A NEW SILK

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 57, 4 September 1926, Page 20

A NEW SILK

MADE FROM THE SHELL,OF

CBUSTACEANS,

The shells bf crabs, crayfish, and lobsters may some day be converted into stockings, shirts, dresses, shawls, ties, and handkerchiefs instead of being thrown away. Professor Hcrzog, of the Kaiaor "Wilholm Institute, Berlin, and his assistant, Dr. Kunicke, have discovered a process by which these shells, as well, as the wing-cases of locusts, beetles, and, indeed, all chitinous substances may be used for the manufacture of silk. Not of "artificial" silk, which is cellulose, but Bilk identical with the silk produced by silkworms, which is an albuminous substance (says the "Manchester Guardian"). Tho lobster sholl or other chitin is dissolved, and numerous thin, threads are derived from the solution. They harden when exposed to the air, and acquire a silky gloss. They are in every way as good as the strands of silk from silkworms, and slightly stronger. The details of the process are being kept secret. Whether it will ever bo commercialised remains to be seen. At present it is confined to the laboratory, and is .much too expensive for practical use. But Professor Herzog seems to think that it will in time be possible to find a cheaper method that will enable silk manufactured according to the principle he has discovered to appear on the market.