:j4 



S Cl E N T 1 F I ( ■ A G R 1 C l; L T U R E. 



January, 1!>21. 



Animal Fibres Used in the Textile Industry 



ALDKEU h\ BARKER, Principal of Industrial 

 Sl-IiooI. Leeds University, England. 



Raw Materials. 



The i-aw materials employed in tihe Textile* Indn."^- 

 tries are derived from the three kingdoms of Nature 

 — the Animal, the Vegetable and the Mineral. To 

 these three types of materials has recently been added 

 another type — the artificial — of which artificial silk 

 i.s the dhief, though by no means the only, represen- 

 tative. 



To illu.strate the value of .systematic tliought and 

 work it will be well to set out the possibilities of yarn 

 and fabric production from tjiese typical fibre-sub- 

 stances, thus: — 



1. Animal, 



2. Vegetal)le, 



3. Mineral, 



4. Artificial, 



5. Animal + Vegetable, 



6. Animal -|- Mineral, 



7. Animal -|- Artificial, 



8. Vegetable + Mineral, 

 !). Vegetable + Artificial, 



10. Mineral + Artificial, 



11. Animal + Vegetable -|- Mineral, 

 12.. Animal' + Veg'etable + Artificial, 



13. Vegetable + Mineral -f- Artificial, 



14. Vegetable + Veget^aWe + Mineral 



+ Artificial. 



Of tlie fourteen classes Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 only 

 are reallj' important although in view of the import- 

 ance of Asbestos to Canada and of the recent de- 

 velopments in the manufacture of artificial wool in 

 England, Nos. 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 .s:hould be given 

 some consideration. Notice sOiould also be taken of 

 the absence of silk from this list. This fibre, which 

 falls, as one would expect, between t}\e Animal and 

 Vegetable types, partakes of certain of the charac- 

 teristics of both the Animal and Vegetable fibres. In 

 view of the large .stores of this fibre in the equatorial 

 forests of the world, this fibre is likely, in the near 

 future, to markedly extend its field of usefulness. 



Each of these classes of fibres may be divided into 

 sub-claases and it will frequently be desirable to 

 divide up even these sub-classes. Thus, Vegetable 

 fibres may be divided into Seed and Stem fibres — 

 biit there ai-e many varietias of Seed fibres — such as 



Alpaca — by Sir Titus Salt (and many other similar 

 examples could be quoted) has not yet been taken 

 entirely to heart. Such institutions as the Universi- 

 ties of Edinburgh and Leeds and the British Woollen & 

 Worsted and other Research Associations are, however, 

 doing yeoman service in bringing producer and con- 

 sumer closer together and much is to be hoped for 

 from this combination. 



Ca.sual thought about the animals from which the 

 textile fibres of commerce are derived will .speedily 

 reveal three classes : — 



Hairs, Purs and Wools. 



Tt would seem safest to regard the skin as the common 

 parent of this triplet; for, as will be shown directly, 

 it is improbable that hair was ever wool or wool 

 hair, and the differences lietween fur and hair, and 

 fur and wool, and hair and wool are such that it is 

 penhaps safer and more useful to regard each as 

 a separate skin derivation differentiating though not 

 to the .same extent, as one would differentiate be- 

 tween, say, hair and feathers : or perhaps, better still, 

 between the scales of fi.^hes and the feathers of birds. 



The following graph jjrobably gives the correct 

 idea of the origin of the various hairs, furs and 

 wools of Commerce : — 



GRAPH I. 



Common Ancestor. 



Goats. 



Camels. 



Sheep. 



Of the Goats the principal representative is the 

 Angora, w.hich originating in Asia Minor, has spread 

 to South Africa, California and Australia. Men- 

 tion should also be made of the Cashniere Goat from 

 whicih an underhair of remarkable softness and fine- 

 ness is procured. If Mr. Stefansson is successful in 

 domesticating the Musfe Ox and in obtaining sup- 

 plies of the under-wool in commercial quantities, 

 then another useful group or sub-group of the pro- 

 ducing animals will be added here. 



Perhaps it may be well Jiere to note that not only 



the Musk Ox but also the Urial Sheep presents the 



Cotton and Kapok— and also many varieties of Stem curious arrangement of a Ihain- coat, apparently to 



throw off water, and a soft under-coat, apparently to 

 keep the animal warm. Knowledge of this fact led 

 Professor Cossar Ewart, when lecturing to Australian 

 students in the University of Leeds during 1919. to 

 .snggest that passibly in the strong mountain breeds 

 of sheep, the strong hair has been developed and the 

 soft under-coat entirely or partially bred out, and 

 that in such breeds as the Soay and Merino the 

 And here il will be well at once to guard against .strong hairy coat has been bred out and the soft 

 the prevalent jieresy that it is no conceiyi of the mer- under-coat developed. As further proof of this, Pro- 

 c,hant nor of the manufacturer where his fibres come fessor Ewart stated that lie had actually found the fine 

 from nor how they have been developed. Tllie lesson undercoat of the present-day Urial to be as fine as 

 of the building u|) of the great mills at Saltaire by the finest merino. The Scotch Blackface also carries 



two coats, one of coarse hair and t'lic ntlicr of finf 



* Textile=woven or capable of being woven. wool, 



the aeeidental I'e-discovery of a new animal fibre — * • • • 



fibres — suclw as Flax and Ramie or China grass. 



The Animal Fibres. 



It will be useful to study tihese under the head- 

 ings :— 



(a) The fibre-producing animals. 

 (6) The animal fibres. 



