HEALING A WOUND. 299 



exceedingly remote. The wounds may be healed, but sooner or later will 

 renew their assaults with redoubled energy ; besides, the disease carries 

 perpetual contagion with it. Every day the infection brings fresh 

 trouble. However, for the purpose of a local application, prepare No. 1 

 Dressing mixture (mentioned presently) by heating it in a saucepan or by 

 immersing a jar containing the liquid in boiling water. When rather hot, 

 paint with a camel's hair brush each plague spot, and coax the stuff well 

 into the silk by bending the knuckles to and fro until they present to the 

 eye a white, frothy appearance. Kub off the froth and allow the line to 

 dry. But the best plan is to steep the line in methylated chloroform for 

 a day, and with soap and warm water wash off the whole of the old 

 dressing (which never penetrated the silk at all well) and re-dress it in 

 the manner described hereinafter. 



It has been reserved for the ingenuity of Mr. W. Wells Eidley to 

 bring out for himself and friends the best line, to my thinking, ever 

 wetted in a Salmon river. In every detail can be traced the result of 

 extended experience and exhaustive inquiry. The way they are plaited 

 is simply perfect. Compactness is obtained by using the best silk, freed 

 from all natural gum, and by employing unusually heavy weights on the 

 plaiting machine. The strands are packed as closely as they can be 

 without incurring the risk of a " curl," which is worse than a 

 " kink." 



Mr. Eidley once informed me that his lines contain one-third 

 more silk than any others of the same length and circumference, 

 and that this is entirely due to some special process adopted by 

 him. There certainly is here an art of preparation and a measure 

 of success which I think no manufacturer possesses except Carswell. 

 The very look of them is enough, and they are no less surprising 

 for their appearance than for the facility which they afford in 

 casting and in " presentation." So far as durability is concerned, 

 I have had a line in use since 1878, and in spite of hard wear, it 

 is as sound and, if possible, more serviceable than ever. A small 

 case of these treasures was on view at the Fisheries Exhibition 

 (1883), and attracted general admiration. If only from a feeling of 

 personal obligation, I would add that the Salmon-angling world at large 



