No. 244.J 173 



Every thing that encourages our woolen manufactures is of the 

 greatest importance. Everything that increases our home consump- 

 tion of wool is of national importance. In this changeable and 

 rigorous climate in winter, if all were to wear flannel next their 

 skin, particularly narrow chested and delicate females, it would be of 

 the greatest benefit to their health, and save them many a fit of sick- 

 ness. 



If this flannel is manufactured, as it ought to be, in the United 

 States, it will not only increase our w^oolen manufactures, but create 

 a large home market for our wool, and such wool as cannot be sold 

 abroad. When we consider how cheap the English sell their Welsh 

 flannel, it ought to stimulate our manufacturers. I must however 

 say that I never purchased any flannel made in the United States 

 equal to the real Welch flannel, or that did not shrink, or that wore 

 near so long as the English flannel. The English flannel has a nap 

 on both sides, which renders it warm and soft, and it washes soft to 

 the last. The domestic flannel that I have purchased, washes harsh, 

 and the wear is not near so agreeable as real Welch flannel; but 

 surely our people can overcome all these difficulties, and they can 

 make as good flannel as the best Welch. 



Considering the great national benefit it would be in point of health 

 if all would wear flannel next to their skin. I propose to repeat Dr. 

 Black's observations, because I think they cannot be mended, and if 

 generally known may induce their adoption. 



" It is well known that woolen clothes, such as flannels, worn next 

 the skin, promote insensible perspiration ; may not this arise princi- 

 pally from the strong attraction which subsists between wool and the 

 watery vapor which is continually issuing from the human body 1 

 That it does not depend entirely upon the warmth of that covering 

 is clear, for the same degree of warmth, produced by wearing more 

 clothes of a different kind, does not produce the same effect. The 

 perspiration of the human body being absorbed by a covering of flan- 

 nel, it is immediately distributed through the whole thickness of that 

 substance, and by that means exposed by a very large surface to be 

 carried off" by the atmosphere, and the loss of the watery vapor which 

 the flannel sustains on the one side, by evaporation, being immediate- 

 ly restored to the other, in consequence of the strong attraction 



