53 



draw your finger up the feather and you restore 

 all things to their former state. This is no 

 common contrivance : and now for the mecha- 

 nism by which it is effected. The threads, or 

 laminae, above mentioned, are interlaced with 

 one another: and the interlacing is performed 

 by means of a vast number of fibres, or teeth, 

 which the laminae shoot forth on each side, and 

 which hook and grapple together. A friend of 

 mine (says the Doctor) counted fifty of these 

 fibres in one-twentieth of an inch. These fibres 

 are crooked, but curved after a different manner: 

 for those which proceed from the thread, on the 

 side towards the extremity of the feather, are 

 longer, more flexible, and bent downward: 

 whereas, those which proceed from the side to- 

 wards the beginning, or quill end of the feather, 

 are shorter, firmer, and turn upwards. The 

 process then which takes place, is as follows : 

 when two laminae are pressed together, so that 

 these long fibres are forced far enough over the 

 short ones, their crooked parts fall into the 

 cavity made by the crooked parts of the others; 

 just as the latch that is fastened to a door enters 

 into the cavity of the catch fixed to the door- 

 post, and there hooking itself fastens the door; 



