Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/199

 of Fishes. This Product of the Hake Is Cement and to Provide Court-Plaster Adhesive

����Ribbons of Isinglass

This is not a picture of spring housecleaning. It is the drying room of an isinglass factory. The ribbons are dried in a few hours by being hung in a moder- ately warm, light room. The ribbons are carried in baskets into the drying room where they are hung up by women. When dry they are wound into coils weighing less than a pound. One fifth of the original weight of the sounds is lost during the complicated process of turning them into commercial isinglass.

��Uses of Isinglass

Winding the dried ribbon isinglass on a wooden spool. One ounce of isinglass will clari- fy 200 to 500 gallons of wine and one pound will clarify 100 to 500 barrels of beer. It is also used for making cement for repairing glass and pottery, for the adhesive in court-plaster and as a dressing for textiles, which imparts luster and stiff- ness to linens and silks. In combination with other sub- stances it is used to make india ink and to waterproof fabrics.

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