144 SILK GROWER'S GUIDE. 



looms, and 15,506 workmen, but in 1824 the silk looms 

 amounted to 24,000, and the number of workmen to 

 36,000, and in 1825, the number of factories is stated 

 at 8526, and the number of looms within the city, 

 20,101. The cause of the apparent diminution was the 

 dispersion of the weavers to the villages in the circle of 

 the department, where labor, and consequently provi- 

 sions, were cheaper than at Lyons. 



The following account of the Jacquard-loom is ex- 

 tracted from the work of Dr. Ure, on the " Philosophy 

 of Manufactures." 



" The history of the introduction of the Jacquard 

 loom is a most instructive lesson on the advantage of 

 free intercourse and rivalship between different coun- 

 tries. The inventor of that beautiful mechanism was 

 originally an obscure straw-hat manufacturer, who had 

 never turned his mind to automatic mechanics, till he 

 had an opportunity, by the peace of Amiens, of seeing in 

 an English newspaper the offer of a reward by our Soci- 

 ety of Arts, to any man who should weave a net by ma- 

 chinery. He forthwith roused his dormant faculties, 

 and produced a net by mechanism ; but not finding the 

 means of encouragement in the state of his country, he 

 threw it aside for some time, and eventually gave it to a 

 friend, as a matter of little moment. The net, how- 

 ever, got by some means into the hands of the public 

 authorities, and was sent to Paris. After a considera- 

 ble period, when Jacquard had ceased to think of his 

 invention, the Prefect of the Department sent for him, 

 and said, " You have directed your attention to the mak- 

 ing of net machinery." He did not immediately recol- 

 lect it, but the net being produced, recalled every thing 

 to his mind. On being desired by the Prefect to make 

 the machine which had led to that result, Jacquard 

 asked three weeks' time for the purpose. He then re- 

 turned with it, and requested the Prefect to strike with 

 his foot on a part of the machine, whereby a mesh was 

 added to the net. 



