THE AMERICAN SHEPHERD. 



CHAPTER I. 



PROPERTIES OF WOOL, 



As frequent allusions will be made in various parts of tliis 

 work to the structure of the fibre, the distinctive peculiari- 

 ties of the various kinds of wool, and the uses to which 

 these wools are respectively applied, it is apparent that here 

 will be the proper place for a discussion of the subject ; and 

 the reader is invited, for reasons which will appear obvious, 

 to give it his careful attention. • 



STRUCTURE OF THE SKIN. 



The skin of the sheep, and of animals generally, is com- 

 posed of three coats, or layers. The external one is called 

 the, cuticle ai scarf skin, which is exceedingly tc gh, devoid 

 of feeling, and pierced by innumerable small holes, for the 

 passage of the wool -and insensible perspiration. 



The next layer is termed the mucus coat, a soft structure, 

 its fibres having scarcely more consistence than mucilage, 

 and consequently separated with much difficulty from the 

 coat below it. From the fact that the pulpy substance of 

 this layer uniformly approximates the color of the hair, or 

 wool, it is supposed that here resides the coloring matter. 

 This is the seat also of sensation; the nerves, or rather 

 their terminations, ramifying ihinutely in its -substance. 



The third or lowermost layer is the cutis or true skin, a 

 dense, firm, elastic substance, in order to fit closely to the 

 parts beneath, to yield to the various motions of the body, 

 and the resistance of external injury. The true skin is 



