In the use of the word 'normal' as applied to a 'bleached' cotton, we have further to show in what respects the sulphocarbonate reaction differentiates the bleached or purified cotton cellulose from the raw product. The following experiments may be cited: Specimens of American and Egyptian cottons in the raw state, freed from mechanical, i.e. non-fibrous, impurities, were treated with a mercerising alkali, and the alkali-cotton subsequently exposed to carbon disulphide. The product of reaction was further treated as in the preparation of the ordinary solution; but in place of the usual solution, structureless and homogeneous, it was observed to retain a fibrous character, and the fibres, though enormously swollen, were not broken down by continued vigorous stirring. After large dilution the solutions were filtered, and the fibres then formed a gelatinous mass on the filters. After purification, the residue was dried and weighed. The American cotton yielded 90.0 p.ct., and the Egyptian 92.0 p.ct. of its substance in the form of this peculiar modification. The experiment was repeated, allowing an interval of 24 hours to elapse between the conversion into alkali-cotton and exposure of this to the carbon disulphide. The quantitative results were identical. There are many observations incidental to chemical treatments of cotton fabrics which tend to show that the bleaching process produces other effects than the mere removal of mechanical impurities. In the sulphocarbonate reaction the raw cotton, in fact, behaves exactly as a compound cellulose. Whether the constitutional difference between raw and bleached cotton, thus emphasised, is due to the group of components of the raw cotton, which are removed in the bleaching process, or to internal constitutional changes determined by the bleaching treatments, is a question which future investigation must decide.