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The nonkeratinous proteins of wool can be partly or completely dissolved by controlled enzymatic digestion. A comparison between the keratose content of intact wool and that of wool which has been hydrolysed for 96 h with pronase confirms that specifically all the nonkeratinous components are dissolved out of the wool composite by pronase. The influence of microbial infection can be excluded.The residue of wool after the hydrolysis, i. e., a wool low in nonkeratinous proteins, has a higher internal volume, as measured by mercury porosimetry. The centrifugal swelling test shows that these wool samples also have increased hygroscopy.

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