AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 439 



as an alloy with other metals, as it imparts to iron, &c., some valuable pro- 

 perties. It is very sonorous, and would, therefore, make excellent flutes, 

 organ pipes and other musical tubes. 



Mr. Stetson wished to know how it was as to hardness, rigidity, &c. 



Mr. Seeley. — An aluminum tea spoon, that I have seen, is ri^id, and is 

 as light as a piece of wood of equal size covered with tinfoil. It is becom- 

 ing cheaper. It was five dollars an ounce, and is now only four. In my 

 opinion, it will be yet for fifty cents an ounce. 



Prof. Renwick stated that he had seen ingots of it, in the possession of 

 Faraday, in London, and was informed that it was probable that the cost 

 was about that of its weight of silver. This would render it a compara- 

 tively cheap material, inasmuch as the density is so much less than that of 

 silver. In relation to the alloys of iron and aluminum, he stated that one 

 of them had been known and used for ages, namely Wootz, or Indian steel. 

 This was the material whence the celebrated Damascus blades were made. 

 The composition, of course, was not known until the discovery of the 

 metallic base of the earth, alumina. 



The subject of the evening, silk and its manufactures, being called for, 

 no gentleman was prepared to inaugurate the discussion, but several sam- 

 ples on the table were examined and commented upon. Mr. Butler, who 

 has been a cotton manufacturer, described the process of manufacturing 

 the raw cotton iuto cloth. In his remarks he mentioned the various deforces 

 of fineness, and consequently different qualities of cotton. Among other 

 numbers determining the fineness of yarn 6000 was mentioned. 



Mr. Renwick stated that there must be a mistake of a cypher in the num- 

 ber 6000, which ought to have been 600. The latter was the utmost fine- 

 ness which had been attained until within a year or two. He further 

 stated that his wife had in her possession a hank of cotton, spun by Mr. 

 Thackeray, the Mayor of Nottingham, numbering, as far as he recollected, 

 upwards of 700. The number, he next stated, was ascertained from the 

 number of hancks, each of 840 yards, contained in an avoirdupoise pound. 



In relation to the cotton whence the finer threads were made, he stated 

 that it was wholly the product of the sea islands of Georgia, and that the 

 finer qualities had been obtained by selecting in tha field the bolls of finest 

 texture, and sowing the seed contained in them. In this way one planter 

 had raised th-e price of his product from 75 a 80 cents per lb. to $2, and had 

 on one occasion, about 30 years since, obtained, in consequence of a com- 

 petition between France and England, for his crop, as much as $4 per lb. 



He next stated that he had learned from Mr. Cooper, of Cooper's Island, 

 that the growth of these very fine -qualities was not as profitable as the more 

 usual descriptions, inasmuch as the crop of tlie former was both less abundant 

 and more uncertain. In consequence of this result of experience, Mr. 

 €ooper had ceased to take unusual pains with his seed. 



Mr, Renwick next stated that the sea island cotton appeared to be a 

 •degenerate plant. That its fulness appeared to increase as it approached 

 the northern brink of its productioa, at the same time that the crop became 



