ASHES 255 



CvrtSi - - Value.' ' 



To France. , .. , . . .4,276 19,236 



Italy .-, , - . . ; . 24,060 63,000 



Austrian TerritoHos . . . . 1,200 7,600 



.../Egypt : -, , .- * . .' -(' - 664 6,635 



Other Countries .... 3,224 11,494 " 



.... ,.., . ,.;; 33,42-1 107,865 



ARUM VUX.GARE. A. tiiaculatum ; The Wake-robin ; Lords and Ladtes. In 

 tho island of Portland a kind of arrowroot was prepared from this plant: See ABBOW- 

 KOOT. .' 



ASBESTOS, from HffflfffTos, unconsumable. (Asbeste, Fr.: Asbest t Ger.) When 

 the fibres of the fibrous varieties of amphibole are so slender as to be flexible,' it is 

 called asbestos, or amianthus. It is found in Piedmont, Savoy, Salzburg, the Tyro), 

 Dauphin^, Hungary, Silesia; also in Corsica so abundantly as to have been made use 

 of by Dolomieu for packing minerals ; in tho United States, St Kevern in Cornwall, 

 in Aberdoenshire, in some of the islands north of Scotland, and Greenland. Asbestos 

 was manufactured into cloth by the' an'cients, who were well acquainted with its 

 incombustibility. This cloth was used for napkins, which could be cleansed by 

 throwing them into the fire ; it was also used as the wick for lamps in the ancient 

 temples ; and it is now used for the same purpose by the natives of Greenland. It 

 has been proposed to make paper of thia fibrous substance, for the preservation of 

 important matters. An Italian, Chevalier Aldini, constructed pieces of dress which 

 are incombustible. Those for the body, arms, and legs' were- formed out of strong 

 cloth steeped in a solution of alum ; while those for the head, hands, and feet were 

 made of cloth of asbestos. A piece of .ancient asbestos cloth, preserved in the Vatican, 

 appears to have been formed by mixing asbestos with other fibrous substances ; but 

 M. Aldini has executed a piece of nearly the same size, which is superior to it, as it 

 contains no 'foreign substance. Tho fibres Avere 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 Society of Encouragement, of Paris, proposed -a" 

 prize for the improvement of asbestos cloth. The use of it was publicly exhibited in 

 London in 1858. 



Common Asbestos is found in fibres of a dull greenish colour, and of a somewhat 

 pearly lustre. In the Serpentine formations at 'the Lizard Point, in Cornwall, it id 

 common. Dr. M'Culloch found it in the limestone of GlentUt in a pasty state, but 

 it hardened upon exposure. 



Mountain Leather, or Mountain Paper, is, not in parallel fibres lik'e the preqeding t 

 but the fibres are interwoven. The thinner pieces bear the ' latter name! Wanlock 

 Head is the best known locality in this country. 



Elastic Asbestos, or Mountain CorTc, flojats on water. It has, like the. preceding, art 

 interlaced fibrous texture. . It. vane's in ; colour, being, white, .grey, yellow, or brownl 

 In appearance and feel it is not unlike common corlc, and it has a certain degree of 

 elasticity, hence its name. '" ' 



Mountain Wood, or Ligniform Asbestds. This variety is usually piassiye, and of a 

 brown colour, having much the appearadce of wood. It is' found in several localities 

 in Scotland. ,. ; 



ASH. (Fraxinus excelsa.) Ash is superior to any other" British wood for its 

 toughness and*elasticity. It is therefore used for the frames .of machines, for agriculr 

 tural implements, and, the felloes, of wheels. . This wood is split into" pieces for the 

 springs of bleachers' rubbing-boards. Handspikes, hammer-handles, rails for chairs, 

 &c., are made from the ash. All these and similar works are. much stronger when 

 they follow the natural fibre of tho woiad. Hoops are also | frequently made of the 

 young branches of tho ash. Rank,ine gives ft,s, tenacity, as 17(000, and its modulus of 

 elasticity, or resistance to stretching, as 1,600,000. 



Certain species of Fraxinus in the South of Europe yield a sweet exudation known 

 as Manna. . . . 



ASHES. In commerce, the word ashes is applied to the ashes of vegetable sub;- 

 stances from which the alkalis are obtained. See KELP, BABILLA, &c. 



It is the popular name of the vegetable alkali, potash, in an impure state, as 

 procured from the ashes of plants by lixiviation and evaporation. The plants which 

 'vield tho greatest quantity of potash are wormwood and fumitory. Sea POTASH, 

 PKABLAsk, and, for the mode of determining the value of ashes, "AiKALiMETBY. 



Commercially ashes are divided into soap-ashes, wood-ashes, and weed-ashes. 



