ASBESTUS, SALT, COAL, IRON, COPPER, BRASS, ZINC, AND LAPIS
CALAMINARIS.
What is the name of the remarkable stone of which a cloth has been
made, that resists the action of fire?
The Asbestus, a mineral substance of a whitish or silver color. There
are several species of this mineral, which are distinguished by
different names, according to the appearance of each, as fibrous
asbestus, hard asbestus, and woody asbestus; it is the fibrous sort
which is most noted for its uses in the arts. It is usually found
inclosed within very hard stones; sometimes growing on their outside,
and sometimes detached from them.
_Fibrous_, full of fibres or threads.
What are its qualities?
It is insipid; will not dissolve in water; and exposed to the fire, it
neither consumes nor calcines. The industry of mankind has found a
method of working upon this untoward mineral and employing it in
making cloth and paper; the process is, however, difficult.
_Insipid_, without taste.
Was not this curious mineral better known to the ancients than it is
at present?
The linen made from it was highly esteemed by them; it was not only
better known, but more common, than among us, being equally valuable
with the richest pearls; but the superiority of all other cloths to
this in every respect, except the resistance to fire, has caused
incombustible cloth to be regarded in modern times merely as a
curiosity, but it is still employed in chemical preparations.
_Incombustible_, remaining undestroyed in fire.
To what use did they put it?
In royal funerals, it formed the shroud to wrap the body in that its
ashes might be prevented from mingling with the wood, &c., that
composed the pile. Some of the ancients made themselves clothes of it,
particularly the Brahmins among the Hindoos; it formed wicks for their
perpetual lamps; thread, ropes, nets, and paper were also made of it.
Pliny, the Roman naturalist, says he has seen napkins of asbestus
taken soiled from the table after a feast, which were thrown into the
fire, and by that means better scoured than if they had been washed
with water.
_Naturalist_, a person who studies nature, especially in
what relates to minerals, vegetables, and animals.
_Brahmins_, Hindoo priests.
Where is the Asbestus found?
This mineral is found in the greatest quantity in the silver mines of
Saxony; at Bleyburg, in Carinthia; in Sweden, Corsica, and sometimes
in France, England, and the United States; also in Tartary and
Siberia.
What method is used in preparing the Asbestus?
The stone is laid in warm water to soak, then opened and divided by
the hands, that the earthy matter may be washed out. This washing is
several times repeated, and the flax-like filaments collected and
dried; these are easily spun with the addition of flax. The cloth when
woven is best preserved by oil from breaking or wasting; on exposure
to the fire, the flax and the oil burn out, and the cloth remains of a
pure white. The shorter threads, which separate on washing the stone,
may be made into paper in the usual manner.
What is Salt?
A saline crystallization of a sharp, pungent taste, and cleansing
quality, used to season flesh, fish, butter, &c., and other things
that are to be kept. It is distinguished, with reference to the
general sources from which it is most plentifully derived, into three
different sorts, namely, fossil, or rock salt; sea, or marine salt;
and spring salt, or that drawn from briny springs and wells.
_Marine_, belonging to the sea.
_Saline_, consisting of salt.
_Briny_, consisting of brine; which means water tasting of
salt; it is used to signify the waters of the sea, or any
salt water.
What is Fossil or Rock Salt?
That which is found in large beds in the bowels of the earth, and
which has not undergone any artificial preparation; it is sometimes
colorless, but more frequently red, yellow, or blue, and mixed with
earthy impurities; this salt was entirely unknown to the ancients, who
by rock salt meant that which adheres to the rocks above high-water
mark, being lodged there by the spray of the sea, which is evaporated
by the heat of the sun; this is the purest salt, and is to be found on
the rocks of Sicily, and several islands of the West Indies.
_Artificial_, produced by art, and the labor of man.
_Evaporated_, converted into vapor and dissipated.
What is Marine Salt?
That which is made from sea-water, concentrated by repeated
evaporations, and at length crystallized.
What is Spring Salt?
That salt which is not made from sea-water, but from the water of salt
wells or springs; large quantities of this salt are made in the United
States, in some parts of which saline springs are numerous.
In what manner is it obtained?
The means employed for extracting the salt from the water vary
according to circumstances. In hot countries, the water is merely
exposed to the action of the sun, until the water is evaporated; the
salt procured in this manner is considered the best.
What method is usually employed in countries where the sun's heat is
not sufficiently powerful?
In climates where the rays of the sun do not afford sufficient heat,
the water, which has been partly evaporated in large shallow
reservoirs formed in the earth, called salt-pans, is poured into
enormous coppers and boiled for four or five hours: when the contents
of the copper are wasted to half the quantity, the liquid begins to be
crystallized; the vessel is again filled up, and the brine again
boiled and purified: this is repeated three or four times. After the
last purifying the fire is kept very low for twelve or fourteen hours,
and when the moisture is nearly evaporated the salt is removed, and,
after the remaining brine has drained off, is placed in the
store-houses.
In what countries is Salt generally found?
This substance, so necessary to the comfort of mankind, is widely
distributed over the face of the earth, and nothing, except, perhaps,
the air we breathe, is more easily placed within our reach. The ocean
is an exhaustless store-house of this valuable article. Those nations
of the earth which are placed at a distance from the sea, find
themselves provided with magazines of salt, either in solid masses, or
dissolved in the waters of inland lakes, or issuing from the solid
rocks in springs of brine. At Salina, Syracuse, and other places in
Onondaga Co., New York, salt springs are remarkably abundant, and
yield annually several millions of bushels; immense quantities are
also obtained from the salt-wells on the Great and Little Kanawha, and
other places in Western Virginia; it is also extensively manufactured
in the western part of Pennsylvania, and throughout the Western
States.
Name the countries most noted for mines of Salt.
Poland, Upper Hungary, and the mountains of Catalonia, have extensive
salt mines; those in the village of Wieliczca, in Poland, about five
leagues from Cracow, are of a surprising depth and size. In the
interior of Hindostan, there is a remarkable salt lake; and in several
parts of the globe there are spots of ground impregnated entirely with
this substance: an island of the East Indies contains a singular kind
of fossil, or native dry salt; the soil there is in general very
fruitful, but in certain parts of the island, there are spots of
ground entirely barren, without the appearance of anything vegetable
upon them; these spots taste very much of salt, and abound with it in
such quantities, as to supply not only the whole island, but the
greater part of the adjacent continent. In Utah Territory, especially
in the neighborhood of the Mormon city, at the Great Salt Lake, are
found extensive plains thus impregnated with salt, which is procured
in great abundance.
_Fossil_, the remains of minerals or shells dug from the
earth.
_Impregnated_, filled, saturated.
_Catalonia_, a considerable province of Spain, situated to
the north-east.
_Adjacent_, adjoining, lying near, or contiguous.
To what use did the ancient inhabitants of Africa and Arabia put this
substance?
The large slabs of rock salt, with which their country abounds, were
employed by them instead of stones, in building their dwellings, the
pieces being easily cemented together by sprinkling the joints with
water, which, melting the parts of the two surfaces that opposed each
other, formed the whole, when dry, into one solid block.
Does Rock Salt undergo any preparation before it is used?
Yes; when taken from the earth it is dissolved in cold water, and
afterwards drawn off into salt-pans, and refined in the same manner as
the sea salt.
What is Coal?
A hard, black, sulphurous and inflammable substance, dug out of the
earth, serving in many countries as fuel. It is common in most of the
countries of Europe and America. In some parts of the United States,
it is found in beds having an area of several thousand square miles.
From what is Coal supposed to have originated?
Its origin is supposed to be derived from gigantic trees which
flourished in the swamps and forests of the primeval earth. These
having been torn away from their native bed, by storms and
inundations, were transported into some adjacent lake, river, or sea.
Here they floated on the waters until, saturated with them, they sank
to the bottom, and being buried in the lower soil of adjacent lands,
became transformed into a new state among the members of the mineral
kingdom. A long interment followed, during which a course of chemical
changes, and new combinations of their vegetable elements, converted
them to the mineral condition of coal.
_Primeval_, original, existing before the flood.
_Gigantic_, extremely large, greater than the usual size.
_Interment_, burial under the ground.
_Elements_, the several parts or principles of which bodies
are composed.
What is a Coal Mine?
A subterraneous excavation, from which coal is obtained.
Do the terms Coal and Charcoal signify the same substance?
No; Charcoal is an artificial fuel, made in imitation of coal, by
burning wood covered with earth so as partially to exclude the air. It
is used for various purposes, as the making of gunpowder,[7] polishing
brass and copper, &c., and when a clear and bright fire is required,
as it burns with little or no smoke; it is dangerous, however, for one
to remain many hours in a close room with a charcoal fire, as the
fumes it throws out are hurtful, and would destroy life. Charcoal, in
fact, is the coaly residuum of any vegetables burnt in close vessels;
but the common charcoal is that prepared from wood, and is generally
black, very brittle, light, and destitute of taste or smell. It is a
powerful antiseptic, unalterable and indestructible.
[Footnote 7: See Chapter XII.]
_Residuum_, the remaining part, that which is left.
_Antiseptic_, that which prevents putrefaction.
What is Iron?
One of the most useful and abundant metals; being found in all mineral
earths, and stones; in plants, and animal fluids; and is the chief
cause of the varieties of color in all. Iron is found in great masses,
in various states, in the bowels of the earth; it is usually, however,
compounded with stone, from which it is separated by the action of
fire. In some parts of the world, whole mountains are formed of iron;
among these may be mentioned the Pilot Knob and the Iron Mountain, in
Missouri, being unsurpassed by anything of the kind found elsewhere.
What are its characteristics?
It is hard, fusible, not very malleable, but extremely ductile, and
very tenacious; it is of a greyish color, and nearly eight times
heavier than water. Without iron, society could make no progress in
the cultivation of the ground, in mechanical arts or trades, in
architecture or navigation; it is therefore of the greatest use to
man. Iron tools have been used in all European countries as long as
their histories have existed; this metal appears likewise to have been
known and used by the inhabitants of the world in the earliest ages,
being frequently mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. In the fourth
chapter of Genesis, Tubalcain is spoken of as "a hammerer and
artificer in every work of brass and iron," and thus their existence
was evidently known at that early period of the world.
_Artificer_, one who works or makes.
_Fusible_, capable of being melted by fire.
[Illustration: THE SALT MINES OF WIELICZCA.]
What do you mean by Metals?
Useful substances dug from the bowels of the earth, being sometimes
found pure, but mostly combined with other matter. They are
distinguished by their weight, tenacity, hardness, opacity, color, and
peculiar lustre, known as the metallic lustre; they are fusible by
heat, and good conductors of heat and electricity; many of them are
malleable, and some extremely ductile. Those which were first known
are gold, silver, iron, copper, mercury, lead, and tin.
_Tenacity_, the firmness with which one part adheres to
another.
_Opacity_, want of transparency or clearness.
What are Metals called in their natural state?
Ores; so named because the metal contained in them is either mixed
with other metals, or with mineral earths, from which they are
separated and purified by various means: such as washing, roasting,
&c., but the method is always regulated by the nature of the ore.
What is Copper?
A hard, heavy, ductile metal, found native, and in many ores; of these
the most important is _copper pyrites_, which is a sulphuret of
copper. Next to gold, silver, and platinum, copper is the most
malleable and ductile of metals; it may be drawn into wires as fine as
hair, or beaten into leaves as thin as those of silver. The rust of
copper is very poisonous. Copper, mixed with a certain quantity of
tin, forms bell-metal. With a smaller proportion, it forms bronze, a
substance used in sculpture for casting figures and statues. It is an
abundant metal, and is found in various parts of the world. Native
oxides of copper are found in Cornwall, Siberia, and in North and
South America.
_Oxide_, a substance combined with Oxygen,[8] in a
proportion not sufficient to produce acidity.
_Sulphuret_, a combination of sulphur with a base.
[Footnote 8: See Chapter XIII., article Oxygen.]
What are the uses of Copper?
They are too various to be enumerated. In sheets it is much used to
sheathe the bottoms of ships, for boilers, and other utensils. Copper
coin was the only money used by the Romans till the 485th year of
their city, when silver began to be coined. In Sweden, houses are
covered with this metal.
What is a Mine?
A cavity under ground, formed for the purpose of obtaining metals,
&c.; mines are often very deep and extensive. The descent into them is
by a pit, called a shaft; the clues by which mines are discovered,
are, mineral springs, the discoloration of vegetables, the appearance
of pieces of ore, &c.
_Clues_, signs or means by which things hidden are brought
to light.
What is Brass?
A factitious metal, consisting of copper and zinc. Brass is lighter
and harder than pure copper, and less subject to rust; owing to these
properties, together with its beautiful color, it is extremely useful
in the manufacture of many utensils.
_Factitious_, made by art, not found in a natural state.
What is Zinc?
A metal of a brilliant bluish white color. Its name was unknown to the
ancient Greeks and Arabians. It is mixed with other substances in the
ore, from which it is obtained by smelting in the furnace. It has
never yet been found native or pure.
For what is Zinc used?
From its readiness to dissolve in all acids, and unite with other
metals, it is used in alloy with them in the composition of brass, &c.
Thin sheets of zinc are also used to cover roofs of houses, and in the
manufacture of various household utensils.
What is Lapis Calaminaris?
Lapis Calaminaris, or calamine stone, is a native carbonate of zinc,
of some use in medicine, but chiefly in founding. It is, sometimes
brownish, as that found in Germany and England, or red, as that of
France. It is dug out of mines, usually in small pieces; generally out
of those of lead. Calamine is mostly found in barren, rocky soils.
_Founding_, the art of casting metals.