476 CHREOTECHNICS 



flannels, entangles, and mats the fibres, on the same principle by 

 which hats are made of fur, in the process of felting. The cloth is 

 then dyed, if required ; after which it receives a nap, by being 

 scratched with the teasel plant, to lay its fibres parallel; and it is 

 then sheared to produce an even surface. 



Of carpet weaving, and other varieties, we have no room here to 

 speak. Woolens are dyed by first scouring them with an alkali or 

 ley; then immersing them in a bath of the coloring matter: and 

 afterwards spreading them to dry. If the coloring matter be of vege- 

 table origin, it is generally an adjective color, requiring a mordant, 

 as in calico printing. To this remark, indigo is a prominent excep- 

 tion ; though it is applied in combination with sulphuric acid. The 

 same colors which are used for cottons, as madder, and logwood, 

 quercitron, and indigo, are generally applicable to woolens also. 

 The mineral colors, as orpiment yellow, and chrome red, are gene- 

 rally substantive colors, adhering to the cloth without a mordant. 



4. Of the Silk Manufacture, we must speak very briefly. The 

 cocoons, spun by the silk worm, in which to shelter itself during its 

 transformation, are steeped in water, warm enough to loosen the 

 threads, but not so warm as to injure them : and each cocoon, by 

 unwinding, gives a strand, of which many are reeled and twisted 

 together, to form one thread. These latter operations are now 

 performed by machinery. Of silk fabrics, besides plain silk cloth, 

 crape is plain, but loosely woven, and hence open and transparent ; 

 satin, is woven with one thread crossing two or more at a time ; 

 damask, is thicker, and woven with figures ; brocade, the same, 

 only still thicker, and often inwoven with thread of gold, or silver : 

 gauze, probably named from Gaza, is a light, transparent fabric, 

 often cross-woven, or with the contiguous threads intertwisting; and 

 velvet, is formed by superfluous threads drawn in between the warp 

 and woof, in weaving, but left projecting in loops, which are after- 

 wards sheared off, producing the pile, or close downy surface, formed 

 by the ends of the fibres. 



Of Dress Making, or the arts of the Tailor, Mantuamaker, and 

 Milliner, though worthy of notice, we have no room here to treat. 

 Modern hats, are made by the process of Felting ; in which the 

 fibres of fur or wool, being rough or barbed in one direction, become 

 entangled, by working or agitating them, when hot and moist, so as 

 to form a matted mass, which is then shaped upon a block. Leather, 

 is made by the process of Tanning : the skin being first cleansed of 

 hair and flesh, by the action of lime and the beaming knife ; then 

 immersed in a vat of oak or hemlock bark, ground fine, and diffused 

 in water. The tannin, or tannic acid of the bark, unites with the 

 gelatin of the skin : and the leather, thus formed, is afterwards cur- 

 ried, by oiling, coloring, and smoothing or softening it. Boots and 

 shoes are shaped on a block of wood called a last ; the upper leather 

 being first applied, and the sole leather fastened to it, by pegging or 

 sewing. 



