uralite

Definitions

n. The trade-name of a fire-proof building material, said to be made from disintegrated asbestos fiber with admixture of silicate of soda, carbonate of soda, chalk, mineral pigments, and glue, pressed into molded forms, dried, and baked. It is intended to replace wood where incombustibility is important, and in this capacity has been to some extent used in the internal fittings of ships of war.
n. The name given by G. Rose to a mineral which has the crystalline form of augite, but the physical properties and especially the cleavage and specific gravity of hornblende. Uralite is generally called a paramorph of hornblende, but this paramorphism is frequently accompanied by some chemical change, especially the elimination of more or less lime, which appears intermingled with the hornblende in the form of calcite or epidote. See uralitization.

n. (Min.) Amphibole resulting from the alternation of pyroxene by paramorphism. It is not uncommon in massive eruptive rocks.

“One shell beyond it, one shell short of it, then whizz-BOOM Burst rafters leaping upwards and a sheet of uralite skimming down the air like a nicked playing-card.”

Homage to Catalonia
“Everything inside was smashed to pieces, beams flung all over the place, and great shards of uralite littered everywhere.”

Homage to Catalonia
“Euphotide' and serpentine, containing sometimes crystald of augite and uralite instead of diallage, are thus nearly allied to another more frequent, and I might almost say, more 'energetic' eruptive rock -- augitic porphyry.”

COSMOS: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. 1