Asbestos petticoat

The Asbestos has been brought lately from Scotland: it was found among the rocks in the parish of Auchindoir, near Strathbogie, and bordering upon the Highlands of Scotland. Some years ago the lady of the manor had a petticoat made of it. It is described by naturalists to be a fibrous, flexible, incombustible, and elastic body, composed of single and continuous filaments. Among the ancients, Ciampi, of Rome, was successful enough to make cloth of it, after steeping the stone in water, and afterwards carding it as wool, and then having it spun into a thread; which being wrought into a cloth by the help of other threads, and thrown into the fire, left the composition entirely of asbestos. It will neither give fire with steel, nor ferment with aqua fortis; and if thrown into the fire will endure the most extreme heat, without the least injury to its texture.