100 MIDDLEM1SS : THE GEOLOGY OF IDAR STATE. 



A few remarks on the large amount of steatite present and its 

 quality, will be given in the section devoted to 

 economic minerals (p. 148), it being only 

 necessary to remark here that it varies from the softer, white, 

 cream-coloured, purer kind, as exemplified by specimen No. 3 a y - 

 (12418), to a slaty or greenish-coloured, firmer and less pure variety 

 mixed with much chlorite, £j b (12419). All the varieties are some- 

 what flaky and have a certain tendency to split parallel to the 

 bedding — this tendency being less marked in the purer soft creamy- 

 coloured kind. 



The asbestos, 4 s - 2 (12420), was found originally on the south 

 of the little divide, 800 yards south of the 



^.sbostos 



hillpath from Dev Mori to Kundol. Other 

 deposits were found in some shallow pits sunk across the wider 

 part of the ellipse of outcrop. It appears to occur sparingly and 

 irregularly among the steatite, but it has not yet been properly 

 exposed by any prospecting operations. Examined in the Geologi- 

 cal Survey laboratory by the late Mr. II. S. Bion, it gave the following 

 analysis : 



Ign (H 2 0) 1-529 



Si0 2 55-54 



Fo a 3 7 8 . 35 



1 



A1 2 3 



CaO 12-15 



MgO 21-27 



Loss . . . . . . . . . 1*17 



100-00 



The iron and alumina have not been separated and a little 

 manganese is present. 



The asbestos is remarkably pure, soft and of silky and long 

 staple, without any hard residual fibres. By simply macerating 

 it in water with a slight movement, and afterwards drying, the 

 beautifully soft silky tresses are obtained together with a certain 

 amount of fine down. In the mutter of tensile strength, it of 

 course cannot compare with serpentine asbestos, but this quality is 

 not imperative in many of *he modern uses to which asbestos is now 

 put. (See also p. 148.) 



