N. BDRQESS ON THE WOOLS OF COMMERCE. 29 



way, with equal force, the tvahi wouhl be stationary, but every 

 carriage in it wouhi be as wide apart as possible— the very opposite 

 of the principle of " felting," which is drawing or bending to- 

 gcther. My curve theory is like putting the two engines to push the 

 train along, and to close the carriages together. 



The second point is the external form and structure of the 

 wool. 



The form is difficult to describe, being similar in character, but 

 diverse in details — lilie the bark of a tree, having a generic form, 

 but varying in individual species. In twenty-six different sorts, I 

 have found no general difference, except in two samples of 

 Sfax, or IMalta wool. These were very different to all the 

 others, and will form subjects for further examination. If the 

 " serration" or " imbrication " dogma were correct, we should in 

 these cases have a fibre that would felt better than any other, as 

 they are more imbricated than any others. On the contrary, they 

 hold about the lowest power of " felting " of any kind possessing 

 the same quality of fibre. 



In the twenty-six Sorts examinedl found great variation in the size 

 or thickness of the fibres, or in the quality. The size of the fibre has 

 a great deal to do with the imbrications upon its surface. Thus, one 

 fibre having twice the diameter of the other, if the number of im- 

 brications was the same in a given space on both, the coarsest would 

 relatively possess twice the amount of imbrication in proportion to 

 the other. 



Wool generally assumes the form of a pointed fibre of a cylin- 

 drical character, of various thickness, and presenting a rough out- 

 line when viewed in profile ; but the pointed fibre only belongs to 

 the lamb or tegg, for after an animal is once shorn, the pointed 

 form disappears. I am not aware that this particular structure has 

 ever before been described, and it is somewhat difficult to show it, in 

 consequence of the fibre becoming injured. 



Specimens as existing in lamb's wool are shewn, and also some 

 of East Lidia wool exliibiting a flattened form, but whether natural 

 or owing to pressure in packing, I cannot say. 



Now, as to the nature and mode of growth of wool. In my 

 first paper I stated that wool was distinct from hair, considered 

 commercially, but physiologically they are identical. Our best 

 writers agree that hair or wool is the epidermis in a state of meta- 

 morphosis, and though the form is changed,the nature of the material 

 remains the same. 



