trations
through two sessions, and during the course a patent by one of the
younger members became due, which proved to contain the solution of the
chief difficulty of the British felt-hat manufacturer (see pages 66-68).
This remarkable coincidence served to give especial stress to the wisdom
of the counsel of Sir Henry Roscoe, whose response to the appeal of the
members of the deputation of 1887 was at once to point them to
scientific light and training as their only resource. In a letter
recently received from Sir Henry (1906), he writes: "I agree with you
that this is a good instance of the _direct money value_ of scientific
training, and in these days of 'protection' and similar subterfuges, it
is not amiss to emphasise the fact."

It is thus gratifying to the writer to think that the lectures have had
some influence on the remarkable progress which the British Hat Industry
has made in the twenty years that have elapsed since their delivery.

These lectures were in part printed and published in the _Hatters'
Gazette_, and in part in newspapers of Manchester and Stockport, and
they have here been compiled and edited, and the necessary illustrations
added, etc., by Mr. Albert Shonk, to whom I would express my best
thanks.

WATSON SMITH.

LONDON, _April_ 1906.

CONTENTS

LECTURE PAGE

I. TEXTILE FIBRES, PRINCIPALLY WOOL, FUR, AND HAIR 1

II. TEXTILE FIBRES, PRINCIPALLY WOOL, FUR,
AND HAIR--_continued_ 18

III. WATER: ITS CHEMISTRY AND PROPERTIES;
IMPURITIES AND THEIR ACTION; TESTS OF PURITY 29

IV. WATER: ITS CHEMISTRY AND PROPERTIES; IMPURITIES AND
THEIR ACTION; TESTS OF PURITY--_continued_ 38

V. ACIDS AND ALKALIS 49

VI. BORIC ACID, BORAX, SOAP 57

VII. SHELLAC, WOOD SPIRIT, AND THE STIFFENING AND
PROOFING PROCESS 62

VIII. MORDANTS: THEIR NATURE AND USE 69

IX. DYESTUFFS AND COLOURS 79

X. DYESTUFFS AND COLORS--_continued_ 89

XI. DYEING OF WOOL AND FUR; AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES
OF COLOURS 100

INDEX 117

THE CHEMISTRY OF HAT MANUFA