Appendix. 395 
and had undergone an obvious alteration, which led to a renewed 
trial of its strength. It was now found that a hank of the same yarn 
supported a weight of 2414 pounds, and it had therefore recovered 
very nearly its original tenacity. 
At this period I was obliged, by unavoidable circumstances, to 
abandon the inquiry ; and the inducement to resume it ceased in a 
great measure to exist, in consequence of the discontinuance, for a 
season, of the pressing inconvenience which had given birth to it. 
It was only recently that my attention was recalled to the subject by 
the well grounded alarm which has overspread the continent of Eu- 
rope, and in a less degree extended over this country, in consequence 
of the devastating effects of a disease, (cholera,) the contagious na- 
ture of which is rendered highly probable, and which, like other con- 
tagious diseases, may be presumed to be capable of being conveyed 
by fomites.* It is therefore of the greatest importance to devise ef- 
fectual and easily practicable means of extinguishing the first sparks 
of that distemper which may show themselves in this country, avoid- 
ing at the same time greater injury than is necessary to individual in- 
terests or to general commercial prosperity. 
The first step which appeared to me desirable, on resuming the 
investigation, was to decide, beyond all doubt, Whether raw materials, 
as well as manufactured goods and articles of clothing, could be ex- 
posed without injury to a dry heat approaching 212°. Of raw ma- 
terials, I took cotton as the one which, from local advantages, I could 
best submit to the necessary trials; and I had the benefit of the zeal- 
ous assistance of a friend engaged in the spinning branch of that 
manufacture. Raw cotton, of ordinary dryness, as recently taken 
from the bag, was exposed, during two or three hours, to a steady» 
temperature of 180° Fahrenheit, in a vessel heated by steam of com- 
mon density. It lost, generally, between two and three ounces from 
the pound. ‘The effect on the staple, as determined by the inspec- 
tion of persons versed in the article, was apparently such a degree of 
injury, as to forbid all expectation that the cotton could be rendered 
Bie SS io ee ee 
I do not feel myself called upon to dis- 
d difficulty. From all the 
that the contagion of 
* Whether cholera be or be not contagious, 
here. If the question should be 
lera, the suggestions of this paper will 
still apply to other ascertained contagions. 
t Peter Ewart, jun. Esq. 
