Review of the Practical Tourist. 217 



" In case of loss of time by drought, or damage to steam engines, 

 the proprietors of mills shall be allowed twelve hours on Saturday, 

 and one hour per day as additional labor. 



" No child shall be employed in any description of work in any 

 mill until nine years old, except in silk mills, where they may be 

 employed at seven years of age." 



A description is given of the finishing processes by which cotton 

 cloths, after they are taken from the looms, are prepared for va- 

 rious uses. One of these is the singeing of the cloth to impart to 

 it the appearance of linen, which was formerly effected by passing 

 it over red hot cylinders. A blaze of gas is now substituted, " which 

 is made to issue from a tube perforated with a long row of nearly 

 contiguous small holes, like those of the burners of a gas lamp. 

 By kindling the gas issuing from one of the apertures, the blaze in- 

 stantly flashes along the whole extent of the tube, forming a contin- 

 ued sheet of dazzling flame, shooting upwards. Directly above this 

 is fixed another tube of equal length, and perforated with a long slit 

 exactly adapted to receive into its bottom cavity the jet of flame. 

 The upper tube is connected with large air-pumps, worked by steam 

 power, whereby a rush of air is created into the aperture of the 

 slit. When the cloth is passed between the tubes, the blaze of gas 

 ascending from the lower one, is actually drawn or sucked through 

 the texture between the threads, by means of the slit in the upper 

 tube. The most delicate muslins may be thus passed through a 

 vivid sheet of flame, and become, during the fiery ordeal, not only 

 divested of the rough fibres on the face of the texture, as has been 

 previously accomplished by passing it over the red hot cylinder, but 

 even the rough fibres between the threads are singed off by the pen- 

 etrating flame, and the exact appearance of the smooth linen thread 

 is produced." 



A particular description is given of the above mentioned air-pumps 

 and their mode of operation. This is followed by a sketch of the 

 processes of bleaching, printing, and calendering which differ very 

 little from those employed in the United States. Nor is there much 

 difference in the method which he describes of manufacturing woollen 

 cloth by the English, excepting that they still weave woollen chiefly 

 by hand instead of the power loom. The author concludes this 

 subject by the following interesting comparison. 



Vol. XXIII.— No. 2. 28 



