TAA i.3.9.22

                                   –           18            –    
 

is very great. In many cases it is impossible to handle the gar-

ment, and in such case photographs must be taken, measurements

made, beads, sequins and rosettes collected and remade up on

a new piece of fabric.

          The satif/<s>factory preservation of deteriorated fabrics is

not easy. They can be strengthened by spraying, either with a 

solution </> of cellulose acetate, <in> acetone, or a solution of celluloid

in a mixture of amyl acetate and acetone. But this is rather

for the treatment of pieces of fabric then for a complete garment.

For example, take the case of a large robe bundled up anyhow into

a box with a number of other objects. Spraying with cellulose

acetate will not enable you to take the garment out and handle it

like a new robe. Spraying will only preserve w/<e>ither the top layer

or<,> with heavier spraying, give you a solid mass, which is of 

little use in itself, and the treatment will probably have ruined

any other objects in the box lying beneath the robe. A really

satisfactory treatment of fabric has yet to be found, and when

one realises <that> the trouble is that the actual cellulose of the

fibres of the fabrics has broken down, the problem of restoring

the fabric is seen to be a very difficult one.

          I must now digress to an entirely different subject – a 

biological problem. It is a matter of considerable interest to

the biologist </> as to <what is> the length of time for which life can lie

dormant. I am referring here to vegetable not animal life. You

all know you can keep some seeds, an </> a pparently indefinite

time without their losing their viability, on/<r> capacity to germ-

<->inate when placed in suitable conditions. So long, then, as a seed 

is capable of germinating, it is alive, although in internal and 

external appearance it may be exactly like another seed which is

incapable of germinating.