The substances do not alone include the substances contained in the fabric originally, but also such as are deposited in the preliminary treatment of the fabrics, as dirt from the hands of the operator, and gluten soluble in warm water; as also glue or gelatine, potash or soda, starch, albumen, and sugar, used by weavers, etc., and which are all soluble in water; further, such as greasy matters, calcareous soap, coppery soap, resinous or gummo-resinous matters, and the yellow and green coloring matters contained in textile fabrics, which are soluble in caustic soda; and finally, the earthy constituents which are soluble in acids. The nature and composition of silk and wool is diametrically opposed to that of the former. The silk is more of a gummy nature, and is susceptible to decompose into a kind of gelatinous mass if specially treated. The yellow coloring principle in silk was found only to be contained in a very small proportion, and consisting of several distinct bodies. The wool contains, first, a fatty matter which is solid at an ordinary temperature, and perfectly liquid at 60 deg. C.; secondly, a fatty matter which is liquid at 15 deg. C.; thirdly, a fibrous substance which essentially constitutes the wool in the strict sense of the word. The wool at least contains three important principles, as it will be known that the fibrous substance disengages sulphur and hydro-sulphuric acid without losing its peculiar properties; and it, therefore, appears probable that the sulphur entered as an element in the composition of a body which is perfectly distinct from the fibrous substance aforementioned. In treating wool with nitric acid, and taking all possible precautions to determine as accurately as possible the quantity of sulphuric acid produced by the contents of sulphur in the wool by the reaction with chloride of barium, it will be found to contain from 1.53 to 1.87 per cent. of sulphur.--_Wool and Textile Fabrics._ * * * * * THE PRODUCTION OF AMMONIA FROM COAL.[1] By LUDWIG MOND. [Footnote 1: A paper read at the annual general meeting of the Society of Chemical Industry, London, July 10, 1889.] As exemplifying to a certain extent the application of methodical research to an industrial problem, I propose to bring before you to-day an account of the work I have been engaged in for many years in relation to the procuring of new and abundant supplies of ammonia, and to investigations connected therewith. Through the classic researches of Lawes and Gilbert, who proved, in opposition to no less an authority than Liebig, that ammonia is a most valuable manure which enables us not only to maintain, but to multiply, the yield of our fields, and thus to feed on the same area a much larger number of inhabitants, the immense importance of an abundant supply of ammonia, more particularly for the Old World, with its teeming population and worn-out soil, has been apparent to every one.