5 1 6 History of the Author's 



dear running stream is^ on many accounts, best. The water of wells is the worst; 

 but where no other can be obtained, it may be meliorated by exposure to the air 

 /or some days, or even by being previously boiled. 



The wool is rinsed in large baskets of open wicker-work, in order that the water, 

 in passing through them, may carry off all the extraneous substances which may 

 have adhered to it. In running water, two such baskets, each of an oblong square 

 form, are fixed near each other, at the bottom of the water, so that the sides of the 

 basket shall be some inches above the surface, in order to prevent the water from 

 carrying away the wool. The wool is washed in the basket which is farthest down 

 the stream, the higher basket beingmeant to receive it after it has been so washed. 

 Here it is fully purified from every thing which may have escaped the washing 

 immediately preceding. 



To the perfection of this last operation, nothing contributes so much as the 

 manner of performing it. The wool must never be rubbed, which would twist, and 

 even felt it. It is sufficient to move it briskly in the running water, and to open it 

 as much as possible with the two hands ; or, if the work be on a large scale, to move 

 the wool constantly from one end of the basket to the other, by means of a rake. 

 When it appears to open well, rises to the surface, and spreads itself there like a 

 sort of cloud, and, at the same time, the water runs transparent out of the basket, 

 the wool is thrown into the upper basket, where it is allowed to remain for a few 

 minutes, and is then taken out to dry, 



"When one is forced to wash in stagnant water, it is necessary to line the bottom 

 in such a manner, that the water may not easily become muddy. In this case it is 

 necessary to use a smaller basket, with two lateral handles, by means of which it 

 may be plunged in and out of the water, till it comes out perfectly clean. 



Instead of draining the wool, as it is taken out, on an inclined plane of stone, 

 ■which is the first process of drying practised on a vast scale at the washing-places 

 in Spain, Gilbert recommends a method which, he says, he has found much more 

 expeditious, and which is to squeeze out the water by means of a press. Accord- 

 ing to him the pressure is so far from being injurious to the wool, that it causes it 

 to open the better. Is is easy to see what benefit must arise from thus enabling a 

 person to finish the whole operation of drying in one single fine day.* For this 

 purpose, the wool, when takenfrom the press, must be spread on dry turf, previously 

 cleaned by raking and brushing. 



• I believe that this method is employed in many of our English manufactories. 



