burning or red-hot bodies. The piece of ancient 

 asbestos cloth preserved in the Vatican was. formed, we 

 believe, by mixing the asbestos with other fibrous sub- 

 stances ; but M. Aldini has executed a piece of nearly the 

 same size, nine feet five inches long, and five feet three 

 inches wide, which is much stronger than the ancient 

 piece, and possesses superior qualities, in consequence of 

 having been woven without the introduction of any 

 foreign substance. In this manufacture the fibres are 

 prevented from breaking by the action of steam, the cloth 

 is made loose in its fabric, and the threads are about the 

 fiftieth of an inch in diameter. 



The metallic dress which is superadded to these means 

 of defence consists of five principal pieces, viz., a casque or 

 cap, with a mask large enough to leave a proper space 

 between it and the asbestos cap ; a cuirass with its brass- 

 ets ; a piece of armour for the trunk and thighs ; a pair of 

 boots of double wire-gauze ; and an oval shield five feet 

 long by 2 wide, made by stretching the wire-gauze over 

 a slender frame of iron. All these pieces are made of 

 iron wire-gauze, having the interval between its threads 

 the twenty-fifth part of an inch. 



In order to prove the efficacy of this apparatus, and 

 inspire the firemen with confidence in its protection, he 

 showed them that a finger first enveloped in asbestos, and 

 then in a double case of wire-gauze, might be held a long 

 time in the flame of a spirit-lamp or candle before the 

 heat became inconvenient. A fireman having his hand 

 within a double asbestos glove, and its palm protected by 

 a piece of asbestos cloth, seized with impunity a large 

 piece of red-hot iron, carried it deliberately to the distance 

 of 150 feet, inflamed straw with it, and brought it back 

 again to the furnace. On other occasions, the firemen 



