The work concludes with a section devoted to a description of the various practical systems of mercerisation of yarns in general practice in Germany, and an account of the methods adopted in dyeing the mercerised yarns. RESEARCHES ON MERCERISED COTTON. A. FRAENKEL and P. FRIEDLAENDER (Mitt. k.-k. Techn. Gew. Mus., Wien, 1898, 326). The authors, after investigation, are inclined to attribute the lustre of mercerised cotton to the absence of the cuticle, which is destroyed and removed in the process, partly by the chemical action of the alkali, and partly by the stretching at one or other stage of the process. The authors have investigated the action of alcoholic solutions of soda also. The lustre effects are not obtained unless the action of water is associated. In conclusion, the authors give the following particulars of breaking strains and elasticity:-- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Treatment | Experiments | Breaking strain | Elasticity -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Elongation | | Grammes | in mm. | | | Cotton unmercerised. | 1 | 360 | 20 | 2 | 356 | 20 | 3 | 360 | 22 | | | Mercerised with | | | Soda 35 deg.B. | 1 | 530 | 44 | 2 | 570 | 40 | 3 | 559 | 35 | | | Alcoholic soda 10 p.ct. | 1 | 645 | 24 cold | 2 | 600 | 27 | 3 | 610 | 33 | | | Alcoholic soda 10 p.ct. | 5 | 740 | 33 hot | 2 | 730 | 38 | 3 | 690 | 30 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOOTNOTES: [2] This and other similar references are to the matter of the original volume (1895). SECTION II. SYNTHETICAL DERIVATIVES--SULPHOCARBONATES AND ESTERS