ASBESTITS, a mineral very closely allied to tremolite. actinolite, and hornblende, and which, along with tremolite and actinolite, is often ranked among the varieties of horn blende. It consists chiefly of silica, magnesia, lime, and oxide of iron, and is of a fine fibrous character, the fibers sometimes combined together in a compact MKSS, pmetimes easily separable, elastic and flexible. _ It is generally of a whitish or greenish color. The variety called rock-cork „very much resembles cork, is soft and. easily cut, and so light as to swim in water. and are varieties somewhat similar to rock-cork, but not so light. The finest fibrous variety with easily separable fibers is called amianthus (from a Greek wo. d signifying unpollutible, as A. is from a Greek word signifying indestructible), because cloth made of it was cleansed by passing it through fire. This cloth was used by the t.ne.unts to enwrap dead bodies placed on the funeral
pile, so as to preserve the ashes of the body unmixed. Amianthus has sometimes been used for the wicks of lamps, and is often employed to fill vinaigrettes, being moistened from time to time with a few drops of aromatic vinegar. The finest amianthus is found in the Turentaise in Savoy. It is particularly abundant in Corsica. It is found also in Cornwall, at Portsoy iu Scotland, and iu several of the Shetland islands. None of the varieties of A. are very common,, but they are not unfrequent in serpentine and allied rocks in different parts of the world. Minerals which resemble A. in their fibrous character are sometimes called asbestous or asbesqlorm, and some of them are believed to be varieties of augite rather than of hornblende.