ASBESTOS. 93 
This mineral is found in several parts of tke continent 
of Europe ; and in Cornwall, Scotland, and the Shet- 
land Islands* 
136. ASBESTOS is a greenish or silvery whiie mineral, 
of fibraus texture, which is found in. many mountainous coun- 
tries of the Continent, in the island of Anglesea, and in 
Scotland. It occurs in shapeless masses, and varies muck both 
in weight and hardness. 
The name of asbestos is derived from the Greek lan- 
guage, and signifies that which is inconsumable. This 
mineral, and particularly a silky variety of it, in long 
slender, filaments, called amianthus, was well known, to 
the ancients. They made it into an incombustible kind 
of cloth, in which they burned the bodies of their dead, 
and, by which means, they were enabled to collect and 
preserve the ashes without mixture. In the manufacture 
of this article they were not able to weave the asbestos 
alone; but, in the loo;r,, were obliged to join with it linen. 
or woollen threads, which were afterwards burned away. 
Incombustible cloth was purchased by the Romans 
at an enormous expense. Sir J. E.. Smith,, when at 
Home, saw a winding sheet of amianthus in the Museum 
of the Vatican. It was coarsely spun, but as soft and 
pliant as silk. The person who attended him set tire to 
one corner of it ; and the same part burned repeatedly 
with great rapidity and brightness, without being at all 
injured, This interesting relic was discovered, in the 
year 1702, in a funeral urn, and contained burned 
bones, together with a quantity of ashes. It was nine 
Roman palms long, and about seven in width, and had 
been deposited in the library of the Vatican by order of 
Pope Clement the Eleventh. 
Cloth made of amianthus, when greased, or otherwise 
contaminated with dirt, may be cleansed by throwing 
it into a bright fire. In this process the stains are 
burned out, and the cloth is restored to a dazzling 
white colour. Pliny, the Roman naturalist, informs us 
that he had himself seen table-cloths, towels, and nap- 
