94? ASBESTOS. 
kins of amianthus taken from the table of a great feast, 
thrown into the fire, and burned before the company: 
and by this operation, he says, they became better 
cleansed than if they had been washed. 
The inhabitants of some parts of Siberia manufacture 
gloves, caps, and purses of amianthus; and in the 
Pyrenees it is wrought into girdles, ribbons, and other 
articles. The finest girdles are made by weaving the 
most beautiful and silky filaments with silver wire. 
These are much prized by the women, not only on 
account of their beauty, but from certain mysterious 
properties they are supposed to possess. 
The shorter fibres of amianthus have sometimes been 
manufactured into paper, but this is too hard for use. 
It has, indeed, been proposed to preserve valuable do- 
cuments from fire, by writing them on paper made of 
amianthus. Such a plan might deserve consideration, 
if we possessed fire-proof ink ; but until this be ob- 
tained, the fire-proof paper will be of little use. 
When several of the long fibres of this mineral are 
placed together, they may be formed into wicks for 
lamps ; and it has been asserted that such wicks are 
incombustible. Kircher, the German philosopher, had 
a wick made of amianthus which burned for two years 
without injury, arid was at last destroyed by accident, 
It is said that the inhabitants of Greenland make use of 
amianthus for the wicks of their lamps. 
This substance, although it will long continue unal- 
tered in considerable heat, yet if the heat be much in- 
creased it ceases to withstand it, and is melted into a 
dense kind of scoria. Iti the island of Corsica asbestos 
is advantageously employed in the manufacture of pot- 
tery. Being reduced into fine filaments, it is kneaded 
with clay; and vessels made of this mixture are said 
to be lighter, less brittle, and more capable of sustain- 
ing sudden alterations of heat and cold than common 
earthenware. 
