itioning establishments" (1887), and, I
suppose, if a German or French wool merchant or furrier could be
imagined as selling wool, etc., in part to a German or French firm, and
in part to an English one, the latter would take the material without a
murmur, though it might contain 10 per cent., or, peradventure, 30 per
cent. of water, and no doubt the foreign, just as the English merchant
or dealer, would get the best price he could, and regard the possible 10
per cent. or 30 per cent. of water present with certainly the more
equanimity the more of that very cheap element there were present. But
look at the other side. The German or French firm samples its lot as
delivered, takes the sample to be tested, and that 10 or 30 per cent. of
water is deducted, and only the dry wool is paid for. A few little
mistakes of this kind, I need hardly say, will altogether form a kind of
_vade mecum_ for the foreign competitor.

We will now see what the effect of water is in the felting operation.
Especially hot water assists that operation, and the effect is a
curious one. When acid is added as well, the felting is still further
increased, and shrinking also takes place. As already shown you, the
free ends of the scales, themselves softened by the warm dilute acid,
are extended and project more, and stand out from the shafts of the
hairs. On the whole, were I a hat manufacturer, I should prefer to buy
my fur untreated by that nitric acid and mercury process previously
referred to, and promote its felting properties myself by the less
severe and more rational course of proceeding, such, for example, as
treatment with warm dilute acid. We have referred to two enemies
standing in the way to the obtainment of a final lustre and finish on
felted wool or fur, now let us expose a third. In the black dyeing of
the hat-forms a boiling process is used. Let us hear what Dr. Bowman, in
his work on the wool fibre, says with regard to boiling with water.
"Wool which looked quite bright when well washed with tepid water, was
decidedly duller when kept for some time in water at a temperature of
160 deg. F., and the same wool, when subjected to boiling water at 212 deg. F.,
became quite dull and lustreless. When tested for strength, the same
fibres which carried on the average 500 grains without breaking before
boiling, after boiling would not bear more than 480 grains." Hence this
third enemy is a boiling process, especially a long-continued one if
on