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of course the question arises whether this soluble organic matter is
from 'dirt' existing in the original old clothes from which the flock
was made, or whether it is natural to the material. I am informed
that flock is made from the old and filthy rags which are too bad to
be remade into cloth. The rags are put into a ' Devil,' the machine
which performs the laniary process, and come out as flock, shredded
so finely by the spikes or teeth on the periphery of the drums as to
appear as fluffy wool of a dark grey, black or brown tint, depending
on the colour of the rags passing through the machine. No treatment
is attempted of the rags before going into the ' Devil,' except that
those pieces which are soaking wet or too damp for the ' Devil' to
tear into shreds are cast aside to be stcved.
"I find that tailor's cuttings and trimmings are not used for flock,
they are teased up and remade into cloth of a kind.
"It follows, therefore, that whatever filth exists in the original
rags, which may have been collected from dust-heaps, &c., passes
into the flock, and is made up in the form of pillows and mattresses
into cheap bedding.
" There is no doubt a preliminary sorting of rags into clean and
dirty, because flock varies very considerably, and some specimens I
have met with have evidently undergone a certain washing, but these
qualities command higher prices and cannot be, or are not used in
the cheaper bedding, which is naturally the subject of consideration
now.
" One would expect that such a product would be teeming with
microbial life, and the following figures do not come quite as a
surprise, but when it is found that one gramme, of flock yields
7,590,000 colonies of bacteria and sewage about 6,400,000 (Crossness)
it must be admitted that one is dealing with a very filthy article.
This number was yielded by the pillow flock which was white and
very much cleaner and better than the mattress flock which was dark
in colour.
"The solutions obtained in washing the flock were yellowish
brown and dark brown to black in colour, and when evaporated to
dryness yielded a residue which gave a strong urinous odour when
ignited.
"The figures obtained are somewhat higher than those which
led to wholesale condemnation by the Glasgow Inspector, but I am
not fully convinced that the figures indicate actual dangerous