NEW MANUFACTURES PROM HUMAN HAIR. 89 



bales might be obtained from Egypt, and 100,000 from Asia — perhaps 

 500,000 or a million bales annually, from all parts of the world, even 

 within twenty-one years, and of all sorts, both long and short, all of which is 

 at present wasted, and not enumerated in the articles of commerce or of 

 general consumption. I am authorised to state that this hair has been in 

 the possession of Messrs. E. W. Ronald and Son, of Liverpool, for some years, 

 who will forward 100 lb. weight to any applicant on receipt of a post- 

 office order for 2?. 15s. (The items making up this sum, commission, &c, 

 are enumerated.) The article is as collected ; and heavy foreign sheep's wool, 

 in dirt and grease, being 6d. to 14d. per lb., shows its cheapness for con- 

 sumption generally. The Manchester goods are exchanged for 'long hair 

 in Germany, which is sold in London, at 4?. 4s. per ton ; but the very shortest 

 is applicable for cloth, and lOd. to Is. per lb. is a safe price for imports. 

 These 3,500 lbs. are in seven bales, insured in the Manchester Fire Office 

 for 200?. ; so any one can test their existence by policy No. 180,631. 

 The manufactured goods may be shown at the International Exhibition 

 in 1862; and if hair were collected in factories, the value could be quar- 

 terly divided, and added to the savings-banks deposit. I would sug- 

 gest that specimens of these hair-manufactures should be placed in every 

 museum in the kingdom, and trust that the Smithsonian Institution of 

 America will give the question their ablest support. Is not the long 

 hair of the Chinese mixed with silk and worked up by the common 

 people ? 



[We may add to the foregoing remarks, that human hair is rather 

 extensively used by savage nations, plaited into cords, for decorating their 

 shields and other purposes. 



In the Report of the Exhibition of Arts and Sciences at Paris in 

 1832, a statement of the trade in human hair was given, from which it 

 appeared that the exports of unwrought hair in 1832 amounted to 36,412 lb., 

 of the value of 5,300?. ; and of wrought or manufactured hair, 30,232?., 

 of the value of 5,500?. A large portion of the hair exported goes to the 

 United States and to Great Britain. We import on the average about 

 60 tons weight of human hair ; the imports in 1859 were 14,905 lb., 

 officially valued at 5,962?. 



A considerable trade, it is well known, is carried on in hair for the 

 manufacture of bracelets, rings, and brooches, as ornaments for ladies, 

 as well as for artificial braids, coronets, curls, and plaits ; whilst there is also 

 a considerable consumption for false beards, moustaches, whiskers, and 

 perukes. As the average weight of the full clip of hair when purchased 

 from the French and Flemish peasant-girls is only about 5^ ounces, the 

 quantity imported annually shows that fully 45,000 heads must have been 

 polled to furnish the amount. 



The hair, when it reaches the hands of the hairworker or hair- 

 dresser, is sorted into lengths of 6, 12, 14 inches, &c. It is scoured or 

 cleared from impurities with sand and sawdust. About three ounces 

 in the pound is lost in the processes of cleaning and sorting. The waste 



