The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-13
ANOTHER cHrGroAL TRIUMPH.

ANOIHBB CktEMA HRACmHA AA'
 A few days ago The Advertiser had something to say about the manufac- ture of India rubber. and spoke of 1t as one of the triumphs of modern science. Now we have the announce ment of stiu more remarkable achievement of which The Boston Globe says: 'The German chemists have solved the problem of making arr tificial, silk, after 15o years of effort to find . cheap substitute for genuine silk. The last process is to dissolve cellulose in ammoniated oxide of cop per and then separate 1t from this so- lution by means of an acid in the form of threads"
 We are assured that this artificial product is not far behind the genuine product in any respect. while in some ways it Is decidedly superior. And why not? Almost any reader knows that the silk in everyday use is the product of a worm. The worms feed on the leaves of the mulberry, and few other trees of like nature, and by some process hitherto hidden from hu- man sight the raw material thus eaten is transformed into fine threads of silk, which the worms spin in the form of cocoons, and then human hands reel and manufacture this raw product in- to thread and cloth. It really under goes little more change from the al- most invisible thread of the worm to the brilliant silk cloth than does our cotton from the open boil to the thread or cloth of everyday use. All the pro- cesses in either case are mechanical
 Now. it must be evident to any one who will think for a moment, that some mysterious chemical process goes on inside the worm by which the food eaten by it Is metamorphosed into a totally different product. The worm itself has nothing to do with 1t. any more than the hen has to do with the manufacture of the eggs she lays In both cases instinct and taste teach the fowl and the worm to eat certain foods, and in each case different pro- duct is the result.
  formation is produced by chemical agencies why should not science lay bare the process and duplicate the re- suit? We have so many and such va rious artificial products that it would be strange if at this late day there should not be found a method of imi- tating and duplicating the work of a senseless worm and thus performing the task 1t has monopolized since time began. we presume.
 And this, we are told, is just what the German chemists have succeeded in doing. The reader can see the process described in the extract above. and that is all we know about 1t so far. We are not informed as to the cost of the artificial silk. but The Globe inti- mates that the new product, besides being as good as the natural article is much cheaper. so that, as that paper thinks. working girls will yet be able to appear in society as luxuriously clad and made up for little money as the children of the rich with their mill lions." This Is encouraging to all lov- CTS of silks.
 But our informant further says that by this process there is made mag nigcent limitations of human hair which Is far cheaper and cleaner than the original" This is just a trihe confusing. for we thought human hair could be grown very cheaply in most cases. but we suppose when it is cut off and put on the market 1t rises very much in valuation. This discovery will have a tendency to interfere with the business of growing hair for mar ket. for. little as one might think of 1t. it is a regular and profitable industry in some countries. If a good article can be artificially produced at little cost there will be no good reason why people shouldn't have wigs of any color and style they choose.
 Altogether 1t promises to be a great invention, and we are informed that certain German chemists are already arranging to establish a silk manu- factory in the United States. This will give the silk worms a rest and materially reduce the price of silk goods. Verify the world moves.