COTTON WOOL. This term, originally applied by analogy to the raw cotton itself, has come to be confined to particular uses of cotton in an open form, i.e., without being twisted or spun into yarn or woven or knitted into fabric. It is used in many different forms for an almost endless variety of purposes, e.g., for wadding or stuffing innumerable articles from garments to upholstery and the seats of a motor car, for the lining of boxes or cases to con tain fragile or perishable articles, for insulation against heat or cold, and as artificial snow for Christmas decoration. Its most important use, however, is probably for medical purposes, some times pure and sometimes impregnated with sanitary or antiseptic materials. The raw material of all these various forms of cotton wool is generally cotton waste (q.v.), i.e., the short fibres rejected by the carding and combing machines in the process of spinning. Linters, the shorter fibre removed from woolly cotton seeds, are also used to mix with spinning waste. The form in which the cot ton wool is sold depends on the use to which it is to be applied, e.g., whether it is loose or in "lap" form, i.e., continuous sheets held together by a thin backing of paste or gum. The quality or length of staple of the cotton employed; and the degree of purity attained by the bleaching process, which in nearly all cases forms an important part of the preparation of cotton wool, vary greatly according to the purpose for which the material is required and the price it commands.