Stones Stories

In September 1819, the St. Petersburg Mineralogical Society received as a gift from the literary genius and universalist scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe a part of his personal collection of minerals. Two batches, of 105 and 153 pieces, i.e., individual pieces of geological bodies, have been recorded as having been received. Among them are amethyst, rock crystal, chalcedony, augite, various kinds of granite, quartz rock, feldspars, and mica.

The Greek word άσβεστος [ásvestos] translates as ”unquenchable.” In this case, the main useful property of asbestos, a mineral of the silicate class, is its incombustibility. The exact explanation of the paradox is probably hidden in the asbestos papyruses of the priests of ancient Egypt, which have not yet been found, but there is a hint to the solution.