CASTOROLOGIA. 1 27 



positively indicates the high esteem in which they were then held. 

 Beaver hats had been introduced into general wear in the reign of 

 Queen Elizabeth, but in that period they assumed all manner of 

 shapes and variety of color. Shortly afterwards brims were much 

 broadened, and hung down when in wear. These broad brims con- 

 tinued to be worn, but the inconvenience of the wide flapping edge, 

 led to the turning up of first one and then two flaps, until in the 

 reign of Oueen Anne, a third flap was turned up, and the regular 

 " cocked hat "or " continental hat " was formed. In various styles 

 the "cocked hat " remained fashionable during the whole of last cen- 

 tury, and with the present century, came in the conventional ' ' stove 

 pipe " shape, which with infinite variety, has lasted to our own day. 

 The shape of the hat was the fancy of a season, and even the most 

 fractional variation in width of brim or height of crown, was sufii- 

 cient to satisfy the demand for novelty. The general conception of 

 a beaver hat is the well known model adopted for civil use, but the 

 pliable beaver felt has been subject to almost every modification a 

 head covering could possibly assume. In the accompanying plate 

 we illustrate several well known shapes, all tj'pical examples of the 

 use of the pure felted beaver, yet exhibiting a wide field of con- 

 sumption and perfect adaptability in each case. 



Though apparently different, these several types all conform to 

 one general system of manipulation, and as the introduction of ma- 

 chinery has brought about so many changes, as to place the manu- 

 facture of the old felted beaver among the lost arts, it will be inter- 

 esting to follow briefly, the processes through which each of them 

 has passed, and perhaps learn more to admire the dignity once at- 

 tached to a " Beaver." The nature of the pelt, as it came from the 

 trader, in the raw state, has been already implied ; it was a rough, 

 greasy skin, covered with coarse brownish hair, under which was 

 the fine rich fur or wool. The skin was first shaved clean of both 

 hair and fur, and consigned at once to distinct industries, so that for 

 the moment we leave it, and consider the several stages through 

 which the other parts were passed. To separate the coarse hair from 

 the wool, was managed in a very simple and effectual manner ; this 

 was done by means of the "blowing machine," into which the mixed 



