N A T U R A L H iS T O R V M A Y O R W AY.
might further fee laid ofi it- doe# fflafo fijMffet* I therefore
procttedtO infer what little I know •k&> the lapis fuillusy or
iwsae’s ftorte * a prodOdtibn tiectiMqrtr® MbiWaJy &hd Sweden. It
derives its name from; its ieffibaqy in the' orafiuke, a diftemper incident
fo Twine f it is alfo with as good..reafonJay* feme called tei
jas as when tuhhed agah^ .mplhbifedG®{- it emits a rfaur
feoMS-ftnelb The nafutb and thxture of its parts is vkrious,' nearly
ftkdthe eiyftal} itkfew^.j|hinh%.hMtis:broWn;); with: a Were' mixture
bf fidphm,-Much may be -. the, eaufe of its, fsetid\ findl, _ In
an ifland irrGrfaO Mios upon IRdemark, are whole nfoufttains
bf: this ftoBfe* .which wheh J^lloped upon, by fhqd horfes'.emit a
Violent ftench;
J s T ;C 'T f r V i . .
That the amianthus of afbeftos, which makes an incumbufiibla
hmenjpr paper, is to be found in the paiifh of Waldens, I can
affirm from my own experience on this pccaiionj I had fent for
fome famples.of that wood, which was jfaid to be petrified by a
certain water before^mentionedr Accordingly a large parcel of it
was fent to mg,, and at firft I could haVpcompared it only tip
hazle, which had lain a long time in the. water, hut upon a narrower
infpebtion, and drawing out fome of the filaments,'!, found
it - was. no petrified fubftance, butjan. .amianthus, and far finer
than the Greenland ftone-flax, which the Rev. .Mr/KgedO~in his
account of his .million, relates to tie „there, ufed as .wick-s -in”. the
lamps, withppt being in the leaft wafted wfiilft Jfucplied with'pil
car fat: This Su ndmoeramianthus which is produced a #ottnl-
tain in Rirkdalfwamp, deferyes like that o£,§iberia, and even better^
to. be" ^left Rpnerfilk,. raffier than fbne^a^ft^ fibres being
both fofter and .finer : lalfo made a wick for ■ % lamp nf and
if was pOt cOnfumea, But its light being rfiuch fornmer than that
of cotton, I laid it afide. I have alfo in my pofleffion a piece of
paper of this albeftos, which when fhfbwn into a fierce fire is pot
in ffie leaft wafted9 excepting only .that what was written on it
totally.difappeafs., [The mahn^ pf preparing this« ftone-filk, or
ftone-flax is briefly this y the franc after being ioftened in water,
is beaten with a moderate force, till the, fibres, or long threads
feparate from each other, .afterwards they. are -earefully, and repeatedly