THE STORY OF ARTIFICIAL SILK 
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The first thing that must be done, before 
a new silk mill is built, is to analyse the 
water. Unless the water is pure, the silk 
will be dull and must be sold at a low price. 
Any investor, before he puts money into a 
new Artificial Silk enterprise, should ask if 
the water is suitable. 
Great care, too, must be taken in the drying 
of the filaments. They must not be dried 
too quickly. They are like furs in this 
respect. If they are dried too quickly, they 
will have a yellowish stain. Green stains, 
as well, sometimes appear because of a fault 
in the washing. 
An Artificial Silk mill requires its own 
Special climate. It needs a certain degree of 
humidity, just as a cotton mill does. 
It is a strange fact that the threads are 
more lustrous when they are dried under 
tension. This fact was first noticed in the 
mercerizing of cotton. The reason for this 
is that when a thread is stretched, the surface 
is not broken. It retains its gloss. 
Viscose silk has a bright silvery lustre. 
Acetate silk has a glistening metallic lustre. 
Cuprammonium silk has a glassy appearance. 
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