CHAPTER III.
ASBESTOS.
Uses of Asbestos—Carpasian flax—Still found in Cyprus—Used in funerals—Asbestine-cloth—How
manufactured—Asbestos used for fraud and superstition
by the Romish monks—Relic at Monte Casino—Further impostures of the
monks—Remarks thereon.
Varro mentions the name Asbestos as a proof, that the cloth so called was a Greek invention[1]. His argument is obviously correct. The term ([Greek: asbestos]) means inextinguishable, and was most properly applied to the wicks of lamps, which were made of this substance and were never consumed. The fullest account of the properties and uses of Asbestos is contained in the following passage from Sotacus, a Greek author who wrote on Stones[2]. The passage occurs in the Historiæ Commentitiæ, attributed to Apollonius Dyscolus (cap. 36). The Carystian stone has woolly and colored appendages, which are spun and woven into napkins. This substance is also twisted into wicks, which, when burnt, are bright, but do not consume. The napkins, when dirty, are not washed with water, but a fire is made of sticks, and then the napkin is put into it. The dirt disappears, and the napkin is rendered white and pure by the fire, and is applicable to the same purposes as before. The wicks remain burning with oil continually without being consumed. This stone is produced in Carystus, from which it has its name, and in great abundance in Cyprus under rocks to the left of Elmæum, as you go from Gerandros to Soli.—Yates's Translation.
"At Carystus," says Strabo, "under Mount Ocha in Eubœa
is produced the stone, which is combed and woven so as to make
napkins ([Greek: cheiromaktra]) or handkerchiefs. When these have become
dirty, instead of being washed, they are thrown into a flame
and thus purified[3]."
