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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
94
DE NATURA FOSS1LIUM
Quadrigarius writes that during the seige of Athens Lucius Sulla dis­covered that things covered with asbestos did not take fire. But, as I have said, he called it alum. Strabo is seen to have used the same name for this mineral since he writes that burning bitumen can be extinguished by alum. Pausanias writes that in Athens the wick of the golden lamp of Minerva made by Callimachus was made from Carystian linon. This is obviously ancient and this practice of the Athenians of making wicks from asbestos is followed today by many peoples. The mineral is washed, combed, spun and woven, although with difficulty because of the shortness of the fibers, and not only are napkins made from it, as in Rome, but also towels, as in Vereberg, Saxony. Hierocles writes that the clothes of the Brahman philos­ophers of India were made of this material. Sometimes funereal robes of royalty are made from it for when the body is wrapped in this cloth and then placed on the burning pyre the ashes of the body can be kept sepa­rate from those of the wood and later preserved in a sepulcher. Although Pliny writes that this cloth is very rare and when met with has a value equal to that of the finest pearls, nevertheless since pieces of it can be seen today in the mines of Noricum it has obviously been sold at a low price.
When either the "cleavable stone" of Eisleben or the pyrite of Goslar is roasted they exude a light green, dry, harsh and tenuous material on the top of the pyre. After forming this is not entirely consumed by the fire and thus is similar to asbestos. The "cleavable stone" yields this min­eral more copiously than pyrite.
Magnetis (mica), not the stone which draws iron to itself but the one that is similar to silver, differs from asbestos in form but not in natural qualities. Actually it forms in beds in the same way as selenite but these are very tenuous. Like asbestos it withstands fire to such an extent that it cannot be consumed. It is of such a nature that they can make wicks of it by joining several layers together with an iron thread.
It is found in many places, for example, the Goldekrona mine, Misena, about five miles from Marienburg, and in another mine near the town of Sleta; at Wildestein, Bohemia; at Miltenberg, Franconia; in Livonia, The color may be silvery, the most common color, and for that reason our pot­ters call it by a name compounded from argentum and album, a very ap­propriate name.10 It resembles silver so closely that it may deceive those who do not examine it carefully. Although it has this resemblance to silver they are not joined by any natural relationship as Theophrastus correctly states. It may be the color of iron, e.g., the mineral sometimes found at the Goldekrona mine, Misena. A lead colored variety is also found in this same mine. It may have a mixed lead and silver color although it is usual­ly silver or iron colored. It may be mixed with a red earth, a yellow earth and even at times with some other earth. Some is found in very thin beds and some is not. The latter usually has a lead or silver-lead color since
10 Silberweia.
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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