1006 



J. 



JACQUARD APPARATUS. 



1006 



Jin the English language, has a sibilant sound, closely connected 

 5 with that of the syllable di before a vowel. [ALPHABET.] It has 

 a similar sound in the French tongue ; but in German it is pronounced 

 altogether as our y before a rowel. What its pronunciation was in 

 Latin may admit of dispute, for although it is generally laid down that 

 its power with the Romans was the same as with the Germans, there 

 is reason for thinking that our own sound of the letter was not un- 

 known to the ancient inhabitants of Italy. The name of Jupiter was 

 undoubtedly written originally Diupiter, BO Janus was at first Dianus, 

 just as the goddess Diana was called by the rustics Jana. (See D and 

 I.) The argument might be strengthened by comparing the Latin 

 with the Greek (etryvvfu, Jupiter with Zeu irortp, &c., and alwi 

 by referring to the modern Italian forms, Gioyo, //<(/', <i!ovenco, 

 "'. &c. There is no absurdity in supposing that two pronuncia- 

 tions may have co-existed in the same country. As to the form of the 

 letter j, it was originally identical with that of i, and the distinction 

 between them is of recent date. Exactly in the same way, among the 

 numerals used in medical prescriptions, it is the practice to write the 

 last symbol for unity with a longer stroke, r/ rij, riij. 



In the Spanish language j represents a guttural, and is now used 

 instead of x, which had the same power : thus Jeres rather than Xeres 

 is the name of the town which gives its title to the wine called by us 

 -ln-ny. For the changes to which j is liable, see D, G, and I. 



JACOBINS, is the name of a faction which exercised a great influence 

 on the events of the first French Revolution. This faction originated 

 in a political club formed at Versailles, about the time of the meeting 

 of the first National Assembly, and which was composed chiefly of 

 deputies from Brittany, who were most determined against the court 

 and the old monarchy, and some also from the South of France, 

 among whom was Mirabeau. "When the National Assembly removed 

 its sittings to Paris (October 19, 1789), the Breton club followed it, 

 ami noon after established its meetings in the lately suppressed con- 

 vent of the Jacobins, or Dominican monks, in the Rue St. Honord. 

 From this circumstance the club and the powerful party which grew 

 it acquired the name of Jacobins. During the year 1 790 the 

 club increased its numbers by admitting many men known for violent 

 pincipk'*, which tended not to the establishment of a, constitutional 

 tlinme, but to the subversion of the monarchy. A schism broke oxit 

 between these and the original Jacobins, upon which Danton, Marat, 

 and other revolutionists seceded from the club, and formed themselves 

 into a separate club called " Les Cordeliers," from their meetings being 

 held in a suppressed convent of Franciscan friars. [DANTON, in Bioo. 

 Div.] The Cordeliers openly advocated massacre, proscription, and con- 

 fiscation, as a means of establishing the sovereignty of the people. In 

 1791 the Cordeliers reunited themselves with the Jacobin club, from 

 which they expelled the less fanatical members, such as Louis Stanislas 

 Freron, Legendre, and others. From that time, and especially in the 

 following year 1792, the Jacobin club assumed the ascendancy over the 

 legislature ; the measures previously discussed and carried in the club 

 beii>g forced uiH>n the assembly by the votes of the numerous Jacobin 

 members, and by the out-door influence of the pikemen of the suburbs, 

 with whom the club was in close connection. The attack on the 

 Tuileries, in August, 1792, the massacres of the following September, 

 the suppression of royalty, and most of the measures of the reign of 

 terror, originated with the club of the Jacobins. [RoBESPimu, in 

 Bioo. Div.] The club had affiliations all over France. After the fall 

 of Robespierre in July, 1794, the convention passed a resolution for- 

 bidding all popular assemblies from interfering with the deliberations 

 of tin The Jacobins, however, having attempted an insur- 



rection in November, 1794, in order to save one of their members, 

 Carrier, who had been condemned to death, for his atrocities at Nantes, 

 the convention ordered the club to be shut up ; and Legendre, one of 

 its former members, with an armed force dissolved the meeting, and 

 closed the hall. The spirit of the club, however, survived in its 

 nunterous adherents, and continued to struggle against the legislature 

 and the Executive Directory, until Bonaparte put an end to all factions, 

 and restored order in .France. The name of Jacobin has since continued 

 to be used, though often improperly applied, like other party names, 

 to denote men of extreme democratical principles, who wish for the 

 subversion of monarchy and of all social distinctions, and are not 

 <>ver-xcru|iiili>UK about the means of effecting their object. 



jTAKIi AI'l'AUATL'S. The Jaciiuard loom or, more cor- 

 nr.-tly, Jac'|ii;tid appendage to the loom is the moat beautiful of all 

 contrivances connected with weaving. For a notice of the life of the 

 inventor, see jACCjtJAHD, in Bioo. Div. 



The apparatus which cost Jacquard so much thought and anxiety is 

 an appendage to the loom, intended to elevate or depress the warp- 

 threads for the reception of the shuttle. There is a hollow prismatic 

 box, whose surfaces are pierced with a great number of holes : and to 



each'face of the box is fitted a card also perforated : or rather, there 

 are for each particular pattern to be woven a large number of cards, 

 all of equal size, and equal in size to each face of the box. The perfo- 

 rations in the cards, where they occur, are correspondent in position 

 with some of the holes in the box ; but in almost every card the holes 

 are fewer in number than those on each face of the box. All the cards 

 are linked together by hinges or joints, in such a manner that, as the 

 box rotates on a horizontal axis, the cards in succession lie flat on its 

 several faces. The cards for one pattern may be several hundreds 

 in number, and all form an endless chain. The box may have four, 

 five, or more faces, according to circumstances. The principle of action 

 maybe explained thus: Supposing each face to have 100 perfora- 

 tions, then there are 100 small bars or needles ranged in a group 

 in exactly the same order as the holes in the faces of the box, the ends 

 of the bars being immediately opposite the holes. Each bar or needle 

 is a lever by which certain warp-threads are governed, in such a way 

 that, when the bars are moved longitudinally, the warp-threads become 

 elevated or depressed. Now if the box have a reciprocating motion, so 

 that one of its faces shall strike against the ends of the bars, the ends 

 of all the bars will pass into the holes in the box, if the face be not 

 covered with a card ; but -if it be so covered, some of the bars will pass 

 through the holes of the card into the holes in the box, while others, 

 at the unperforated parts of the card, will be driven aside. Thus the 

 bars become unequally acted on, and they in their turn act unequally 

 on the warp-threads, depressing some, raising others, and leaving the 

 remainder stationary ; and the cards are so perforated as to lead to the 

 production of a pattern from this inequality of action. The mode in 

 which the cards lie on the box may be seen in the annexed cut, which 



represents a form of the Jacquard apparatus employed in the bobbin- 

 net machine. 



The Jacquard apparatus was first intended for and applied to silk- 

 weaving, but it has been found applicable to the bobbin-net and various 

 other fancy manufactures. Its characteristic value has been thus stated 

 by Mr. Porter : " The elaborate specimens of brocade which used to be 

 brought forward as evidence of skilfulness on the part of the Spitalfields 

 weavers of former days, were produced by only the most skilful among 

 the craft, who bestowed upon their performances the most painful 

 amount of labour. The most beautiful products of the loom in the 

 present day are, however, accomplished by men possessing only the 

 ordinary rate of skill ; while the labour attendant upon the actual 

 weaving is but little more than that demanded for making the plainest 

 goods." 



