156 TRICHOLOGIA MAMMALIUM; 
No. 8. Wallachian, — - = - - 1,600 scales on an inch in length. 
“ 9. East India Deccan,’ - = 1280 « “ ‘é 
‘Sai9) Ieimcoln,; - z z 24 Shogo Mé ‘ ec 
“ 10. Van Diemen’s Land, being shght and indistinct, were not counted. 
We must next speak 
. 
OF THE SHAPE AND POSITION OF THE Scates.—It will be obvious, that besides the 
number of the scales, their shapes and their posttions upon the shaft may materially 
influence the felting power; for if the scales (although numerous) are smooth, rounded 
at their anterior extremities, and they adhere to the shaft, they will be less likely to entangle 
and mat together than under opposite circumstances. Hence the necessity of examining 
them under a microscope of high power, and of depicting and describing them, as pro- 
posed to be done. 
Or Futitinc.—Wool, while being manufactured into cloth, is not felted, but scribbled,* 
carded, spun, wove, and then fulled; the latter process consisting in causing the filaments 
of fleece (after having undergone all the other operations above enumerated) to entangle 
and mat together, thereby giving more compactness to the fabric. 
It must be obvious that the same property in wool that causes it to fe/t, must also cause 
it to full. But there is another peculiarity in wool which is auxiliary to both these pro- 
cesses, namely, its tendency to form spiral curls, which must now be explained. 
Or Spirat Curts.—lIt is one of the consequences of the eccentrically elliptical shape of 
wool to form these curls. If a filament of Merino or Saxony wool be separated from the 
rest, it will be found to be contracted into these curls. If it is extended until it is straight, 
and then set at liberty, it will, spontaneously, return to its original spirally-curled condition. 
Now it is easy to conceive, that filaments in this spirally-curled state are more likely to 
entangle and mat together than they would have been were they straight, or even undu- 
lated. But, preliminary to spinning, the wool has (as above stated) to undergo the operations 
of scribbling and carding, by which these curled filaments are broken into minute curves or 
sections of rings, and these interlock still more than the entire spiral curls, as will be 
obvious to the reader; for these curves and sections of rings, having been tossed about in 
every direction by the scribbling machine and cards, will present to the points of each 
other’s scales opposite points of their own, which will be much more likely to interlock 
than when, on the unbroken filament, their points were all in one direction. Let us 
endeavor to make this still more plain by the aid of diagrams. (See fig. 98, a and 0.) 
Suppose A and B to be spirally-curled filaments of wool, presented to each other, root 
to point. The points of the scales being in opposite directions, confer a tendency to inter- 
* The scribbler consists of a large number of wooden cylinders, placed horizontally on a frame, almost touching each 
other, with small cylinders placed above them. he cylinders are coyered with iron teeth, which, as they revolve in different 
directions, tear the wool into minute portions. After having been transferred from cylinder to cylinder, the wool is finally 
thrown off in a flake. It is then carded. 
