334 gUARTZ FIIJEKS. 



inillion-millioiitli of the wei^dit of a grain were Htated lo l)c within the 

 reach of a niaiiageablo quartz tiber.] 



Now tliat 1 liavo shown all that my limited time has i)erniitted nie, I 

 wish linallyto answer a (luestion which is freciuently put to nie,an(l which 

 possibly some in the room may have asked theselves. The (piestion may 

 be put broadly in this form: "These libers no doubt are very line ami 

 very wonderful, but are they of any practical use?" This is a question 

 which I find it difficult to answer, because 1 do not clearly know what 

 is meant by "practical use." If by "a thing of i)ractical use" you mean 

 something which is good to eat or to drink or if you mean something 

 which we may employ to protect ourselves from the extremes of heat 

 or cold or moisture, or if you mean — and this is a point which those 

 who have studied biology will perhaps appreciate more than others — 

 something wliich may be made use of for the purpose of personal adorn- 

 ment, if that is what you mean by "practical use," then, with the ex- 

 ception of the i)ossibility of being able to weave garments of an extraor- 

 dinary degree of fineness, softness, and transparency, quartz fibers are 

 of no "practical use." But if you mean something which will enable 

 a large and distinguished body of men to do that which is most impor- 

 tant to them more perfectly than has been possible hitherto — I allude 

 of course to the experimental x>hilosopher and his experimental work, 

 which after all has laid the foundations upon which so much that is 

 called practical actually is built — if this is what jou mean, then I hope 

 that the few experiments which I have been able to show this evening 

 are sufticient to prove that quartz fibers are of some practical use; and 

 they have served this additional i)uri)ose, with what success I am una- 

 ble to say: they have provided a subject for an evening lecture of the 

 British Association. 



