Interesting accounts have recently appeared in foreign journals of a
novel branch of industry carried on in Silesia, combining so much of
ingenuity and utility, as to render a summary of the information very
acceptable to those who are seeking for new sources of employment or
of profit. It appears that in the neighbourhood of Breslau, on a
domain known as Humboldt Mead, there are two establishments alike
remarkable: one is a factory for converting the leaves or spines of
the pine-tree into a sort of cotton or wool; in the other, the water
which has served in the manufacture of this vegetable wool, is made
use of as salutary baths for invalids. They were both erected
under the direction of Herr von Pannewitz, one of the chief
forest-inspectors, and the inventor of a chemical process, by means of
which a fine filamentous substance can be obtained from the long and
slender leaves of the pine. This substance has been called _Holz
wolle_, wood-wool, from a similarity in its quality to that of
ordinary wool; it may be curled, felted, or spun in the same way.
The _Pinus sylvestris_, or Scotch fir, from which this new product is
derived, has been long esteemed in Germany for its many valuable
qualities; and instead of being left to its natural growth, is
cultivated in plantations of forest-like extent. In this way, many
parts of a vast, dreary, sandy surface are turned to good account, for
the tree grows rapidly on a light soil, imparting to it solidity and
consistency, and affords shelter to the oak, which, under such
favourable circumstances, acquires such vigour of development as to
outgrow its protector. About the fortieth year of its growth, the pine
yields considerable quantities of resin; and the value of the wood for
building purposes, and for constructions immersed in water, are well
known. Mr Pannewitz has, however, added another to its list of useful
applications; and if the leaves can be employed as described, the
_Pinus sylvestris_ may become an object of culture in countries where
it is now neglected.
The acicular leaves of firs, pines, and coniferæ in general, are
composed of a bundle, or fasciculus, as a botanist would say, of
extremely fine and tenacious fibres, which are surrounded and held
together by thin pellicles of a resinous substance. If this substance
be dissolved by a process of coction, and the employment of certain
chemical reagents, the fibres can then be easily separated, washed,
and cleansed from all foreign matter. According to the mode of
treatment, the woolly substance is fine or coarse, and is employed as
wadding in the one case, and in the other as stuffing for mattresses.
Such, in a few words, is an explanation of Mr Pannewitz's discovery.
He has preferred the _Pinus sylvestris_ to other species because of
the greater length of its spines; but there is reason to believe, that
it is not the only kind which may be worked with advantage.
There is said to be no danger in stripping the trees, even while
young, as they only need the whorl of spines to be left at the
extremity of each branch, in order to continue their growth; all the
other leaves may be removed without damage. The gathering should take
place while they are in their green state, for at no other time can
the woolly substance be extracted. This operation, which takes place
but once in two years, affords employment and pretty good wages to a
number of poor people, some of whom will collect two hundred pounds in
a day. The yield from a branch of the thickness of the finger is
estimated at one pound, and a beginner will strip thirty such branches
in a day. In the case of felled trees, the work proceeds with great
rapidity.
The first use made of the filamentous matter, was to substitute it for
the wadding used in quilted counterpanes. In 1842, five hundred
counterpanes so prepared were purchased for the use of the hospital at
Vienna; and, after an experience of several years, the purchase has
been renewed. It was remarked, among other things, that the influence
of the _wood-wool_ prevented parasitic insects from lodging in the
beds, and the aromatic odour arising from it had been found as
beneficial as it was agreeable. Shortly afterwards, the Penitentiary
at Vienna was provided with the same kind of quilts; and they have
since been adopted--as well as mattresses filled with the same
wool--in the Hospital de la Charité at Berlin, and in the Maternity
Hospital and barracks at Breslau. A trial of five years in these
different establishments has proved, that the wood-wool can be very
suitably employed for counterpanes, and for stuffed or quilted
articles of furniture, and that it is very durable.
It was found that, at the end of the five years, a wood-wool mattress
had cost less than one made of straw, as the latter requires an
addition of two pounds of new straw every year. In comparison with
horsehair, it is three times cheaper; it is safe from the attack of
moth, and in a finished sofa no upholsterer would be able to
distinguish between wood-wool and hair-stuffing.
It has been further ascertained that this wool can be spun and woven.
The finest gives a thread similar to that of hemp, and quite as
strong. When spun, woven, and combed, a cloth is produced which has
been used for carpets, horse-cloths, &c.; while, mixed with a canvas
warp, it will serve for quilts, instead of being employed in the form
of wadding.
In the preparation of this wool, an etherised oil is formed, of an
agreeable odour, and green in colour, but which an exposure to the
light changes to a yellowish-orange tint, and which resumes its
original colour on the light being again excluded. Under the
rectifying process, it becomes colourless as water, and is found to
differ from the essence of turpentine extracted from the stem of the
same tree. Its employment has proved most salutary in gouty and
rheumatic affections, and when applied to wounds as a balsam; as also
in certain cases of worm disease and cutaneous tumours. In the
rectified state, it has been successfully used in the preparation of
lacs for the best kinds of varnish; in lamps it burns as well as
olive-oil; and it dissolves caoutchouc completely and speedily.
Already the perfumers of Paris make large use of this pine-oil.
With respect to the baths: it having been discovered that a beneficial
result attended the external application of the liquor left after the
coction of the leaves, a bathing establishment was added to the
factory. This liquor is of a greenish-brown tint; and, according to
the process, is either gelatinous and balsamic, or acid; formic acid
having been produced in the latter case. When an increase in the
efficacy of the baths is desired, a quantity of extract obtained by
the distillation of the etherised oil above mentioned, which also
contains formic acid, is poured into the liquor. Besides which, the
liquid itself is thickened by concentration, and sent out in sealed
jars to those who wish to have baths at home, thus constituting a
profitable article of trade.
We understand that these baths have been in operation for nine years,
with a continual increase of reputation and number of visitors. That
the facts are not exaggerated, would appear from medals having been
awarded to M. Weiss, the proprietor and manager, by societies in
Berlin and Altenburg, for the extraordinary results produced. As
likely to lead to a new development of industry, the processes are
especially worthy of attention.
The catalogue of utilities is, however, not yet exhausted; there is
one more with which we bring our notice to a close. After the washing
of the fibre, a great quantity of refuse membraneous substance is
obtained by filtration. This being moulded into the form of bricks,
and dried, becomes excellent fuel, and gives off so much gas from the
resin which it contains, that it may be used for lighting as well as
heating. The making of a thousand hundredweights of the wool leaves a
mass of fuel equal in value to sixty cubic yards of pine-wood.