In the mineral gallery of the Natural History Museum in London, between rows of carved columns and large windows, there is an oak display case. Inside is a small clear plastic box, labeled with the warning “DO NOT OPEN.”
The case contains what looks like a ball of gray, stringy lint that you might find in a clothes dryer, or the kind of thing an owl might regurgitate.
It seems like something displayed by accident. But although this artifact is safely sealed inside its box and poses no risk to the public, there is something deadly inside.
It’s a asbestos purse. Curiously, this pale and shattered relic belonged to none other than the American founding father, Benjamin Franklin.
For millennia, asbestos was not considered a mortal danger – a word now spoken quietly and associated with tragedies and scandals. Rather, it was an exciting, even miraculous, material with very attractive properties.
This is the past of asbestos as “magic mineral”, a strange time when it was woven into textiles fit for kings and used for party tricks. An 18th century philosopher even slept with a hat made of this material.
Valuable acquisition
In 1725, Franklin was not yet the scholar and politician we remember today. At the time, he was a cash-strapped 19-year-old who had recently been abandoned in London by an unscrupulous employer.
Fortunately, the brave teenager had landed a new job at a printing company, but needed a quick way to raise additional funds.
One day, Franklin came up with the idea of sending a letter to the collector and naturalist Hans Sloane, alerting him that he had brought back several curiosities from across the Atlantic that might be of interest to him.
Among them was the famous asbestos purse, an object that was apparently resistant to fire. When it became dirty, it could be thrown into the flames to “purify” it.
Sloane invited Franklin to his home, and the boy received a “very generous” payment for this harmful article, which eventually ended up in the Museum of Natural History.
“Wonderful” material
In fact, the extraordinary Fire resistance Asbestos had been discovered several thousand years earlier and has a long history of use in rituals and entertainment.
In the first century AD. C., the Roman author Pliny the Elder introduced his readers to a new type of linen, known as “living linen,” which could be used to make a variety of extravagant products.
Even he himself had witnessed its properties: the napkins, when thrown into the fire, were cleaner and fresher than before.
This same substance, he explained, was also used to make the funeral shrouds of monarchs; Since live flax did not burn, it helped keep his ashes separate from the rest of the pyre.
The material was, in fact, asbestos, and by that time stories about its properties had already spread throughout the ancient world. Other sources suggest that it was used to towels, shoes and nets.
An ancient Greek story describes a golden lamp made for the goddess Athena, which supposedly could burn for an entire year without going out and had a wick made of “Carpathian linen,” which is believed to be another name for asbestos.
Origin
Pliny believed that his special “linen” was fire resistant due to its origin in the deserts of India. In this sun-scorched environment, where “it never rains,” he said, he became hardened by the heat.
Later theories included that it was made from the skin of salamanders, which, even in medieval times, were believed to be fire resistant. Both ideas were far from correct.
Asbestos is a natural mineral and can be found at rock deposits spread around the worldfrom the Italian Alps to the Australian outback.
It can take on many appearances, depending on its origin and use, but under the microscope there is one telltale sign: rigid, needle-like fibers.
Although they seem fragile, these tiny threads are not easily destroyed: they are resistant to heat, chemically inert and they cannot be decomposed by biological agents such as bacteria.
Extended use
In addition to its fire-retardant properties, asbestos’ resistance made it a useful addition to household productseven in the year 2500 BC
In 1930, archaeologists discovered ancient pottery buried on the shores of Lake Juojärvi, better known as the cleanest lake in Finland. Further analysis revealed that it had been reinforced with asbestos.
The popularity of asbestos did not diminish and in medieval times there was a flourishing trade of this deadly mineral.
Charlemagne, who became the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, was a banqueting professional who worked his way to diplomatic success.
According to legend, for these occasions he had a snow-white tablecloth woven from asbestos, a variety of asbestos, which he usually threw into the fire as a party trick.
Asbestos was even used in war. The catapult was a war machine used during the Christian crusades and consisted of a wooden structure that could launch bags of burning pitch or tar at enemy targets.
By wrapping the tar bags in asbestos the knights could prevent them from burning before reaching their destination. Woven asbestos fibers were also added to the armorwhere its thermal insulating properties helped keep those who used them warm.
However, it was around the 12th century that asbestos gained a more familiar application. In 2014, scientists revealed that they had discovered asbestos fibers in the plaster of walls behind Byzantine wall paintings in Cyprus.
For most of its history, asbestos was considered a very valuable, even precious, material; Pliny attests that, at least in his time, it was more expensive than pearls.
But towards late nineteenth century Large deposits were discovered in Canada and the United States and its use skyrocketed. At first it was used in power plants and steam engines, but soon the mineral began to infiltrate the homes.
The same properties that had made this material attractive for thousands of years now encouraged its liberal application wherever protection was required. fires, reinforcement or thermal insulation.
By the end of the 20th century, the mineral was so widespread that many water pipes were made from it.
Signs of toxicity
However, already in ancient times there were indications that asbestos was toxic and with With each passing century, the risk became more evident.
In 1899an English doctor recorded the first confirmed case of death directly related to the material: a 33-year-old textile worker who had developed pulmonary fibrosis.
In the United Kingdom, asbestos was banned in 1999, but much of the material used (for example in construction) before this date is still in force; and as buildings degrade, it poses a significant health risk.
AND still used in much of the rest of the world. The United States continues to import asbestos from abroad, although the country’s Environmental Protection Agency is studying measures to curb its use.
Franklin’s purse reminds us that this dangerous material still stalks us, even in the most unexpected places.
*This article was published on BBC Future. Click here to read the original version (in English).
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