Report: "On the Making of Silk Purses from Sows' Ears," 1921

Meanderer

Meanderer

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In 1921 the management of Arthur D. Little, Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., issued a small report describing the methods employed by the firm's chemists to create "silk" from pork byproducts. The idea behind this surprising and not very practical experiment was to prove that something said to be impossible was, with sufficient effort and ingenuity, attainable. As the report notes, the old adage "you can't make a silk purse of a sow's ear" had been used for years to discourage inventiveness and enterprise. "We resolved...to prove that it was false, and we have done so. We have made a silk purse of a sow's ear."(read more)

(read more) http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/purse/

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Falcon said:
Well, I'll be darned. So it CAN be done after all.

Now, let's get to work on anti-gravity.
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I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down.:)
 

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SifuPhil said:
Yeah, but technically they weren't silk - they were a synthetic / organic mixture.

Now if they can get blood from a stone I'll be impressed ... ;)
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There's probably more imitation silk on the market than you can shake a bamboo stick at!:) I was trying to visualize a 100 pound sack of certified sows ears ! :)
 
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