FELTING. 25 



and retain a hold on fibres that are near it, so as to 

 form a web or cloth. Feiting- is best brought into oper- 

 ation by alternate pressure and relaxation, which may be 

 produced in a variety of ways : the ancient method, 

 and one still pursued by the Tartars, was to tramp on 

 a mass or layer of moist unwronght wool, so as to form 

 a coarse cloth or carpet ; while the modern, and more 

 perfect plan is, either, as in hat making', to apply pres- 

 sure with the hands, or, as in the finishing of cloth, to 

 pass the fabric repeatedly through rollers. The way in 

 which a close fabric is formed, by the juxta-position of 

 a few scattered hairs, gave rise for long, as well it might, 

 to serious disputations among philosophers ; and the 

 favourite theories of each, unbased as they were on 

 observation, might till now have agitated the scientific 

 portion of our manufacturers, had not the microscope 

 brought to light much of what is true and valuable in 

 our researches. 



Moisture appears to be of service during the felting 

 of wool, as it induces it to curl, enabling the fibres to 

 expand, and catch one on another, after they have been 

 bent and compressed, by the force applied to them, 

 and is of itself sufficient to felt a fabric, as we frequently 

 perceive in the instance of stockings, which have been 

 allowed to remain too long in water, when they become 

 short from undergoing contraction, and resemble after 

 such treatment an imperfect cloth. It is for this reason 

 that the hatter, after tumbling over, in all directions, 

 the fur of which the hat is to be made, wets it before 

 applying pressure ; and, that the woollen manufacturer, 

 after freeing the web from grease, soaps it before it8 

 subjection to the action of the rollers. 



D 



