312 MR, J. C. DYER ON 



of yarn for the lace-frame, and for the many delicate 

 fabrics wrought by the loom, they are mostly doubled or 

 quadrupled, and the finishing touch given by the ^'^ fiery 

 ordeal " of passing each thread through the flame of gas, 

 to singe, or clear them from all protruding fibre-ends, 

 which leaves the filaments of cotton as smooth and bright 

 as are those of glossy silk. When rightly compre- 

 hended, the cotton-mill, with its vast aggregations of 

 statical and moving forces, cooperating in such perfect 

 harmony, and thereby converting the matted and tangled 

 masses of cotton into such even and delicately attenuated 

 threads, must constitute a subject of admiration to the 

 philosopher, the statesman, and the physicist. Wherefore, 

 to have all of the separate operations employed for re- 

 alizing these results so set forth as to render them of easy 

 comprehension must be held worthy of the labours of 

 those who may undertake to follow and complete the 

 work still needful to the fulfilment of this task. 



In conclusion, I may observe that many elaborate 

 treatises, some of them very able ones, have appeared on 

 the steam-engine, from its first rude and very wasteful 

 principles of action, down through the diverse forms and 

 clearer principles since applied to the uses of steam- 

 power, before arriving at the varied constructions and 

 correct modes of working now in general use. We have 

 also had some valuable treatises on the different classes of 

 mill-gearing and engines for transmitting moving forces, 

 from their sources to their destined purposes. Again, we 

 have seen many well-written memoirs on the lives and 

 labours of several of the great engineers of our times, as 

 well as of those of earlier date, whose well-earned fame 

 has been thus duly awarded. On the other hand, with 

 the exception of the meagre details and disputes concern- 

 ing the first projects and after inventions of Paul, Whyatt, 

 Arkwright, Kay, and Compton, hardly any public notices 



