THE MICROSCOPE. 39 



maritime climate of the low-lying islands off the coast of Georgia, 

 where frost is scarcely know, has surpassed all other descriptions of 

 cotton in the strength, length and beauty of its staple."* 



The stalks of the cotton plant are made to answer some valu- 

 able purposes. Besides being used for thatch and basket, a fibre is 

 obtained that can be converted into various kinds of cloth, equal to 

 those manufactured from jute. Thus we have a kind of linen goods 

 made from the cotton plant. Paper is manufactured from the stalk 

 and leaf of the plant. 



Cotton hairs are woven into a very great variety of fabrics, more 

 than is imagined by the most of persons ; for about two thousand 

 different samples of cotton goods have been reported. 



Cotton hairs are readily distinguished under the microscope 

 from any other fibres. They are long, several times longer than the 

 diameter of the field — unicellular, flat, but with thickened edges, so 

 that frequently one would say the sides of the fibre were concave 

 rather then flat, always with more or less of a twisted appearance. 

 The fibres of cotton, having only a single layer of cellulose for their 

 cell walls, are easily collapsed. While the cells of linen and of all 

 kinds of fibre consisting of a liber structure are cylindrical or nearly 

 so. When cotton hairs are growing they are full of protoplasm, as 

 soon as they become ripe however the protoplasm is absorbed and 

 the thin delicate walls unable longer to retain their youth and full- 

 ness become wrinkled and collapsed looking very much like a twisted 

 bit of old ribbon. ■ Any one can see how the cotton hairs look when 

 they are ripe and ready to be gathered, before they have reached the 

 manufacturers hands, by examining the cotton from our common 

 cotton batting, or by examining the hairs on the surface of the 

 leaf in the white foliage plant called " dusty miller." 



Linen comes from the inner part of the bark of the Flax plant 

 Sinniii, and is cellular in structure. There is a central opening run- 

 ning the entire length of the fibre. It sometimes is not possible to 

 see it all the way without treating the fibre with some reagent to 

 bring it out. The cell walls are much thickened by secondary deposits 

 and are tougher than ordinary wood fibre. The firm consistency 

 of the walls keeps the fibres full and round so that linen is never 

 found collapsed like cotton. Occasionally the cells are pointed but 



*Isaac Watts, Chairman of the Cotton Supply Association, Manchester, Eng. 



