318 DICKSON ON THE COST OF HIS 



were exhibited at the instance of Dr. Watson, the successor 

 of the late Dr. Forbes Koyle, for the purpose of illustrating 

 his lecture on the ' ' Chief Fibre-yielding Plants of India," 

 which he delivered in the evening of that day to the Society. 

 They were considered most valuable specimens of a new 

 manufacture, and calculated to produce much novelty in our 

 textile fabrics, and to become of as much utility in the manu- 

 facture of fabrics for personal attire as have been the fibres of 

 the alpaca, and which, until the patented discovery of Mr. 

 Salt, were considered of little value. 



I furnished Dr. Watson with fibres that covered the tables 

 for his lecture, at his request by letter, and it was by my 

 patent process that Mr. Whittaker, whom I supplied with 

 rheea fibre, produced the yarns and cloth (the first ever 

 made in England), and although I lent this aid to the doctor, 

 to enable him to practically point out the value of the 

 material he selected for his coming before (as I am informed, 

 the first time) an audience, I am obliged to say he avoided to 

 mention in his lecture the name of the patentee who, at his 

 request, and at considerable expense, supplied him. It is not 

 for me to express an opinion, as to the cause of the doctor 

 forgetting the common civility of life under such circum- 

 stances, but if it was not a noble act to overlook the assistance 

 he had from me, he took care to especially thank the noble 

 broker, who could give him nothing to lecture on one thing 

 is certain, if the late Doctor Eoyle had been lecturing on the 

 fibre plants of India, his letters to me proves I should not 

 have been so treated. 



