81 JOURNAL OF THE 
no effect ou the molybdic acid. Care should be taken, how- 
ever, that no small particles of zinc pass into the liquid after 
filtering, for the nascent hydrogen generated gives the same 
color reaction. 
February 1900. 
UNIVERSITY OF NorTH CAROLINA. 
NOTE ON A CASE OF SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION.’ 
BY CHARES BASKERVILLE. 
In August 1898 a fire occurred in some of the dyed warp of 
one of the largest cotton mills in this State. Samples of all 
materials used in the dyeing and sizing of the yarn were sent the 
writer by the proprietors of the mill with instructions toseek the 
cause of the fire in detail. Fortunately, as later learned,'the fire 
was discovered in time and extinguished, avoiding very serious 
consequences. Such a fire was unusual with these mill own- 
ers, the first, in fact, in the history of the mill in question, 
and its recurrence might prove disastrous. It was necessary to 
learn if some irregularity in the practice or material used could 
have been the cause or whether it resulted from the action of 
chemicals surreptitiously placed upon the yarn by some ill in- 
tentioned operative. 
Their customary procedure was to dye eight warps at 
a time (1040 lbs.) in a dye bath of two hundred and fifty 
gallons of water into which have been placed for each one 
hundred pounds of yarn eight ounces naphthazarin L. W., 
_ five pounds sal soda, one half pound Marseilles soap and six 
pounds salt. The bath was gradually increased to three hun- 
dred gallons and then run off. The warps were then washed 
with three hundred gallons of water at 180° F. and sized. 
1 Read before Midwinter Meeting of North Carolina Section of the 
American Chemical Society, 1899. 
