520 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



the fine coal of commerce, the waste of pyrites used in the 

 manufacture of sulphuric acid, etc., as illustrations. Quite a 

 recent instance of this improved economy is found in the 

 treatment of the wool of sheep. It has been ascertained that 

 sheep derive from the soil ujoon which they pasture a con- 

 siderable amount of potash, which, after it has circulated in 

 the blood, is excreted from the skin with the sweat, and re- 

 mains, generally in connection with this, attached to the wool. 

 Chevreuil discovered, some time ago, that this peculiar mixt- 

 ure, known by the French as suint, constitutes not less than 

 one third the weight of the raw merino fleece, from which it 

 is easily removed by immersion in cold water. In ordinary 

 wools the suint is less, the amount being about 15 per cent, 

 of the raw fleece. Formerly it was considered as a kind of 

 soap, mainly for the reason that the wool, besides this, some- 

 times contained about 8 per cent., or a not inconsiderable 

 quantity of fat. This fat, however, is usually combined with 

 earthy matters, mostly with lime, and consequently forms a 

 soap which is very insoluble. The soluble suint is a neutral 

 salt arising from the combination of potash with a peculiar 

 animal acid, of which little more is known than that it con- 

 tains saltpetre. Special effort has lately been directed to 

 suint, in order to obtain as much as possible of the potash 

 eliminated from the animal, and a special industry has been 

 established at various portions of the great French wool dis- 

 trict, such as Rheims, El Boeuf, etc. 



A company purchases from the w T ool-raisers the solution 

 of the suint obtained by rinsing the wool in cold water, the 

 price paid for it being higher in proportion as it is more con- 

 centrated. As a general thing, it is maintained that a fleece 

 weighing nine pounds contains about twenty ounces of suint, 

 which should contain about one third part, or six to seven 

 ounces of potash, although not more than five and one half 

 ounces are perhaps directly available. 



In the wool manufactories of the towns just referred to 

 there are nearly 60,000,000 pounds of wool washed annually, 

 the yield of about 6,750,000 sheep. This quantity should 

 contain over 3,000,000 pounds of pure potash. Thus the 

 water in which the wool is washed, and which has been here- 

 tofore thrown away, is made to yield a product, adding ap- 

 preciably to the value of the wool itself, and more than cov 



