No. 151.] 163 



must tend to very great perfection in future, and that more startling 

 events may be expected to take place hereafter. 



Tha oldest machines in the world, are the wheel and distaff, the 

 loom, and mills for grinding grain. 



The spinning and weaving of cloth, to clothe mankind, comprise 

 by far the most extensive range in amount, of all the machinery in 

 use, and the different purposes for which it is used in cloth making, 

 are extremely numerous; only a part of which shall we have time to 

 notice, and first, of the loom. 



Judging from ancient specimens of cloth making, which have 

 come down to us from the tombs of Egypt, we are able to form a 

 correct judgment as to the state and perfection of machinery at that 

 time. 



The oldest specimens are all of linen, being made from a mate- 

 rial of long staple, from necessity; the long material was spread and 

 wound upon a distaff, and-by the manipulations of the fingers of one 

 hand, the long fibre was run off in unison with the twist of a spin- 

 dle, to which motion was given by a wheel and belt, by the other 

 hand. 



It is presumed that many years elapsed before any attempts were 

 made in the art of spinning a material of short staple; but that 

 goat's hair and long wool, must have been the next material attempt- 

 ed, and such may have been prepared by the rude means of a comb 

 made of the splints of reeds, and worked, not unlike the manner of 

 working worsted not many years ago. The process of carding short 

 fibrous articles into a roll, belongs to a later day. 



Judging from the specimens alluded to, the loom of the ancients 

 was of most simple construction, and that its ability went no farther 

 than a single change of the shade to cross bind and embrace the fil- 

 ling; such a loom must have had a yarn and cloth beam, revolving 

 or otherwise, most likely the latter; a harness to cross the shade, 

 something in the form of a reed to beat up the filling; and some de- 

 vice to pass the filling through the web to represent the shuttle. 



Upon such a loom the productions could not have exceeded a sin- 

 gle yard of cloth per day. In this state of simplicity, it may have 

 been used for a term of two or three thousand years; in proof of 

 which, a loom is still used, in some parts of the East Indias, but 

 little advanced from the one described. 



