Earths. MINERALOGY. Earths. 445 
CLASS I. Order I. TALCOSE EARTHS. 
The moft remarkable genus in this order is the 
Asbestus. or imperiihable mineral, of which we have 
i'poken in general under that article, in vol. ii. The 
words Albeftus and Amianthus are ufed indifferently for 
this genus; the former term fignifying unextinguijhable, 
or rather imperijhablc; the latter unftained, or mifoiled; 
both denoting the very fingular properties of all the fpe- 
cies. The following are the generic charadlers. 
Asbestus. —Confiding of carbonat of magnefia, fdex, 
and generally alumine; with frequently oxyd of iron, 
rarely carbonat of lime: dry to the touch, fibrous, foft, 
• light and floating, brittle in the fire, parafitic. There 
are ten lpecies of Albeftus, in two divifions. 
I. With all the fibres parallel, i. Albeftus amianthus, 
mountain-flax, or flexible albeftus: floating, with very 
fine feparable highly-flexible fibres. Found with Terpen¬ 
tine in the Ural, Lapland, Swedilh, and many European, 
mountains, and likewife in Candia and China: colour 
filvery-white, greyilh, greenifli-white, yellowilh, pale flelh- 
colour, or ochre yellow: feels a little grealy to the touch ; 
and eafily melts in,a candle. 
a. Albeftus maturus, or plumofe albeftus : harder, with 
the fibres more clofely cohering, tenacious and feparable. 
Found in Sweden; leparates into a kind of down, rather 
than into diftindt fibres: abounds with iron, which gives 
it a greenilh colour: in the fire it melts into a black drofs. 
Probably only a variety of the preceding. 
3. Albeftus fragilis, or brittle albeftus: Ihining like 
o-lals, with leparable very-fragile fibres. Found in Siberia 
and Sweden, and is fold in the fhops under the name of 
feathered alum. Colour grey or greenilh. Taken inter¬ 
nally, it is highly deleterious*; but has been fometimes ap¬ 
plied to ftimulate paralytic limbs. 
4. Albeftus vulgaris, or common albeftus: without 
luftre, with rigid ltony cohering fibres in long bundles. 
Found in Siberia, Lapland, Sweden, Silefia, Saxony, Fran¬ 
conia, and Tyrol, generally in wedge-lhaped pieces. Co¬ 
lour green or grey : its furface can be fcratched with a 
knife, and is not altered by fire: it melts with borax into 
a white glafly mafs. Contains filex 63-9, magnefia i6 - o, 
lime iz - 8, iron 6 - o, alumine i'i. Bergman. 
5. Albeftus tortuofus, or twilled albeftus : harder; with 
tortuous, rigid, clofely-united, fafcicled, fibres. Found 
in Sweden. 
II. With the fibres interwoven, and breaking into ob- 
tufe-angled fragments. 6. Albeftus fuber, mountain-cork, 
or elaftic albeftus : flexible, refembling cork, imbibing wa¬ 
ter with a noife, adhering to the tongue. Found in the 
mines of Sweden, Saxony, Hungary, &c. containing often 
filver ores, in thick compadl pieces. Colour white, reddilh- 
white, cinereous, greenilh, or yellowilh : the fibres are l’o 
confufedly interw'oven with each other as to be diftin- 
guiflied with difficulty. It is very light, dry, and elaftic, 
and yields to the preflure of the nail. Contains filex 56-3, 
magnefia z6*i, lime 137, iron 3-0, alumine z'o. Bergman. 
7. Albeftus lignum, mountain-w'ood, or ligniform af- 
beftus: refembling wood in colour and texture. Found 
at Claufen, in Tyrol. Colour brown ; and, if broken 
acrofs, difcovers an irregular filamentous ftrudture, like 
wood. 
8. Albeftus caro, or mountain-leather: flexible, float¬ 
ing, in thick lamellar pieces. Found in the iron-mines 
of Sweden, in pieces of the thicknefs and confluence of 
tanned horfes’ Ikin. Colour w'hitilh; the outer furface 
often confilling of very thin Ihort crowded eredt hairs, 
over which is a black unequal membrane. It has the 
appearance of a hornblende; but is immediately diftin- 
guilhed by its foftnefs and colour. Contains filex 56-3, 
alumine 3 - o, magnefia z 6 ’i, lime 137, iron 3-0. Schmeijj'er. 
9. Albeftus aluta, or foft albeftus : flexible, floating, in 
thin lamellar pieces. Found in Siberia, Ruffia, Sweden, 
Hungary, Tyrol, France, &c. in pieces of the thicknefs 
and confluence of fine Ihoe-leather or thick brown paper. 
Colour white, cinereous, or pale yellowilh. 
Vol.£V. No. jo 5 6 . 
10. Albeftus argentifer, or filvery albeftus: flexible, 
browniflr-red, in thin lamellar pieces, highly charged with 
filver ore. Found in the mines of Hercynia, Carolina, 
and Dorothea. 
Actinotus. —Confilling of carbonat of magnefia, a 
larger proportion of oxyd of iron, and the greater part 
filex : harlh to the touch, Ihining, rigid, fragile, parafitic ; 
generally of a green colour; fpontaneoufty falling into 
granular fragments, but breaking into indeterminate frag¬ 
ments : melting in the fire, with ebullition, into a pellu¬ 
cid fix-coloured globule. 
This mineral is the Stralilftein of Werner; and is clafled 
by Haiiy with the following genus Hornblenda, on ac¬ 
count of the identity which he fuppoles to exift in the 
forms of the primitive cryftals of both : this identity is, 
however, denied by the count de Bournon. There are 
four fpecies. 
1. Adlinotus fibrofus, or fibrous adlinote : opake, foft, 
Ihining within, fibrous, with the fibres diverging. Found 
with pyrites in the mines of Saxony ; of a glafly luftre, 
fometimes greyilh-white, greenilh or reddilh-W'hite, or 
cinereous: feels a little greafy to the touch. 
3. Adlinotus vulgaris, common adlinote, or albeftoid : 
lliining, hardilh, pellucid or diaphanous, radiate or ftriate. 
Of this there are fix varieties ; all of which occur in the 
iron-mines of Sweden, the quarries of Saxony, and the 
mountains of Franconia and Tyrol, in long flattilli four 
or fix-lided cryftals, which are brittle and not flexible. 
Feels very flightly, if any thing, greafy to the touch. 
Colour greenifli-white or reddilh-grey. It often confti- 
tutes the matrix of metallic ores. Contains filex 43, 
lime 33, iron 34. 
3. Adlinotus vitreus, glafly adlinote, or malacolite : 
of a glafly luftre, femi-tranfparent, hardilh, lomewhat 
fibrous. Found on the illand of Sky in Scotland, near 
Allemont in Dauphiny, and in the Tyrolefe mountains, 
in folid mafles, and cryftallized in four or fix fided prifims. 
Colour leek-green with a filvery luftre, or with a yel- 
lowilli llain, or brownifli-red: it breaks longitudinally 
into long lharp fplintery fragments, dilcovering its clofely- 
adhering quadrangular or hexangular fibres. The con- 
ftituent parts of this mineral, from Zillerthal, in the 
Tyrol, as given by Langier, are— 
■ 100 parts. 
4. Adlinotus albeftoides, or albeftous adtinolite: colour 
a greenilh-grey, which pafles into lky-blue, and into olive- 
green, yellowilh-brown, and liver-brown. It occurs 
in diftindl wedge-lhaped concretions, compofed of acicu- 
lar cryftals, which are diverging or radiated. It is opaque, 
or flightly tranllucent on the edges. Internally the luftre 
is gliltening and pearly. It is foft, rather ledtile, and 
breaks with difficulty. The lpecific gravity is z‘8, Karf- 
ten ; according to Kirwan, 3’579> It melts with difficulty 
into a black or dark green-coloured glafs. The confti- 
tuent parts, according to Vauquelin, are— 
Silex - 47'Q' 
Lime - - - - 117 
Magnefia - - - 77 
Oxyd of iron - - zo’o 
Oxyd of manganefe - io - 
Lol’s - - - 4'4^ 
The fpecimen of which the analyfis is here given, is com¬ 
pofed of thin elaftic and flexible cryftals, and is called by 
Sauflure hjjfolite. It occurs in Norway, Sweden, in the 
Hartz, and various alpine diftridts, in rocks of gneifs, 
mica-flate, and granular lime-ftone; it occurs alio near 
5 X Marazion, 
Silex - 
50- ■ 
Magnefia - 
I 9' 2 5 
Alumine - 
<= 7 S 
Lime - 
9 ' 75 | 
Potalh - 
O'JO 
Oxyd of iron - 
I TOO 
Oxyd of manganefe 
070 
Oxyd of chrome - 
3 - oo 
Carbonic acid and water 
5-00 
Lofs - 
0'35 
-in 100 parts. 
