MAN 



MAN 



without wings. There is but a single spe- 

 cies, viz. M. maxiilosa, that inhabits the 

 Cape of Good Hope. 



MANTIS, in natural history, a genus 

 of insects of the order Hemiptera. Head 

 unsteady ; mouth armed with jaws ; feel- 

 ers filiform ; four wings, membranaceous, 

 convolute, the under ones plaited ; fore 

 legs compressed, serrate or toothed be- 

 neath ; armed with a single claw and la- 

 teral-jointed process ; the four hind ones 

 smooth, and formed for walking ; thorax 

 (usually linear) elongated, and narrow. 

 There are upwards of sixty species : the 

 chief is M. oratoria, or camel-cricket, 

 which is found in the southern parts of 

 Europe, and is entirely of a beautiful 

 green colour. It is nearly three inches 

 in length, of a slender shape, and in its 

 general sitting posture, is observed to 

 hold up the two fore legs, as if in the act 

 of devotion : hence it has been regarded 

 as sacred, and a notion has prevailed, that 

 a traveller, having lost his way, would be 

 safely directed, by observing the quarter 

 to which the animal pointed when taken 

 in the hand. This insect is of a preda- 

 cious disposition, living on smaller in- 

 sects, which it watches for with great 

 anxiety ; it is also quarrelsome, and when 

 kept with others of its own species in a 

 state of captivity, they will attack each 

 other with the utmost violence, till one is 

 destroyed. The conqueror devours his 

 antagonist. M. precaria is said to be the 

 idol of the Hottentots. 



MANUFACTURE of cotton. To this 

 article we referred from the word COT- 

 TON, having been deprived, by accident, 

 of the information which we are now en- 

 abled to lay before the public on this in- 

 teresting part of English manufactures. 



We shall begin with the description of 

 the fabrication of cotton yarn by the spin- 

 ning jenny, both because of its more an- 

 cient use, and as it leads best to the ge- 

 neral knowledge of the manufacture. 



Preparation of the Cotton-ivooL The 

 raw cotton is imported in large bales, 

 compressed very closely together by en- 

 gines, and contains the seeds of the plant 

 mixed through it in considerable quanti- 

 ties, together with more or less foreign 

 matter, from which it must be freed ; for 

 this purpose, it is in general sufficient to 

 beat it well with sticks, by which it under- 

 goes a process similar to the threshing of 

 corn. This is usually performed on a 

 frame, similar to a table, the upper sur- 

 face of which is formed by bmall cords 

 stretched tightly across, nearly in con- 

 tact, the elasticity of which assists the 



VOL, IV, 



operation, while their intervals afford a 

 free passage for the separation of the 

 seeds and other substances in the cotton. 

 In this process the cotton recovers its ori- 

 ginal volume, and loses the hard consist- 

 ence into which it had been pressed in 

 the bales. 



Pickmg Engine. An engine has been 

 contrived to render this operation more 

 perfect, which is used in some manufac. 

 tories : this consists of two revolving 

 fluted rollers of metal, about an inch in 

 diameter, and sixteen inches long, placed 

 horizontally one over the other ; a kind of 

 comb of steel in the same direction moves 

 before these rollers, with a quicker mo- 

 tion up and down, very close to the rol- 

 lers, so as to catch and draw out the cot- 

 ton as it passes forwards between them : 

 underneath an oblong sieve of wire moves 

 back and forwards horizontally, which 

 catches the cotton as it falls from the 

 comb, and frees it from the loose seeds 

 and other matters : above, a sort of frame, 

 like a table, lies behind the rollers, over 

 which an endless cloth is contrived to 

 pass continually, so as to come in one 

 part very close to the rollers ; on the 

 upper surface of this cloth the cotton 

 is spread by hand evenly, and thus is 

 brought forward by degrees to the rollers, 

 which deliver it to the comb, as already 

 described. 



Another engine of coarser operation is 

 sometimes used previous to the above. 

 This is formed by an oblong roller, three 

 or four feet long, and about fourteen 

 inches diameter, having longitudinal rows 

 of spikes, of three inches long, at inter- 

 vals of four or five inches, projecting from 

 its surface. This roller revolves within 

 a hollow cylinder, furnished in like man- 

 ner with rows of spikes projecting in- 

 wards, so that the spikes of the internal 

 roller may pass between them : both rol- 

 ler and case are formed usually of bars of 

 wood, so as to leave free space for the 

 cotton to pass, and the dirt to fly out. 



Where these engines are not used, or 

 when they are not sufficiently perfect to 

 completely free the cotton from its seeds 

 and foreign matters, the cotton wool is 

 afterwards carefully picked by women 

 and children, who remove whatever mat- 

 ters might remain in it after the former 

 operations. 



When the picking is completed, the 

 cotton next undergoes the process of 

 washing with soap, which not only 

 cleanses it from dirt adhering to its fibres, 

 but it is thought has also a sort of chemi- 

 cal action on it, in making the fibres 



