Year: 1879

From The Queen.


Respecting the presence OF oil or fatty matter
used in dyeing Professor AtfieId says subjected
piece to solvents capable Of extracting everv par


tc!e OF fat that might he present and the result was
twelve drops of viscd oil from one yard OF silk,
even this being apparently the natural grease OF
the silk before manufacture. After snbjectng the


purified silk 10 experiment u seemed to wear just


as shiny piece not sotreated" The general idea,


therefore, OF the shiny appearance being produced


from grease Is o wrong one. The Professor then


ter said to increase the weight Of black silks to 20


or even 90 per cent. He says: Although various


animal matters. such as albumen, and vegetable
eral matters such as sulphate Of soda


China clay and other salts and earths, are


used TO give body and stiffness 10 goods


yet the poorest Of the four qualities OF silk


left for analysis contained no more OF such matters


or rather. similar natural matters. than the better
kinds. Mineral matter remains behind as ash
when piece Of silk is thoroughly burned In q
rent of air. but neither of the four different quail
ties yielded any considerable amount of ash. Thus:
r1os sran on asve II DER cent i5oz eros grain esye
gig per cent; 24oz. gros grain Si2 per cent Some
added substances enable fabric to hold more mois-
ture Each of these four samples contained from
0 to per cent of moisture, according to the damp
or dry state OF the atmosphere; but the point OF
importance was, that there was no great difference
between the samples. Finally the class OF resnous.
greasy and oily matters which may be added. or
even originally contained In fabrics are easily ex
tracted by the chemist and your SAMPLES yielded OF
such matters thus: 1907. tafetas Il per cents 12oz.
gros grain, Ia per cent; 15oz. Rros grain, Id per
cent; 24oz gros gram, 2 per cent. IL is therefore
clear that the shiny surface of silk Is not due
to matters added in the dyeng operations"


After commenting further on this point Professor
Atttied refers to number of experiments which he
made with the view of ascertaining what proper
ton of fibre, other than silk. was contained in the
samples. and here he says: found great differ
ence between the three specimens OF good silk and
the fourth inferior article which you procured for
me. Pure silk Is almost wholly soluble In various
acids and saline solutions, while other fbres that
might be worked into the goods IN the course Of
manufacture are almost insoluble. Thus, the best
sample that you gave me dissolved all but Il per
cent while 50 per cent Of the 24oz. socalled silk
which you procured for me was insoluble, half ITS
weight being fibre which was not silk at all"
He says land this is most importantly that
taffetas and all old makes of silk are woven
closer and frmer than those more recently manufoc
tured The closer woven fabrics resist pressure bet
ter than the looser fabrics Il mean the ordinary
pressure caused by leaning back In chair, or even
the rubbing of the arms against ones sides. etc NO
doubt all silks made years ago. or recently, become
more or less shiny after wear and gather that tho
fault now so noticeable is rather exaggeraton OF
an OLD defect than new one altogether: But
given the same amount OF wear, the top edges OF
the few and large ridges cords in square inch OF
the modern silks will soon become worn to polish.
or gNasy looking, than the top edges of the many
ana small ridges in a square inch OF the old silks
and take it that until fashion sets in for some
kind of silk other than the heavy gros grain. the
beautiful material will continue TO be liable TO ac-
quire this shiny appearance during wear" We
have only given the substance OF Professor Att
fields views but il will be from them that this
exaggerated defect is due directly to the public
taste for thick. SOFT loosely made silks tno matter
how cOmp0sed), IN contradistnction to the thin.
bright and pure article of twenty years ago. Thus
the remedy, SO far as 1t is possible Is not TO be
looked for from the manufacturer or ~ doalsr but
lies with the consumer only.