The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-06-18
SCIENCE AND PROGRESS.
INTERESTING FACTS FOR sTUDI-
Gus READERS.
The kniepp Cure--M Machine Writing
,--PoWer of Dyr.amite--The MIC
aragua Canal--Sorting and
Cleaning Wool.
Sorting and Cleaning Wool.

Sorting and Cleaning Wool.
The wool comes into the mill dirty,
greasy, bury, sometimes washed by
the farmer, but generally just as it is
sheared from the sheep, a filthy and
unwholesome thing, giving little sign
of the beautiful white and fossy sub
stance into which it is soon converted.
It must first be sorted, each fleece con-
tanning from six to eight qualities Of
sorts, which the careful manufacturer
separates, devoting each quality to
the purpose for which it is best suited.
No skill in carding spinning, weaving,
or finishing can possibly produce a
soft or fine piece of goods from q
coarse, hard fiber. When a wooden
thread is to be spun to the length of
Is, 800 yards to a pound, or in the
case Of a worsted thread to twice that
number of yards to a pound, every
thing depends upon care in the selec-
ton of the fleece and in the sorting.
These sorts are impregnated with a
greasy substance called the yolk or
STUNT, caused by the animal secretions
and the perspiration of the skin,
compound of potash and animal fat,
which must be completely eradicated.
The elimination of the yolk, dirt, and
foreign substances, common to all
woods, results in a shrinkage of from
fifty to seventy per cent.
| Our ancestors secured their wool in
| tubs, much as our wives and daughters
scour our clothes today. In the hand
washing of wool, a tub was filled with
the suds, in which one or two men
with long poles stirred the wool until
clean, when they lifted it upon a
travelling apron, which carried it be-
tween pair of rollers which squeezed
out the water. The same principle is
applied in the automatic securing now
in vogue. Great forks or rakes seize
the wool. as it is carried by rollers
from feeding apron into the iron
tanks, and by alternating motions of
their teeth give it a thorough securing.
Thus cleansed, the wool is delivered
by rollers to the drying machines,
where hot air and great fans are now
utilized to extract all the moisture
without tearing the fiber Popular
Science Monthly.
The Kniepp Cure.
One of the most novel resorts among
the numerous ''cures" of Europe, is
a little Bavarian village, Vorishofen
where the village priest, sebastia an
Kniepp, now seventy years OF age, in
structs his patients in a. method OF
treatment which he invented for him
self nearly fifty years ago, and which
he has thrived on ever since. His
plan OF hardening orinvigorating the
body is the practice OF walking or
running bareiooted in wet grass or
freshly fallen snow from five minutes
to half an hour, after which the pa
tient puts on dry socks ofcoarse linen
yarn without drying his feet, and then
takes smart walk. This is said to
cure everything from chilblains to
tootoache. He also recommends cold
baths during only five minutes, put
ting coarse linen underclothes on the
still wet body, then the outer clothes,
and a quarter of an hours
brisk walk. He has curious no.
tions about diet, denounces tea and
coffee, objects to much meat, and
favors bread. fruit, vegetables, and
milk in the main. He recommends
brown bread, but his two particular
fancles are peas and saurkraut. He
believes the more moderately q man
eats, the better chance he has of keep
ing his digestive organs in good order
until old age. He advises drinking be-
fore eating, never while eating, and
also hard beds, and cool-well ventilat-
ed bedrooms. He does not object to
smoking. Three-fourths of his ideas
we could indorse, but we do not doubt
that his treatment is we'll adapted to
gross, over-fed, dyspetic, rheumatic
and equity individuals who are still
robust enough to bear all of his
heroic methods.