Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/438

 Great Khan. It was pounded in a brass mortar; then washed to separate the earthy particles; spun and woven into cloth; and cleansed, when dirty, by being thrown into the fire.

Bugnon, in his Rélation Exacte concernant les Caravanes (Nancy, 1707, p. 37-39.) mentions, that Amiantus was found in Cyprus and on the confines of Arabia. He says, ''they spun it and made stockings, socks, and drawers'', which fitted closely; that over these they wore their other garments; and that they were thus protected from the heat in travelling with the caravans through Asia.

Basil, Bishop of Cæsarea, shows that he was acquainted with the properties of this substance, ''by comparing the three children cast into the fiery furnace without being hurt (Dan.'' iii.) to Asbestos, "which, when put into the fire seems to burn and to be turned to ashes, but, when taken out, becomes purer and brighter than it was before ."

Damasus (in Silvestro Papa) mentions, that the Emperor Constantine directed asbestos to be used for the wicks of the lamps in his baptistery at Rome.

For further particulars respecting the places where amiantus is procured, and the mode of preparing it for the manufacture of cloth, we refer to the treatises of mineralogists and to the Essays of Ciampini, Tilingius, Mahudel, and Bruckmann on this particular subject. We are informed, that it is softened and rendered supple by being steeped in oil, and that ''fibres of flax are then mixed with it'' in order that it may be spun. When the cloth is woven, it is put into the fire, by which the flax and oil are dissipated, and the asbestos alone remains.

Ignorance of the true nature of Asbestos caused it to be employed in the dark ages for purposes of superstition and religious fraud. Of this we have a proof in the following account