Asbestos
4 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Asbestos. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a name given to several fibrous minerals noted for their resistance to fire. A piece of common asbestos seems to be composed of parallel fibers which frazzle up in a ragged fashion until they form a soft mass, not unlike fine cotton in appearance. Placed in the hottest of fires, the fibers turn red, and even attain a white heat; but on cooling off, not even the finest fiber is injured or changed in appearance. In addition to being fireproof, asbestos is a poor conductor of heat. It may be pounded into asbestos wool or cotton, then spun, and woven or twisted into asbestos rope, paper, and cloth. Asbestos cloth is flexible, chemical proof, and is absolutely noncombustible. It is used extensively in packing joints, covering steam pipes, for lamp mats, fireproof linings for hot air shafts, theater curtains, firemen's caps, hats, and shoes, and chemical-proof laboratory mats. Asbestos paint and asbestos roofing are advertised extensively. A commercial grade of asbestos is not at all rare. A new mine has been found in Georgia. Vermont produces a small quantity. Siberia and Cape Colony are large producers of commercial asbestos. Italy was long the chief source of fine grades, but, of late, Quebec has supplied the American market with an excellent article. New supplies have been found in the Rocky Mountain states. By way of a jest, it is said that the ashes of a piece of asbestos paper shaken into one's shoes are a sure preventive of cold feet. See Talc 2026 Editor's Note: The 'indestructible' wonder mineral became one of the twentieth century's great tragedies: breat hing its fibers causes fatal lung scarring and mesothelioma , a cancer. Once woven into everything from insulation to theater curtains, asbestos is now banned or tightly restricted across much of the world, and its removal a costly industry. (Ed: BR 2026-07-06)
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
A mineral of white or gray color, appearing almost like a vegetable substance, because of its fibrous, flexible, and delicate texture. It is incombustible, and the ancients wove it into cloth in which to preserve the ashes of bodies burned on the funeral pyre. There are other varieties of this mineral, all of which pertain to the different species of hornblende, and consist chiefly of silica, magnesia, lime, and oxide of iron. Its uses for manufacture into incombustible material have now become too numerous for mention here. See REFRACTORY MATERIALS. Ashes is what remains of animal or vegetable substance after burning with free access of air. The ashes of organic substances consist of the fixed salts contained in them--land-plants yielding salts of potash, etc., and sea-plants soda, with some iodine. Turf contains alkalies and some sand; so also does coal, with the addition of some iron occasionally. See POTASH; ALKALIES.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a variety of hornblende, Asbestos is exceedingly infusible, at least in a mass. It contains a considerable percentage of magnesia in its composition. It occurs mostly in serpentine districts. The varieties are: (a) Amianthus, in which the fibers are so exceedingly long, flexible, and elastic, that they may be woven into cloth. (b) Common asbestos, with the fibers much less flexible. It is heavier than the first variety. It is dull green, sometimes pearly in luster, and unctuous to the touch. (c) Mountain cork, light enough to float on (d) Mountain leather, also water. very light, but thinner and more flexible than the last. (e) Mountain paper, a designation formerly given to fine, thin specimens of mountain leather. (f) Mountain wood, which, in the ex ternal aspect, resembles dry wood. In the United States it is found principally in California and Georgia. Manufacturers draw their chief supply from Canada.
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
Asbestos is so called from being inextinguishable even by showers and storms, if once set on fire. The Pagans made use of it for lights in their temples. It is of woolly texture, and is sometimes called the Salamander's feather. Leonardus says: "Its fire is nourished by an inseparable unctuous humid flowing from its substance; therefore, being once kindled, it preserves a constant light without feeding it with any moisture."