1905: Fritz Cirkel Knocks it out of the Park

In 1904, the Superintendent of Mines in Ottawa tasked Fritz Cirkel with the almost impossible given the lack of technology during that era. In summary, Cirkel was to investigate the world-wide issues related to asbestos starting with mining and ending with, well, everything else. The instructions were as follows:

In 1905, Cirkel responded with an excellent and extensive book, which you can see at this link: https://theasbestosblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/1905-Cirkel-for-Canada.pdf

The index for the book is six pages, such as the following:

For those who want to really understand asbestos as of 120 years ago, the only books that I like better than Cirkel were the two book by Robert H. Jones in 1890 and 1897. However, those books were out of date by 1904 given the speed of the industrial revolution’s use of asbestos fibers. As stated by Cirkel: “The asbestos industry is a striking example of what human ingenuity, if applied in the right direction, may accomplish. It demonstrates that in order to attain success it is necessary ‘to strive to seek, to find and not to yield.’ “

Cirkel also noted that “The main essentials of asbestos, to render it of economic value, are length, fineness and elasticity of fibre, tensile strength, flexibility and power of fire resistance.”

That is as good as summary as I have seen in the historical books from that era.

I do note that the book gives rise to a discussion on gender discrimination in the mines during that era. Rather than to turn the clock back and distracting from the asbestos issues, such a discussion on gender can be found on page 46 of the book for those who research historical discrimination for a living.

Let me know what you think about this blog, either in the comments or by sending me an email at TheAsbestosBlo@gmail.com. Thanks. Marty