HAIRS, FEATHERS, AND SCALES 25 



be distinguished from its base ; and even of the least 

 ment, the terminal end from the basal end. The initiated 

 lad assembles a few younger ones, and says, "Now you 

 may make a mark with ink on one end of a white horse- 

 hair, and I'll tell you, by feeling it, which end you have 

 marked. ' ' He does, infallibly. He rubs it to and fro be- 

 tween his thumb and finger, and the hair regularly travels 

 through in the direction of its base: one or two rubs of 

 course determine this, and the verdict is given oracularly 

 Now you see the cause of this property lies in the imbri- 

 cate structure ; the scales may be excessively thin and close, 

 but still they project sufficiently in any specimen to present 

 a barrier to motion in the terminal direction when pressed 

 between two surfaces, such as the fingers, while they very 

 readily move in the opposite. 



But more than the success of a schoolboy's magic de- 

 pends on the imbricate surface of hairs. England's time- 

 honored manufacture, that which affords the highest seat 

 in her most august assembly, depends on it. The hat on 

 your head, the coat on your back, the flannel waistcoat 

 that shields your chest, the double hose that comfort your 

 ankles, the carpet under your feet, and hundreds of other 

 necessaries of life, are what they are, because mammalian 

 hairs are covered with sheathing scales. 



It is owing to this structure that those hairs which 

 possess it in an appreciable degree are endowed with the 

 property of felting; that is, of being, especially under the 

 combined action of heat, moisture, motion, and pressure, 

 so interlaced and entangled as to become inseparable, and 

 of gradually forming a dense and cloth- like texture. The 

 "body," or substance of the best sort of men's hats, is 



made of lamb's wool and rabbit's fur, not interwoven, but 



15 SCIENCE 2 



