I20 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



other minor operations. Experimental weaving-sheds have 

 thrown a good deal of light on the problems connected with 

 this industry and there is now a fair prospect that eventually 

 it will be put on a much more satisfactory basis. Indian 

 methods of preparing the warp and of sizing and dressing 

 it are in even greater need of improvement, and experiments 

 are now in progress to determine how this can be achieved. 

 The arrangement of the warp presents no difficulty, but the 

 dressing, to obtain the same results as by hand-brushing, is 

 still in the experimental stage. 



It is much to be desired that the Lancashire weaving 

 mechanicians should have their attention directed to the Indian 

 hand-loom problem and efforts are being made to supply 

 them with adequate data as a preliminary. What is wanted 

 is an improved hand-loom and not a light power-loom driven 

 by hand or by pedals. The material of which it is constructed 

 should be of wood preferably and a high rate of picking is 

 less essential than a gentle handling of the warp when 

 opening the shed and when beating up. Some modification 

 of what are known as " linen-dressing machines " will probably 

 be found suitable but they have not yet been tried under the 

 conditions which prevail in India. 



Already a revolution is in progress in the hand-weaving 

 industry, brought about by attempts to make practical applica- 

 tion of the clearer knowledge we now possess of the conditions 

 under which it has hitherto been carried on. Both brains and 

 capital are flowing into it, to the advantage of the hand weaver 

 and the general improvement of the relations between the 

 artisan and the other castes. It is true that no great success 

 has attended the efforts of those who have organised the hand 

 weavers into small factories but they have managed to hold 

 their own, in spite of the mistakes and ignorance of the pioneers 

 in this movement ; the former will be remedied and the latter 

 dissipated as experience is acquired. The weavers themselves 

 are so backward that the attempts to get them to co-operate 

 have not been successful ; nevertheless the small factories will 

 probably do well when the technical questions connected with 

 their equipment have been solved. What we may look forward 

 to in the future are groups of from fifty to two hundred weavers 

 centred round a warping and dressing plant. This will supply 

 warps to the weavers, who may either be collected in a shed 



