LOOM AND SPINDLE—HOOPER. 633 
ologist, had been pressed between two glasses for preservation in a 
museum, it would, I think, when photographed present very much 
the appearance of the shred of lake dwellers’ linen cloth (fig 1). 
I can best illustrate the method of intersecting warp and weft on 
my extemporized primitive loom. 
[Here the lecturer gave a demonstration of the simplest kind of 
weaving. | 
Before proceeding to inquire into particulars regarding the form 
of loom used by the lake dwellers, it will be advisable to make a di- 
gression in order to describe the art of making thread, which nat- 
urally precedes the art of weaving. 
There is no natural continuous thread except silk, all others being 
artificial. Silk is unwound from the cocoon of the silkworm in 
lengths of from 500 to 1,000 yards. 
Of this thread primitive man is unaware. But he seems to have 
an instinct which teaches him that various vegetable and animal | 
fibers, however short they may be, can be twisted together and joined | 
up into threads of any required length and thickness, as well as of | 
great strength. Weaving is well nigh universal, but even in the few 
places where it is unknown the art of making very perfect thread and 
netting it into useful fabrics is commonly practiced. : 
The process of making thread may be stated very briefly. It con- 
sists of (1) stripping and cleaning the fibers; this is called skutching 
or ginning. (2) Of loosening and straightening out the cleansed 
fibers; this is termed carding. (3) Of drawing the carded filaments 
out in an even rove and twisting them together into fine or coarse 
continuous thread. This final process is called spinning. 
The arts of spinning and weaving have acted and reacted continu- 
ally on one another. This was notably exemplified during the eight- 
eenth century in this country. At the beginning of the century 
weavers were often hindered by having to wait for yarn to weave, 
the domestic system of spinning by hand not being sufficient to keep 
pace with the production of cloth. This led to the invention of spin- 
ning machinery. By means of this machinery the output of yarn 
soon became greater than the hand-loom weavers could cope with, 
although there was still a growing demand for textile fabrics. The 
application of steam power to the loom and many improvements 
added to the loom itself increased the speed of weaving and again 
equalized the output of the two industries. 
There can be no good weaving without good spinning, for good 
cloth can not be made of bad thread. Spinning can be done slowly, 
of course, without any mechanical aid whatever. 
Here is a bundle of fiber ready for spinning. It has been simply | 
cleaned and carded. If I draw out a few fibers and, after slightly 
damping them with clear water, twist them together with my fingers, 
