235 



iimouiit of potash, whicb, after it has circulated in the blood, is excreted 

 from the skin with the sweat, and remains, generally in connection with 

 this, attached to the wool. Chevreail discovered, some time ago, that 

 this peculiar mixture, known by the French as suint, constitutes not 

 less than one-third the weight of the raw merino fleece, from which it is 

 easily removed by immersion in cold water. In ordinary wools the 

 suint is less, the amount being about 15 per cent, of the raw fleece. 

 Formerly it was considered as a kind of soap, mainly for the reason that 

 the wool, besides this, sometimes contained about 8 per cent., or a not 

 inconsiderable quantity of fat. This fat, however, is usually combined 

 with earthy matters, mostly with lime, and consequently forms a soap 

 which is very insoluble. The soluble suint is a neutral salt arising 

 from the combination of potash with a peculiar animal acid, of which 

 little more is known than that it contains saltpeter. Special effort has 

 lately been directed to suint, in order to obtain as much as possible of 

 the potash eliminated from the animal, and a special industry has been 

 established at various portions of the great French wool district, such 

 as Rheims, El Boeuf, «&c. 



A company purchases from the wool-raisers the solution of the suint 

 obtained by rinsing the wool in cold water; the price paid for it being 

 higher in proportion as it is more concentrated. As a general thing it 

 is maintained that a fleece weighing nine pounds contains about twenty 

 ounces of suint; which should contain about one-third part, or six 

 to seven ounces of potash, although not more than five and one-half 

 ounces are perhaps directly available. 



In the wool manufactories of the towns just referred to there are 

 nearly 00,000,000 pounds of wool washed annually, the yield of about 

 6,750,000 sheep. This quantity should contain over 3,00D,0Q0 pounds 

 of pure potash. Thus, the water in which the wool is washed, and 

 which has been heretofore thrown away, is made to yield a product, 

 adding appreciably to the value of the wool itself, and more than cover- 

 ing the cost of its treatment. It is, of course, not an easy matter to 

 utilize this solution of suint on a small scale; but wherever the work is 

 carried on by the wholesale, as it is in connection with all great manu- 

 facturing establishments, it will undoubtedly become a regular part of 

 the process of manufacture. 



Preventing- hea.ting in gra.in-stacks, — A. simple instrument has 

 lately been devised, un;ler the name of the Hiy-stack Ventilator, for 

 the purpose of a-icertaiuing and counteracting the heating in the inte- 

 rior of stacks of hay or grain. This consists of a wroughtiron tube, 

 about 3 inches in diameter, which is long enough to reach into the 

 middle of the stack, and, like the Norton well tube, is provided with a 

 conical point at the tip, and pierced for about two-thirds its length with 

 numerous holes. A screw arrangement is affixed to the posterior ex- 

 tremity, by which it can be connected with an accompanying discharge- 

 pipe. 



For use this apparatus is to be driven horizontally into the stack to 

 be investigated, either by means of a mallet or by a screw arrange- 

 ment, and the temperature ascertained after a short interval by 

 introducing a self-registering thermometer. Should the temperature 

 be too high at any point in the stack, a tin tube is to be affixed verti- 

 cally to the outer end of the iron tube, and an outward current of air 

 from the interior of the stack produced, by means of which the heat is 

 speedily carried off without any injury to the stack. Hooks may be 

 attached to the tip of the instrument, by which small samples of the cen- 

 tral part of the stack can be brought out. 



