170 THE VIRGINIA TEACHER [Vol. 7, No. 6

1. They learned these flowers: aster, B. They tried to correct the following bouncing bet, butter and eggs, chic- speech errors: wrote for written, bust ory, red clover, dandelion, daisy, for burst, choosed for chosen, seen for ground cherry, goldenrod, pepper saw, have saw for have seen, there was grass, morning glory, moth mullein, for there were, get 'em for get them, the pearly everlasting, ten-petaled or use of ands, wells, and other unneces- false sunflower, Queen Anne's , sary words. or wild carrot. C. They tried to have something interesting 2. They learned these seeds: asparagus, to say and to stick to the point. milkweed, goldenrod. Louisa Persinger B. They learned that flowers are classified Marie Alexander in families and to recognize those be- longing to the following families: com- THE MANUFACTURE AND posite or aster, figwort, morning glory, USE OF ARTIFICAL pink. C. They learned that wild flowers grow in fields or meadows, on hills, in the woods, ARTIFICIAL silk has existed for by roadsides, and by streams. many years, but until recently it D. They learned by observing plants under was not considered a staple . different soil and light conditions that The word "artificial" seems to be repulsive they need: to the American people and anything bear- 1. Soil which contains plant food. ing this name is seldom adopted. It was 2. Moisture in sufficient quantity and for this reason that the trade name "" well distributed throughout the was adopted by the manufacturers.1 Rayon season. is a chemical product made from wood pulp. 3. Light for the growth of both seeds Formerly manufacturers were not able to and plants. find any chemical which would neutralize E. They learned the method plants use in the fine threads of wood pulp, so the pro- distributing food and water to their va- duct was too inflammable to be of much rious parts by watching the ink pass up value. However, this defect has been over- the celery stem. come and the fiber has practically taken the F. They learned that plants must protect place of natural silk in certain fields, accord- themselves. ing to the Melton Institute of Industrial 1. They must protect themselves against Research, University of Pittsburg, Pitts- animals, man, worms, and drought. burg, Pa. 2. They protect themselves by hairs, Four distinct processes of production poisonous fluids, thorns, and tough- have been developed and are now commer- ness of fiber. cially in use on a large scale. The first of G. They learned that flowers are seed- these, using nitro-cellulose, is the process makers : introduced by De Chardonnet in 1884. 1. Seeds are equipped for scattering by In this the cellulose from the plant wings, umbrellas, and by hard shells is passed through a nitration process, then which burst. dissolved in alcohol and ether, and forced 2. Seeds are distributed by man, ani- through a glass tube with a very small aper- mals, water, and wind. ture. A filament is formed that hardens as III. Skills the Children Practiced the alcohol and ether are absorbed or evap- orated upon coming into contact with water A. They made attractive pages by care in regard to indentation, placing and capi- 1 Darby) W. D.—"Rayon," Dry Goods Economist. talizing of the title, and even margins. October 3, 1925, pp. 24 and 25, .

June, 1926] THE VIRGINIA TEACHER 171 or air. The single filaments are then group- solved in water or a weak solution of cau- ed together to form threads and wound on stic soda, and this solution is converted into untwisted glass bobbins. From these bob- thread.4 bins the thread is transferred to spinning Very few people know in just how many bobbins; in the course of this operation it ways Rayon has served in our homes and receives a certain amount of twist. It is for personal use in recent years. Rayon TV then wound into hanks and denitrated in can be combined with silk to form some of a bath of hydrosulphides.2 the most desirable materials used. Because The nitro-cellulose process was the only Rayon is a vegetable fiber and silk is an one used for a long time, but constant im- v- animal fiber, an unlimited array of beauti- . '.At provements led to the establishment of the ful cross-dyed effects may be produced. In •V ', cuprammonium process. Here the cellulose woolen goods Rayon is frequently used to which is obtained from either cotton or form fine line stripes in woven suitings. wood pulp is dissolved in ammoniacal cop- Knitted dress goods are often made of Ray- per oxide (also known as cuprammonium on. , like silk, also permits many of 3 solution or Schweitzer's reagent). these cross-dyed effects. TV- A third—the acetate process—treats cel- The manufacturers formerly thought it m lulose obtained from cotton or wood pulp necessary to make their synthetic substitute V-. i Vr' with acetic anhydride/glacial acetic and sul- resemble silk in sound as well as in appear- phuric acid precipitated in water, washed, ance. They tried to find a way of giving j v Pk dried and dissolved in acetone. The result- the new fabrics the "scroop" of real silk. ing solution is filtered and then forced (The "scroop" 5 is the sound referred to by .■(.'i-V through fine orifices in a metal cap, whence Poe in his "Raven" as 'The silken, soft, un- ■ ; it issues as filaments which are coagulated certain rustling of each purple curtain.') VA1 by the evaporation of the acetone. It is then In interior decoration Rayon is very pop- combined into a thread of the desired size ular because of its rare luster, its gorgeous and wound on rotating bobbins which give patterns, its stead-fast colors, and its beau- it a suitable twist. It is now ready for mar- tiful, harmonious cross-dyed effects when ket. combined with other . The last method is the viscose process. In Rayon has many other fields of useful- this method other forms of cellulose besides ' 1 >i ness besides those of personal and house- i,i | cotton can be used, such as spruce sulphite, fe; wood pulp, and pulp manufactured from hold use. It is used in making webbing, cotton. The raw stock, in the form of hosiery, bandages, shoe-top cloth, electric a".,; spruce wood or cotton, is cooked by the aid wire covering, gas tube covering, and gas of live steam in a large boiler. The cook- mantles. "Another use of these same cellu- ■ T. ing removes the resin, gum, and foreign lose synthetics that is common but usually matter. The cellulose now consists of very unrecognized is the thin, colorless, flexible, short fibers which are run through a series transparent sheets, called 'cellophone' or i of rolls to squeeze out the water. This 'rusca,' which wrap your candy or make a compresses the fibers into sheets. The sheets window in the envelope that brings you a are then treated with a solution of caustic check or bill." This protean material can iV soda and allowed to mature, after which be substituted for all sorts of substances. ■ ■ ' r - they are treated with carbon bisulphide, It is now used in the manufacture of horse- which transforms them into a jelly-like sub- hair Spanish lace, Smyrna rugs, Notting- stance called Xanthate. Xanthate is dis- 4Darby, W. D.—Rayon. ii 2Rayon—The Viscose Manufacturing Co., N. 5Slossom, Edwin E.—"Radio Talks on Science." Y., pp. to and 20. The Scientific Monthly, December, 1925. Vol. 3Darby, W. D.—Rayon. XXI, pp. 629-33, • st

p#;. [(■■ ( (,,1 [r 172 THE VIRGINIA TEACHER [Vol. 7, No. 6

.■id'. ham lace curtains, and furs of various smell of burned feathers, unless heavily r- kinds.6 weighted, when it will not ignite. Artificial No water is too hot or too cold for Ray- silk burns like cotton or paper and produces on, but because Rayon swells rapidly in the same odor. The microscope will also water and loses from sixty to seventy per show the difference between the two kinds cent of its strength when wet, great care of fiber." jjfcl should be taken in laundering it. The orig- In comparing Rayon with natural silk one inal strength returns during drying. Soap finds Rayon more lustrous than natural silk. solutions and scouring produce no deleter- The fibers are smoother. The elasticity of . .. . \ ■ ious action on Rayon, provided the acid is Rayon also is less than that of natural silk. rinsed completely from the garment. There Rayon is about as hygroscopic as natural should be no difficulty in washing knitted silk. Mellon Institute defines "hygroscopic dresses or other Rayon garments if they are moisture" as that which is held mechanically •J, .. { .. y. not pulled while wet. In drying knitted in the pores or on the surface of the fiber Rayon garments it is better to spread them and not combined chemically with it. The out on some flat surface instead of hanging legal moisture content for Rayon is eleven the garment on a line, because the water in per cent, the same as for cocoon silk. Wi a hanging garment collects at the lowest Although synthetic fibers are not as j.>.-i v - i'VVvi•> -;■■ point and tends to cause stretching of the strong as natural silk, the value of Rayon 1 partially dry portions. If Rayon is handled should not be underrated by the public. ■■■ m■>. , - -':• yj like silk in washing, no trouble will ever be While it will not outwear a good quality V J' , experienced. of cocoon silk, it will outlast poorer quali- "Rayon has many points of value," says ties, especially those that are heavily weight- Miss Casie Paine Small, author of How ed. Rayon is cheaper in price than natural to Know . "It has the most bril- silk. liant luster of all fibers and its affinity for Rayon is much easier and cheaper to pro- dyes is remarkable. It is reasonably strong duce than worm silk. It can be manufac- and enduring, as is proved by the durability tured in any quantity and at any time, be- of fiber stockings. It is a smooth, struc- ing dependent upon neither health of an •■ .■"' >' tureless fiber and for this reason does not animal nor the maturity of a plant. Miss J soil so easily. On account of its natural Small says: "Given a vegetable growth L",£"•■ d'Lf". ''' luster, the shine caused by friction is not that contains cellulose and the proper chem- apparent on fiber silk garments as it is on icals, manufacturers can clothe the nation, ■ ""hvn- , •• .i • . j' ■ most other materials. There are, however, even though there is a shortage or an entire certain desirable characteristics that arti- '>fe dearth of the natural raw materials." ficial silk does not possess. It lacks the Dr. Slosson tells us that a new point in . |# ■ softness of silk, the warmth of wool, and favor of the artificial over the natural pro- the endurance of cotton and in the duct is that cellulose acetate is more trans- e:i4|fe ■ laundering. It is a stiff, non-elastic fiber, parent to the ultra-violet rays than wool and woven fabrics of artificial silk do not or silk. Now, as these ultra-violet rays in . V:■^ readily yield themselves to the curves of sunshine are supposed to stimulate the blood the human figure. When used in combina- :■ ■1 to resist disease, we can expect improve- H ' ■/' • ■ tion with another fiber in mixtures, it is ment in public health if the synthetic fab- sometimes difficult to tell artificial silk from rics are commonly worn. ■■■■■>■,, the natural silk. The process of manufacturing artificial "Burning will always decide the question. silk has been known only about four dec- Natural silk burns with a bubbly ash and a 7 1 r: Sma!l, Casie Paine—How To Know Textiles, ": i : ■■ 6Slossom, Edwin E.—Ihid. p. 315. • #>

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173 j'?, ■$ ■ June, 1926] THE VIRGINIA TEACHER I ades. "In that remarkably short space of tory of our civilization is a desirable element time," someone has pointed out, "Rayon has in the training for intelligent American citi- 'i'iS" ■ laA established a place for itself among these zenship. age-old fibers as one of the five important "It is also believed that the best key to a textiles of the world. This has been called direct and intimate understanding of the Romans and of their civilization is a first a monument to the genius of man, since it ' is the only spun and woven for hand contact with their language and litera- . A: human needs which man has invented." ture. A pupil who has learned to compre- I Ethel Hinebaugh hend the thought of a Latin sentence in the V- original has to some extent thought as a ■ V Roman and has come into direct contact '' ' 1 ' HISTORICAL BACKGROUND with the genius of the Roman mind in the OF CICERO'S ORATION, medium which is the most perfect embodi- A THE CITIZENSHIP ment of that genius, the Latin language." : ■■ I Just recently a report of the Classical OF ARCHIAS Investigation has been adopted, by which THE investigation made in 1920 and required readings are no longer asked for .1:11,4" published in 1924 of the classics in in college entrance examinations; and it secondary schools has done much to- further recommends that special attention ■ A ••'v vj ward revolutionizing the high school Latin be paid to developing an historical back- u m course. Of the many aims and objectives, ground. It is found that it is quite impos- besides those which add directly to our abil- sible for the pupil to acquire the necessary m ity in writing, speaking, and understanding background contemporaneously with the English, the greatest per cent of teachers Latin text. For that reason prescribed checked as valid the cultural objectives. The reading in English should precede the trans- ■'•■■■"I principal one of these is quoted as follows: lation. Thus the pupils of the East High "Development of an historical perspective School, Rochester, N. Y., have prepared an and a general cultural background through outline suggesting the information that an increased knowledge of facts relating to should be gained before the study of Cice- i the life, history, institutions, mythology, and ro's oration, For the Manilian Law. religion of the Romans; an increased ap- It is the purpose of this paper to suggest & preciation of the influence of their civiliza- to teachers of high school Latin a detailed iaaM tion, and a broader understanding of social outline to be used by the pupil before the T'fifC and political problems of today." reading of Archias. To see that the techni- The explanation of this aim is further calities of Latin grammar are not empha- stated: "By cultural objectives are meant sized at the expense of the thought content ip those concerned with increasing the pupil's of the reading material, and to give to the fund of information; developing his capa- pupil a working basis for his reading, this city for appreciation, extending his intel- outline suggests some of the information 11! lectual horizon, and broadening his sym- that should be familiar to the pupil. To pathies by direct contact, through the study what extent it should be used will depend of of their language and literature, with the course upon the judgment of the teacher. mind of a people remote in time and place. As a warning may the teacher remember 'A, j'ictc "i. '■■A".;! "It is generally agreed that the solution . . . this principle of teaching which I recently -■i ? it of present-day social, political, and economic heard an instructor express by the following problems will be aided by an intelligent story: A donkey was nibbling grass in his knowledge of the experience of the race, pasture when his master came by holding ill and that some knowledge of the early his- out a bright, red, juicy carrot. He gave to pji/i ■ A;V: ■mi.

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