If further weighting is desired, this treatment, first in tin chloride and then in phosphate of soda, can be repeated three or four up to five or even six times, increasing the weight with each immersion. Then a bath is usually given of silicate of soda, which adds a little weight, ½ to ¾ of an ounce, and, it is claimed, benefits the lustre and strength of the goods. Then, after a final washing, the silk is ready for the dye-bath. The weighted goods are dyed, dried, and finished about the same as with the “pure dye” process, and the proud dyer can rejoice at returning to the honest manufacturer from 150 to 250 pounds of finished silk for every 100 pounds of raw silk (containing, by the way, 25 to 30 pounds of gum) which was sent in to the dyehouse! This “tin-weighing” process is also applied to black dyeing, and enables the black dyer to build up his weight with tin salts instead of limiting him to iron, chromium, ferrocyanide of potash, tannin, and logwood. _Properties of Weighted Silk._—It is scarcely necessary to point out that silk, weighted to the extreme limit, is hardly to be considered as the most durable and trustworthy of fabrics, even when dyed by the most expert workmen. And when carelessly prepared heavily weighted silk is an abomination, liable to crack and wear away with the least provocation. It may be worth reminding some of my fair readers that the old test of a silk taffeta, “so thick and stiff that it will stand of itself,” is nowadays anything but a proof of good quality. One or two manufacturers in this country a few years ago tried to revive the almost forgotten art of making and selling pure-dyed goods, and one trouble they experienced in disposing of their products, outside the high price, was the criticism that their silk felt so light and thin. _Prevalence of Weighted Silk._—At present it is almost impossible, at least in New York, to buy pure-dyed heavy silks. The writer, at any rate, has tried diligently, during the last year or two, to find for some special experiments a piece of white taffeta which was not markedly weighted. After visiting department stores and the very best dry-goods stores in the city, at all of which he was informed that no such material now existed, the best that could be obtained was one make of silk where the organzine or warp was fairly pure, the tram being well weighted. Light-weight Japanese and Chinese silks, however, undyed or dyed in the piece, can still be procured with little or no weighting. _Tests for Weighted Silk._—This silk may be identified by a very simple test. Pure-dyed silk, when dry, is easily inflammable. When touched with a lighted match it catches fire at once, “carries the flame” well, especially if in the form of thread; and, if followed up with a flame, it will before long burn away completely, leaving little or no ash or residue.