480 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



and if for linens or silks, in about seventy-five times its weight. 

 Q A, April 1,00. 



WATER-PROOF CLOTH. 



A firm in Berlin has for some years furnished a completely 

 water-proof cloth, the process for making which has been kept 

 a secret. It is now stated, however, that the method consists 

 in all probability in saturating the cloth at first with a solu- 

 tion of sulphate of alumina and of copper, and then immers- 

 ing it in a bath of water-glass and a resinous solution of soap. 

 The object of the copper seems to be to protect the cloth from 

 rotting or stiffening more perfectly than can be done by the 

 alumina alone. 8 C, xx., 157. 



ANTIFLAMINE. 



A preparation known as antiflamine has recently been 

 brought into notice in Paris for the purpose of extinguishing 

 fire in case of accident. It consists of aluminous and magme- 

 sian silicates reduced to fine powder, and dried at 212 Fahr., 

 seven hundred parts by weight ; chloride of magnesium in 

 crystals, two hundred parts ; sulphate of sada, fifty parts ; 

 and tartaric acid, one part = 1001. The article is supplied in 

 a pulverulent form, and is perfectly soluble in water. It is 

 proposed to mix it with the water in the fire-engines, the ef- 

 fect of which, it is claimed, is to lower the temperature, and 

 to surround the burning material with gases which will not 

 support combustion. 8 A, July, 125. 



GREGE YARN. 



In a recent number of Dr. Reimann's Dyers' Gazette we find 

 some interesting statements in regard to the so-called Grege 

 yarn. This yarn is spun of wool and silk, and combines the 

 greatest strength with the utmost fineness, and can not be re- 

 placed by either wool or silk alone in the manufacture of long 

 shawls where it serves as warp. This was first, and for many 

 years exclusively, made in France, so that in its manufacture 

 the French were enabled to monopolize the markets of the 

 world. The Germans, in beginning the cultivation of this 

 branch of industry, were obliged to import the Grege yarn. 

 In spinning this yarn there are great and peculiar difficulties. 

 No silk must appear in the fabric, only just enough of it be- 



