334 QUARTZ FIBERS. 



inillion-milliontli of tlie weight of a graiu were stated to be witbiu the 

 reach of a manageable quartz fiber.] 



Now that I have shown all that my limited time has permitted me, I 

 wish finally to answer a question which is frequently put to me, and which 

 possibly some in the room may have asked theselves. The question may 

 be put broadly in this form: "These fibers no doubt are very fine and 

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

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

 is meant by "practical use." If by " a thing of practical 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 jioint which those 

 who have studied biology will perhaps appreciate more than others — 

 something which may be made use of for the purpose of i)ersoual adorn- 

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

 ception of the possibility 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 i)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 you mean, then I hope 

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

 are sufficient to prove that quartz fibers are of some i)ractical use; and 

 they have served this additional purpose, with what success I am una- 

 ble to say: they have i)rovided a subject for an evening lecture of the 

 British Association. 



