href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@17740@[email protected]#FNanchor_1_1" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">[1] J.S.C.I. = Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry.

Fig. 4.

Silk.—We now pass on to the animal fibres, and of these we must first consider silk. This is one of the most perfect substances for use in the textile arts. A silk fibre may be considered as a kind of rod of solidified flexible gum, secreted in and exuded from glands placed on the side of the body of the silk-worm. In Fig. 4 are shown the forms of the silk fibre, in which there are no central cavities or axial bores as in cotton and flax, and no signs of any cellular structure or external markings, but a comparatively smooth, glassy surface. There is, however, a longitudinal groove of more or less depth. The fibre is semi-transparent, the beautiful pearly lustre being due to the smoothness of the outer layer and its reflection of the light. In the silk fibre there are two distinct parts: first, the central portion, or, as we may regard it, the true fibre, chemically termed fibroïn; and secondly, an envelope composed of a substance or substances, chemically termed sericin, and often "silk-glue" or "silk-gum." Both the latter and fibroïn are composed of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. Here there is thus one element more than in the vegetable fibres previously referred to, namely, nitrogen; and this nitrogen is contained in all the animal fibres. The outer envelope of silk-glue or sericin can be dissolved off the inner fibroïn fibre by means of hot water, or warm water with a little soap. Warm dilute (that is, weak) acids, such as sulphuric acid, etc., also dissolve this silk-glue, and can be used like soap solutions for ungumming silk. Dilute nitric acid only slightly attacks silk, and colours it yellow; it would not so colour vegetable fibres, and this forms a good test to distinguish silk from a vegetable fibre. Cold strong acetic acid, so-called glacial acetic acid, removes the yellowish colouring matter from raw silk without dissolving the sericin or silk-gum. By heating under pressure with acetic acid, however, silk is completely dissolved. Silk is also dissolved by strong sulphuric acid, forming a brown thick liquid. If we add water to this thick liquid, a clear solution is obtained, and then on adding tannic acid the fibroïn is precipitated. Strong caustic potash or soda dissolves silk; more easily if warm. Dilute caustic alkalis, if sufficiently dilute, will dissolve off the sericin and leave the inner fibre of fibroïn; but they are not so good for ungumming silk as soap solutions are, as the fibre after treatment with them is deficient in whiteness and brilliancy. Silk dissolves completely in hot basic zinc chloride solution, and also in an alkaline solution of copper and glycerin, which solutions do not dissolve vegetable fibres or wool. Chlorine and bleaching-powder solutions soon attack and destroy silk, and so another and milder agent, namely, sulphurous acid, is used to bleach this fibre. Silk is easily dyed by the aniline and coal-tar colours, and with beautiful effect, but it has little attraction for the mineral colours.

Wool.—Next to silk as an animal fibre we come to wool and different varieties of fur and hair covering certain classes of animals, such as sheep, goats, rabbits, and hares. Generally, and without going at all deeply into the subject, we may say that wool differs from fur and hair, of which we may regard it as a variety, by being usually more elastic, flexible, and curly, and because it possesses certain features of surface structure which confer upon it the property of being more easily matted together than fur and hair are. We must first shortly consider the manner of growth of hair without spending too much time on this part of the subject. The accompanying figure (see Fig. 5) shows a section of the skin with a hair or wool fibre rooted in it. Here we may see that the ground work, if we may so term it, is four-fold in structure. Proceeding downwards, we have—(first) the outer skin, scarf-skin or cuticle; (second) a second layer or skin called the rete mucosum, forming the epidermis; (third) papillary layer; (fourth) the corium layer, forming the dermis. The peculiar, globular, cellular masses below in the corium are called adipose cells, and these throw off perspiration or moisture, which is carried away to the surface by the glands shown (called sudoriparous glands), which, as is seen, pass independently off to the surface. Other glands terminate under the skin in the hair follicles, which follicles or hair sockets contain or enclose the hair roots. These glands terminating in the hair follicles secrete an oily substance, which bathes and lubricates as well as nourishes the hair. With respect to the origin of the hair or wool fibre, this is formed inside the follicle by the exuding therefrom of a plastic liquid or lymph; this latter gradually becomes granular, and is then formed into cells, which, as the growth proceeds, are elongated into fibres, which form the central portion of the hair. Just as with the trunk of a tree, we have an outer dense portion, the bark, an inner less dense and more cellular layer, and an inmost

Fig. 5.

portion which is most cellular and porous; so with a hair, the central portion is loose and porous, the outer more and more dense. On glancing at the figure (Fig. 6) of the longitudinal section of a human hair, we see first the outer portion, like the bark of a tree, consisting of a dense sheath of flattened scales, then comes an inner lining of closely-packed fibrous

Fig. 6.

cells, and frequently an inner well-marked central bundle of larger and rounder cells, forming a medullary axis. The transverse section (Fig. 7) shows this exceedingly well. The end of a hair is generally pointed, sometimes filamentous. The lower extremity is larger than the shaft, and terminates in a conical bulb, or mass of cells, which forms the root of the

Fig. 7.

hair. In the next figure (Fig. 8) we are supposed to have separated these cells, and above, (a), we see some of the cells from the central pith or medulla, and fat globules; between, (b), some of the intermediate elongated or angular cells; and below, (c), two flattened, compressed, structureless, and horny scales from the outer portion of the hair. Now these latter flattened scales are of great importance.

Fig. 8.

Their character and mode of connection with the stratum, or cortical substance, below, not only make all the difference between wool and hair, but also determine the extent and