28 N. BURGESS ON THE WOOLS OF COMMEUCE. 



every stroke is doiug its utmost to regain the curved condition ; 

 and as it does so the cloth contracts and becomes thicker. This 

 thickening is in proportion as the fibres of the wool have resumed 

 their curved form from the temporary parallel condition. This, and 

 this alone, in my opinion, is the true cause of the felting process. 

 I am prepared at any time to say whether a wool will or will 

 not felt, without the use of the microscope and the tedious pro- 

 cess of counting the serrations. 



It is well known to our cloth manufacturers that " skm" wool, 

 or wool cut after death, felts better than if cut from a living 

 animal. Some may ask how is that to be accounted for ? I answer 

 that in death some parts of the animal are distended and others 

 contracted, and this alteration being communicated to the fibrous 

 covering, there would be more room for the contraction of the 

 fibres in the process of manufacture than in those taken off while in 

 the living state. " Skin" wool is sometimes taken off with lime, 

 or sometimes by causing an incipient state of decomposition, when 

 the wool separates from the sldn ; but other causes are at work 

 which are not here discussed. 



Lord Somerville considered the " yolk," which is an animal 

 secretion of a greasy nature, to be the cause of " felting " being 

 much found in Spanish Merinos. " Yolk " and the curves I have 

 described, always go together. The pure Merinos contain a large 

 amount of "yolk," as well as many curves, but the "yolk" is 

 washed out, while the curves remain. 



But as to serrations: I object to the word "serra," a saw; there 

 is no resemblance to the teeth of a saw. " Imbricated " is another 

 term, which is probably as good as you can get, meaning a some- 

 thing which overlaps something else. Mr. Youatt thinks that 

 these so-called serrations act with the carves in producing "felt- 

 ing," while others attribute all the "felting" to these ieeih ! Now, 

 if these " teeth " do this work, or do about an equal part of it, 

 what is their action ? The " teeth " could not produce " felting " 

 if all were lying in the same direction ; they would produce just 

 the contrary effect. Let us suppose that through the whole fabric 

 every other fibre was lying in an opposite direction to its neighbour, 

 and the " teeth " entangled in contrary directions. The result 

 would be the opposite of that supposed, for each fibre would pull in 

 contrary directions. For illustration : suppose a raihvay train has 

 an engine of equal power at each end, and both pulling the opposite 



