268 



threads are from one to ten inches long, which may 

 he wrought into a kind of cloth, this the ancients es- 

 teemed as precious as pearls. They used it chiefly 

 in making shrouds for emperors or kings, to preserve 

 their ashes distinct from that of the funeral pile. And 

 the princes of Tartary at this day apply it to the same 

 use. The wicks of their perpetual lamps were like. 

 wise made of it. A handkerchief of this was long 

 since presented to the Royal Society. ' It was twice 

 thrown into a strong fire, before several gentlemen. 

 But in the t\vo experiments it lost not above two 

 drachms of its weight. And what was very remarkable, 

 "when it was red hot, it did not burn a piece of white 

 paper, on which it was laid. 



But there is a kind of asbestos wholly different 

 from that known to the ancients. It is found so far 

 as we yet know, only in the county of Aberdeen in 

 Scotland. In the neighbourhood of Achintore, on 

 the side of a hill, inr a somewhat boggy soil, about the 

 edges of a small brook, there is a space ten or twelve 

 yards square, in which pieces of fossil wood petri- 

 fied lie very thick. Near this place, if the ground be 

 dug into with a knife, there is found a sort of fibrous 

 matter, lying a little below the surface of the ground, 

 among the roots of the grass. This the knife will . 

 not cut, and on examination it proves to be a true 

 asbestos. It lies in loose threads, very soft and flex- 

 ible, and is not injured by the fire. 



Yet. it is sometimes collected into parcels, and seems 

 to form a compact body. When this however is 

 tnore nearly examined, it appears not to be a real 

 Jump, but a congeries resembling a pledget of pressed 

 lint, and being put into water, it separates into its 

 natural loose threads. 



A stranger discovery has still been lately made. 

 The proprietor of a forge, upon taking down his fur- 

 naces to repair them, found at the bottom a great 

 quantity of a substance, which upon repeated trial, 

 effectually answered all the uses of the Asbestos. It 

 was equally Yf ell manufactured either into linen orpaper, 



