AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 519 



ant matter, Lee went'to France and settled at Rouen, where he was received 

 by the inhabitants at first, but proscribed as a Protestant at last, and died 

 of secret grief. Some of his workmen escaped to England, restored the 

 invention, and enabled her manufacturers to export silk stockings eveti to 

 Italy for a number of years, in immense quantities. In 1730, the trades- 

 men in Naples, when they wished to recommend their silk stockings, declared 

 they were manufactured in England. In 1758, a machine for making ribbed 

 stockings was invented by Strutt, of Derby ; and Arkwright's spinning-ma- 

 chine was applied to manufacturing cotton for stockings. In 1845, a single 

 factory at Beecher, near Derby, England, turned off 100,000 dozen. 



Stocking knitting or weaving is a perfectly distinct art from cloth-weav- 

 ing — the manner of combining the thread is different. In stocking weaving 

 the whole piece consists of one thread, whereas there are two threads used 

 in cloth. The woof and warp stocking-loom has not entirely superseded 

 knitting needles, and I hope it never may, as knitting by hand, though 

 certainly not so beautiful to the eye, is far more durable for wear. Besides, 

 it furnishes occupation to elderly people who would find it difiicult to occupy 

 themselves as pleasantly otherwise. In the Pyrenees and Valley of Carrol, 

 they knit more than 35,000 pairs of woollen hose annually, and the gov- 

 ernment will not allow machines to be erected there, for fear of injuring 

 the employment of the inhabitants. 



SHIRTS, 



Little can be said about these useful garments, they are made of linen, 

 cotton — striped, checked and plain. Some have bosoms of lawn and other 

 fine materials, according to the taste and means of the wearer. 



STOCKS AND HANDKERCHIEFS FOR THE NECK 



Are made of numerous materials ; those manufactured from the silk 

 obtained from a large mussel, known as the Pinna marina, found in auaa- 

 tities on the Mediterranean coast, are, probably, the best. The Pinna 

 a,ttaches itself strongly to the rocks with long silken threads, which are 

 collected and wrought into a silken fabric of extreme fineness, which pro- 

 tects the parts of the neck covered with it from heat and cold — it is aa 

 imperfect conductor of electricity and heat. Common silk possesses a simi- 

 lar quality. It is of an imperishable nature — resists putrefaction when 

 buried — is capable of giving out electricity when rubbed ; the electricity 

 of a silk handkerchief, when taken off the neck, has often excited surprise 

 by giving off sparks of electricity; and, therefore, no other material than 

 silk should be worn around the neck. A few years since a clergyman com- 

 plained to me that he was a great sufferer from bronchial affections. I 

 asked him what he had usually worn around his neck, and he replied, white 

 <5otton neck-cloths, I said to him, that is the reason why not only you, but 

 nearly all clergymen, suffer from bronchitis. Wear silk neck-ties instead 

 of cotton, and few of your fraternity will find it necessary to call upon your 

 congregations to send you to Europe. The gentleman adopted white silk 

 neckhandkerchiefs, and became, in a short time, entirely cured of bron- 



