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Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica

Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Page of 251 Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
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BOOK V
93
Misena near Sala and in Bononia, Italy. This mineral withstands the heat of the sun and the cold of the winter but cannot withstand rain since it is destroyed whenever placed in large heaps. Since it is transparent they made panes of it, even within the memory of Seneca, and these were placed in windows since they shut out the air and transmitted light. A church in Cosuicus, Saxony, and another in Merseburg, Thuringia, have window panes of this mineral. Later the people made their window panes from round or square pieces of glass joined with lead, also from paper or linen smeared with white wax or goat tallow. Nevertheless they have re­tained the ancient Latin name. Today certain people take the rough stone from a selenite quarry and after burning it use it in the place of lime. Fragments drunk in sour wine relieve dysentery. If the powder, after burning, is sprinkled on fistulas and ulcers it promotes the growth of flesh.
Asbestos (amiantus) follows. This does not form from limestone or gypsum but from a juice of its own genus which, however, is of a special nature. It is named amiantus because fire does not destroy its luster and even if an impurity is mixed with it this is removed with no loss of bril­liancy or luster.7 It is also called asbestos because they make wicks for lamps from it and when once these are set on fire they will continue to burn as long as any oil touches them and yet they are not consumed by the fire.8 It is called bostrychites by Zoroaster because it is braided like the hair of women (it is usually sold in this braided form). Because it is the whitish gray color of man it is called polia by some, corsoides by others, and because it may have the whitish gray color of esparto grass some call it spartopolios. Some call it linon since it is spun and woven by hand like linen. The cloth is called asbestinum by the Greeks because it is made from asbestos. Pliny calls it vivum because it is not affected by fire. Pausanias calls it carystium because it is mined near Carystos.9 It is called alumen by Quadrigarius because it has a fracture similar to alum.
Asbestos occurs in the mines of Suacium in Noricum in the Arcadian mountains; near Carystos, a town of Euboea; in Scythia, India and Egypt. It is either white, gray, red or the color of iron. It differs in taste from alum since the latter is astringent, asbestos is only slightly astringent although it may sting the tongue a little. Concerning its form, asbestos resembles hair and can be separated into fine fibers. It is by nature dry externally but has a humor internally. Fire is unable to consume this humor since it is more powerful than the heat of the fire. However the fire is able to consume impurities adhering to the mineral. Pliny says that napkins made from it are burned in the fireplace after a banquet when they are soiled in order to clean them since the fire is better than water.
7 From ά, not; μιαίναν, to stain.
8 From &σβ€στο$, not extinguished.
• A town on the south coast of Euboea, once famous for its marble, a white stone veined with green mica and also called carystium.
Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica Page of 251 Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica
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