89 



WOOL AND WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 



BY EDWARD T. STEVENS. 



Although wool is but a modification of hair, yet under the micro- 

 scope it exhibits well marked characteristics. Wool is defined by Pro- 

 fessor Owen to be " a peculiar modification of hair characterised by fine 

 transverse lines from 2,000 to 4,000 in the extent of an inch, indicative 

 of a minutely imbricated scaly surface," upon this and upon its curved 

 and twisted form depends its remarkable and valuable felting property. 



Wool is not peculiar to the sheep, but it forms an under coat beneath 

 the long hair in very many animals. Articles for clothing have been 

 made from the wool of the musk ox (Ovibos Moschatus), from the wool 

 of the skyn, or ibex, of Little Thibet, but in these and in other such 

 instances they have been produced as objects of curiosity rather than 

 for any commercial purpose. In the sheep, judicious management has 

 in the course of years increased the growth of wool, and rendered 

 the occurrence of hair unusual. 



From the time of Abel downward, attention has been paid to the 

 breeding of sheep, and particularly so by the races of men inhabiting 

 the southern parts of Europe, a considerable portion of Southern Asia, 

 and the Northern part of Africa, with a few remarkable exceptions, as 

 in the case of the Medes, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, and the in- 

 habitants of some of the islands in the Mediterranean, The Egyptians, 

 however, as early as the time of Moses had become sheep-breeders, and 

 about 1,500 years later it is related that the sheep of Egypt throve so 

 well upon the rich alluvial soil of the country that their owners were 

 able to shear them twice in the year. 



As an instance that the sheep of antiquity possessed a good fleece, 

 examples may be cited from the Nineveh marbles. But the celebrated 

 breed of sheep of antiquity was the Milesian. It was delicate in con- 

 stitution, but it yielded a peculiarly fine wool, admirably adapted for 

 manufacturing purposes. 



This breed, I believe, first appears in history at and near Miletus, in 

 Asia Minor, about 540 B.C. — it was from thence probably introduced 

 into Greece about 490 B. C. — and shortly after that into Italy, where it 

 became famous under the name of the Tarentine Sheep. By the Romans 

 this breed was carried to their various colonies, and amongst others to 

 Spain. In Spain material improvements were effected in this breed 

 about the commencement of the Christian era, — the fleece, which before 

 was spotted, and frequently dark coloured, was rendered a pure white, 

 and a sounder constitution was given to the delicate Tarentine Sheep. 

 This regenerated race became known as the Merino Sheep, and from them 

 have descended those animals which from that time to the present hav e 

 supplied our clothiers with their best quality of wool. 



