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 nameAsbestosas a proof, that the cloth so called was a Greek invention[550]. His argument is obviously correct. The term (ἄσβεστος) meansinextinguishable, and was most properly applied to the wicks of lamps, which were made of this substance and were never consumed.

[550]De Lingua Lat. L. v. p. 134. ed. Spengel.

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[551]. The passage occurs in the Historiæ Commentitiæ, attributed to Apollonius Dyscolus (cap.36).

The Carystian stone has woolly and colored appendages, which arespunand woven intonapkins. 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.

[551]Sotacus is several times quoted by Pliny (L. xxxvi., xxxvii.) as a foreign writer on Stones.

“At Carystus,” says Strabo, “under Mount Ocha in Eubœa is produced the stone, which is combed and woven so as to makenapkins(χειρόμακτρα) orhandkerchiefs. When these have become dirty, instead of being washed, they are thrown into a flame and thus purified[552].”

[552]Lib. x. p. 19. ed. Sieb.

Plutarch speaks in similar terms of napkins, nets, andhead-dresses, made of the Carystian stone, but says, that it was no longer found in his time, only thin veins of it, like hairs, being discoverable in the rock[553].

[553]De Oraculorum Defectu, p. 770. ed. H. Stephani, Par. 1572.

Mr. Hawkins ascertained, that the rock, which was quarried in Mount Ocha, now called St. Elias, above Carystus, is the Cipolino of the Roman antiquaries[554]. Further north in the same island Dr. Sibthorp observed “rocks ofSerpentinein beds of saline marble, forming the Verdantique of the ancients[555]:” and he states, that on the shore to the north of Negropont “the rocks are composed of serpentine stone with veins of asbestos and soapstone intermixed[556].” Tournefort speaks of Amiantus as brought from Carysto in his time, but of inferior quality[557].

[554]Travels in various Countries of the East, edited by Walpole, p. 288.[555]Ibid. p. 37.[556]Ibid. p. 38.—N. B. Asbestos is always found in rocks of Serpentine.[557]Voyage, English Translation, vol. i. p. 129.

[554]Travels in various Countries of the East, edited by Walpole, p. 288.

[555]Ibid. p. 37.

[556]Ibid. p. 38.—N. B. Asbestos is always found in rocks of Serpentine.

[557]Voyage, English Translation, vol. i. p. 129.

Pausanias (i. 26. 7.) says, the wick of the golden lamp which was kept burning night and day in the temple of Minerva Polias at Athens, was “ofCarpasian flax, the only kind of flax which is indestructible by fire.” This “Carpasian flax” was asbestos from the vicinity of Carpasus, a town near the north-east corner of Cyprus, which retains its ancient name,Carpas.

Dioscorides (L. v. c. 93.) gives a similar account of the qualities and uses of Amiantus, and says it was produced in Cyprus[558].

[558]Seep. 392.

Majolus says[559], that in the year 1566 he saw at Venice Podocattarus, a knight of Cyprus, and a writer on the history of that island, who exhibited at Venice cloth made of the asbestos of his country, which he threw into the fire, and took it out uninjured and made quite clean.

[559]Dier. Canicular. Part I. Collog. xx. p. 453.

Referring to Cyprus, Sonnini (Voyage en Grèce, i.p.66.) says,

L’amiante,asbestos, ou lin incombustible des anciens, est encore aussi abondantqu’il le fut autrefois; la carrière qui le fournit est dans la montagne d’Akamantide, près du cap Chromachiti.Le talc est commun, surtout près de Larnaca, où on l’emploie à blanchir les maisons; et le plàtre a de nombreuses carrières.

L’amiante,asbestos, ou lin incombustible des anciens, est encore aussi abondantqu’il le fut autrefois; la carrière qui le fournit est dans la montagne d’Akamantide, près du cap Chromachiti.

Le talc est commun, surtout près de Larnaca, où on l’emploie à blanchir les maisons; et le plàtre a de nombreuses carrières.

The “talc” may be the same with the “Lapis specularis,” which was found in Cyprus, according to Pliny (xxxvi. 45.). The testimony of Sonnini so far agrees with those of the ancients, that all the places mentioned were on the northern side of the island, so that the asbestos seems to have been found between Solæ towards the West and Carpas towards the East.

Pietro della Valle, when he was at Larnaca, was presented with a piece of the amiantus of the country, but says that it was no longer spun and woven.

Pliny, if we can rely upon his testimony as given in the existing editions of his works, states, that Asbestos was obtained in Arcadia (H. N. xxxvii. 54.) and in India.

“A kind of flax has been discovered which is incombustible by fire. It is calledlive flax; and we have seen napkins of it burning upon the hearth at entertainments, and, when thus deprived of their dirt, more resplendent through the agency of fire than they could have been by the use of water. The funeral shirts made of it for kings preserve the ashes of the body separate from those of the rest of the pile. It is produced in deserts and in tracts scorched by the Indian sun, where there are no showers, and among dire serpents, and thus it is inured to live even when it is burnt. It is rare, and woven with difficulty on account of the shortness of its fibres. That variety which is of a red color becomes resplendent in the fire. When it has been found it equals the prices of excellent pearls. It is called by the Greeks Asbestine Flax, on account of its nature. Anaxilaus relates, that if a tree surrounded with cloth made of it be beaten, the strokes are not heard. On account of these properties this flax is the first in the world. The next in value is that made of byssus, which is produced about Elis in Achaia, and used principally for fine female ornaments. I find that a scruple of this flax, as also of gold, was formerly sold for four denarii[560]. The nap of linen cloths, obtained chiefly from the sails of ships, is of great use in surgery, and their ashes have the same effect as spodium. There is a certain kind of poppy the use of which imparts the highest degree of whiteness to linen cloths.”—Pliny, Lib. xix. ch. 4.

[560]i. e. eighteen grains of this flax were worth 2s.10d.stg., being equal in value to its weight in gold.

Besides the manufacture of napkins, this description exactly agrees with the accounts of Strabo, Sotacus, Dioscorides, andPlutarch. Pliny’s account of the use of this material in funerals has been remarkably confirmed by the occasional discovery of pieces of asbestine cloth in the tombs of Italy. One was found in 1633 at Puzzuolo, and was preserved in the Barberini gallery[561]. Another was found in 1702 a mile without the gate called Porta Major in Rome. We have an account of the discovery in a letter written from Rome at the time; and appended to Montfaucon’s Travels through Italy. A marble sarcophagus having been discovered in a vineyard was found to contain the cloth, which was about 5 feet wide, and 6½ long. It contained a skull and the other burnt bones of a human body. The sculptured marble indicates, that the deceased was a man of rank. He is supposed to have lived not earlier than the time of Constantine. This curious relic of antiquity has been preserved in the Vatican Library since the period of its discovery, and Sir J. E. Smith, who saw it there, gives the following description of its appearance:—

It is coarsely spun, but as soft and pliant as silk. Our guide set fire to one corner of it, and the very same part burnt repeatedly with great rapidity and brightness without being at all injured[562].

[561]Keysler’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 292. London 1760.[562]Tour on the Continent, vol. ii. p. 201.

[561]Keysler’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 292. London 1760.

[562]Tour on the Continent, vol. ii. p. 201.

Also in the Museo Barbonico at Naples there is a considerable piece of asbestine cloth, found at Vasto in the Abruzzi, the ancient Histonium.

Hierocles, the historian, as quoted by Stephanus Byzantinus, gives the following account of the Asbestos of India:—

The Brachmans use cloth made of a kind of flax, which is obtained from rocks.Websare produced from it, which are neither subject to be consumed by fire nor cleansed by water, but which, after they have become full of dirt and stains, are rendered clear and white by being thrown into the fire.

The following testimonies illustrate the fact, recorded by both Hierocles and Pliny, that Asbestos was obtained from India.

Marco Polo[563]mentions, that incombustible cloth was woven from a fibrous stone found at Chenchen in the territory of theGreat 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.

[563]Marsden’s Translation, p. 176.

Bugnon, in hisRélation 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[564].”

[564]Homilia de Jejunio, p. 111.

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 thatfibres of flax are then mixed with itin 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[565].

[565]Tournefort’s Travels, vol. i. p. 129. Bruckmann, Hist. Nat. Lapidis. Brunswic. 1727. p. 31, 32. This author says the asbestos was put into warm water, and there rubbed and turned about. An earth separates from it, which makes the water as white as milk. This is repeated five or six times. The fibres, thus purified, are spread out to dry.

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 accountwhich we find in the Chronicon Casinense of Leo Ostiensis, L. ii.c.33.

His diebus Monachi quidam ab Jerusolymis venientes particulam lintei, cum quo pedes discipulorum Salvator extersit, secum detulerunt, et ob reverentiam sancti hujus loci devotissimè hic obtulerunt, sexto scilicet Idus Decembris; sed, cum a plurimis super hoc nulla fides adhiberetur, illi fide fidentes protinus prædictam particulam in accensi turibuli igne desuper posuerunt, quæ mox quidem in ignis colorem conversa, post paululùm vero, amotis carbonibus, ad pristinam speciem mirabiliter est reversa. Cumque excogitarent qualiter, vel quanam in parte pignora tanta locarent, contigit, dispositione divinâ, ut eodem ipso die, transmissus sit in hunc locum loculus ille mirificus, ubi nunc recondita est ipsa lintei sancti particula, argento et auro gemmisque Anglico opere subtiliter ac pulcherrimè decoratus. Ibi ergò christallo superposito venerabiliter satis est collocata: morisque est singulis annis, ipso die Cœnæ Dominicæ ad mandatum Fratrum eam a Mansionariis deferri et in medium poni, duoque candelabra ante illam accendi et indesinenter per totum mandati spatium ab Acolito incensari. Demum verò juxta finem mandati a singulis per ordinem fratribus flexis genibus devotissimè adorari et reverentèr exosculari.

There is no good reason to doubt the truth of this narrative so far as respects the veracity and credit of the historian. Leo Ostiensis became an inmate of the Abbey of Monte Casino a few years after the event is said to have happened, and could scarcely be misinformed respecting the circumstances, more especially as he held during the latter part of his abode there the office of Librarian. There is nothing improbable in the story. Asbestine cloth, as we have learnt from Marco Polo, was manufactured in Asia during the middle ages, and the reputed relic was obtained at Jerusalem. That the pilgrims, who visited Jerusalem, should be imposed upon in this manner, is in the highest degree probable, since we are informed, that the very same substancein its natural statewas often sold to devotees AS THE WOOD OF THE TRUE CROSS, and its incombustibility was exhibited as the proof of its genuineness. This we learn in the following passage from Tilingius, who wrote “De lino vivo aut asbestino et incombustibili.”

Antonius Musa Brassavolus Ferrariensis tradit, impostores lapidem Amiantum simplicibus mulierculis ostendere vendereque sæpenumero pro ligno crusis Servatoris nostri. Id quod facile credunt, cùm igne non comburatur, quodque ligni modo plurimis constet lineis intercur santibus.—Miscellanea Curiosa Naturæ Curiosorum,Decuriæii.Ann.ii.p.111.Norembergæ, 1684.

The monks on their arrival at Monte Casino would naturally display the same evidence, by which they themselves had been convinced; and the appearance of the cloth, when put into the fire and taken out of it, is described exactly as it would be in fact, supposing it to have been made of amiantus.

Montfaucon, in his Travels in Italy (p.381.English ed.8vo.), describes a splendid service book, which was written A. D. 1072 by Leo at the expense of brother John of Marsicana, and presented by John to the Monastery of Monte Casino, where it was exhibited to Montfaucon as one of the most valuable and curious monuments. An illumination in this book represents a monkkneeling before St. Benedict, the patron and founder of the institution, and holding in his hands a cloth, on which St. Benedict is placing his left foot. Montfaucon gives an engraving from this picture: he supposes the cloth to be a monk’s cowl, and conjectures that it was thus used in admitting novices. This explanation is evidently a most unsatisfactory one, nothing being produced to render it even probable. We believe the cloth to be that the history of which has just now been given, and that the design of the artist was to represent a monkwiping the feet of St. Benedict with the same cloth with which Jesus wiped the feet of his disciples.

This supposition will appear the more probable if we attend to the date of the MS. (A. D. 1072) and the persons, by whom and at whose expense it was written. “BrotherJohn of Marsicana” appears to have been at this time advanced in years, wealthy, and highly respected, since we are informed, that in the year 1055, when Peter was chosen Abbot of the Monastery, some of the brotherhood wished to choose John, although he, foreseeing that the choice would be likely to fall on him, had obstinately sworn on the altar, that he would never undertake the office. John was at this time provost of Capua[566]. Seventeen years afterwards he went to the expense of providing the service-book seen by Montfaucon. He employed as his scribe one of the fraternity, who was his junior and from the samecity with himself. For there can be scarcely a doubt, but that Leo, who wrote the MS., was the same who was the author of the Chronicon. The author of the Chronicon, at the commencement of his history, calls himself “Frater Leo, cognomine Marsicanus[567]”. He was made Bishop of Ostia A. D. 1101, so that we may suppose him to have been twenty or thirty years of age, when the MS. was made. Of his aptitude for such an employment we cannot doubt, when we consider his future labors as Librarian and author of the Chronicle. But if these facts be evident, it is equally manifest, that these two accomplished Benedictines could not have expressed their veneration towards their founder in any way better suited to their ideas and belief than by exhibiting in the manner described that relic, WHICH WAS SOLEMNLY DISPLAYED ONCE A YEAR WITH BURNING CANDLES AND ATTENDING ACOLYTHES TO THE ADMIRING AND ADORING CROWD OF DEVOTEES.

[566]Dominum Johannem, cognomine Marsicanum, qui tunc Capuæ erat præpositus, &c.—Leonis Ostientis Chronicon Casinense, L. ii.c.92.[567]Marsicana (civitas) was in Marsica, the territory of the ancient Marsi.

[566]Dominum Johannem, cognomine Marsicanum, qui tunc Capuæ erat præpositus, &c.—Leonis Ostientis Chronicon Casinense, L. ii.c.92.

[567]Marsicana (civitas) was in Marsica, the territory of the ancient Marsi.

On inquiry it is found that this relic exists no longer at Monte Casino, although the original copy of the Chronicon of Leo Ostiensis is still preserved in the Library[568]. It appears that the relic has long been lost, since there is no mention either of it, or of the casket which contained it in the “Descrizione Istorica del Monastero di Monte Casino, Napoli, 1775.”

[568]Excursions in the Abruzzi, by the Hon. Keppel Craven, vol. i. p. 54.

A large glove of this substance is in the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow. An English traveller states that he has lately seen at Parma atable-cloth, made of Amiantus from Corsica, for the use of the ex-Empress Maria Louisa, who resided there after the fall of Napoleon.

In modern times cloth of asbestos is scarcely made. Indeed it is not probable that this material will ever be obtained in much abundance, or that it will cease to be a rarity except in the places of its production. It is never seen in Great Britain, or on the continent, save in the cabinets of the curious.

The annexed Map (Plate VII.) is designed to indicate the divisions of the Ancient World as determined by the Raw Materials principally produced and employed in them for weaving.

The Red division produced Sheeps’-Wool and Goats’-Hair: also Beavers’-Wool in the portion of this division, which lies to the North of the Mediterranean Sea, and of the rivers Padus and Ister: and Camels’-Wool and Camels’-Hair in the portion lying South-East of a line drawn through the coast of Syria. The nations to the North of this division clothed themselves in skins, furs, and felt.

The Yellow at the Eastern corner indicates the commencement of the vast Region, unknown to the Ancients, the inhabitants of which clothed themselves in Silk.

The Green indicates the countries, all low and bordering on rivers, in which the cloth manufactured was chiefly Linen.

The Brown is designed to show the cultivation of Hemp in the low country to the North of the Euxine Sea, and probably in other places, North of the Red division, which were adapted for its growth.

Lastly, the Blue, which is the colour of the Baharein Isles and of India, shows that the inhabitants of these countries have from time immemorial clothed themselves in Cotton.

Plate VIISERICAMAP showing the Divisions of the ANCIENT WORLD according to the Raw Materials principally produced in them for Weaving.

Plate VII

SERICAMAP showing the Divisions of the ANCIENT WORLD according to the Raw Materials principally produced in them for Weaving.

SERICA

MAP showing the Divisions of the ANCIENT WORLD according to the Raw Materials principally produced in them for Weaving.

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