workers then span each sample to as fine a thread as possible. Now
the thinness to which a wool can be spun is evidence of its power of
cohesion--in other words, its strength. The weight of 1,000 meters of
the wool cleaned by the new process bore to that scoured by the old
process the proportion of 1,015 to 1,085, showing that a considerably
finer thread had been produced. And in total quantity, 67.53 kilos.
of the former corresponded to 71.77 kilos. of the latter, showing
a proportionately less waste. Such fine yarn had never before been
obtained from similar wool. The yarn of the soap-washed wool could not
be spun, for it could not withstand the strain; whereas, that scoured by
the new process gave an admirable thread.

Another test to which it was subjected may be cited. It is the custom in
France, before the wool is scoured, to put it through a sorting process,
by which all the short lengths are weeded out. On a quantity exceeding
11,000 kilogrammes, half of which was scoured by the turbine process,
and half by the ordinary process, the former in scouring lost in weight
2 per cent. less than the latter, although the short length extracted
from the moiety thus treated weighed only 10 kilogrammes, while that
taken from the other weighed over 150 kilogrammes. This saving, even
with the unequal treatment, amounted in value to from 30 to 40 centimes
per kilogramme.

In order that the importance of this application may be realized, I
shall conclude with some figures:

The raw wool imported into England, in the year 1882, amounted to
1,487,169 bales, its total value being about L22,000,000. The cost of
washing this wool by the old process, with carbonate of soda, amounts to
about 1/2d. per lb. of the raw material. The cost for the total quantity