802 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



a drug in the market. In the Swiss report on the Paris Exhibition of 

 1867, it was stated that the annual production of floss-silk yarns then 

 ranged in value from 400,000 to 600,000. In 1872 about 7,750,000 

 pounds of thread were made from waste silk in Europe. In the 

 United States, 2,000 to 3,000 bales of waste silk are used up annually, 

 valued at 200,000. Italy exports annually about 5,000,000 pounds of 

 silk waste. 



There are fifteen establishments in France, with 479,353 spindles, 

 working up waste-silk ; that is, the waste from the cocoon not reel- 

 able, the short pieces, etc. What remains over from this working is 

 again used up by seven other factories, which, by means of further 

 combing and carding, employ waste formerly only partially utilized 

 or altogether lost to consumption. 



In connection with this subject I may draw attention to the stimu- 

 lus given to the collection of the cocoons of the wild silk-worm of 

 India, known under the name of Tusser. These, which were formerly 

 only used in the East for making a kind of drab or coffee-colored silk, 

 have now been made to take dyes, and are profitably employed in the 

 silk manufacture in England. The waste of the wild cocoons in China 

 and Japan is made into felt for hats, and enters into the manufacture 

 of paper. 



The improvements in machinery for the preparation and spinning 

 of silk- waste have made great strides of late, and whereas a few years 

 ago one never heard of anything but " spun-silk " hosiery, handker- 

 chiefs, or some other little article of similar make, the whole world now 

 knows the schappe velvets of Crefeld, the " spun " ribbons of Basle, 

 and the laces of Nottingham, while the king of silk-spinners Lister, 

 of Manningham has even produced machine-twist of excellent quality 

 from this unlikely material. 



The refuse from the tanneries, now so profitably utilized, is of con- 

 siderable importance ; it consists of untanned dried pelt, or glue- 

 pieces, fleshings, hair, lime deposit, and spent-tan. Glue-pieces or 

 " scrolls," as they are termed, are sold to the paper-maker, and scores 

 of tons for the manufacture of gelatine and portable soups. Ordinary 

 size is made from the flesh refuse of the hide, and is extensively used 

 by paper-hangers, cotton-spinners (to give firmness to the thread), and 

 carpet manufacturers. The so-called cheap seal-skins are manufac- 

 tured in the north of England from common plasterers' hair, or that 

 obtained from the tan-pits. There has been made for many years, in 

 Germany, printing-paper and cardboard of the waste bark from tan- 

 neries. The common papers receive about ten or fifteen per cent of 

 this pulp ; the boards for roofing from twenty to forty per cent. Ar- 

 tificial leather is also now extensively made from leather cuttings, 

 pressed and rolled into sheets with some glutinous composition. 



Latterly it has been found that leather-waste cuttings, etc., when 

 steamed with certain waste liquors, produce a valuable material in the 



