This discovery of Chardonnet’s was at once utilized, and large and flourishing factories of Chardonnet silk sprang up all over Europe. The first large factory, which is still doing a very profitable business, was at Besançon, in France, and later a large factory was established at Frankfort, Germany. _Pauly Silk._—The success of this process aroused the interest of other chemists, and before long several rival processes came into existence, also based on the use of a viscous solution of a cellulose compound. One company, making the so-called Pauly silk, utilized the solvent action of an ammoniacal copper solution upon cellulose for their starting point. _Elberfeld Silk, Glanzstoff._—The Farbenfabriken von Elberfeld, famous manufacturers of dyestuffs, took up the manufacture of silk from a solution of a compound of cellulose with acetic acid; and the Elberfeld silk, or, as it is widely known in Germany, Glanzstoff, is every year becoming a more and more important factor in the silk business. _Viscose Silk._—A still different process, which during the past two or three years has been successfully introduced into the United States, depends upon the curious substance called Viscose, a thick, sticky solution of cellulose made by first treating wood pulp, cotton or other vegetable fibre with strong caustic soda and then dissolving the resulting product in carbon disulphide. This Viscose was first introduced for many different purposes. The solvent, carbon disulphide, is very volatile, and flies off readily, leaving the cellulose behind in the form of a stiff jelly which, on drying, becomes solid and strong. So Viscose was used for water-proofing paper, etc., for making solid articles like piano keys and billiard balls, and even for making opaque patterns in calico printing. But its most valuable application is for artificial silk. It is pressed out through fine holes, and the thread resulting quickly solidifies as the solvent evaporates, and can be dried carefully and worked up on reels or bobbins, to be dyed later. _Properties._—Artificial silk, as a rule, is a little stiffer than natural silk, but has an exceedingly fine lustre. It cannot be spun in as fine threads as fine, natural silk, but, on the other hand, can be produced in thick, smooth threads which, stained as a rule black or dark colors, quite replace horsehair for furniture coverings, etc. Similar products are made, too, by coating cotton with a layer of artificial silk. Another curious use of this artificial silk process is when it is formed into still larger threads, very lustrous and quite stiff, and used for plumes and aigrettes. They can be dyed any color, have excellent lustre, and are extremely useful for millinery.