95 8 BUT 
is fait! to have a broad or a narrow buttock, according as 
fhe is built broad or narrow at the tranfum. 
BUT'TON, f. [ bottwn, Welth ; bouton, Fr.] A catch, 
or final I ball, by which t he drefs of man is faitened. — I 
mention thole ornaments, becaufe of the fimplicity of the 
fhape, want of ornaments, buttons, loops, gold and filver 
lace, they mud have been cheaper than ours. Arbuthnot. 
•—Any knob or ball faftened to a fmaller body: 
Fair from its humble bed I rear’d this flow ’r, 
Suckled, and cheer’d with air, and fun, and (how’r; 
Soft on the paper ruff its leaves 1 fpread, 
Bright with the gilded button tipt its head. Pope. 
The bud of a plant: 
The canker galls the infants of the fpring, 
Too oft before their buttons be difclos’d. Skakejpeare. 
The round mafs of metal obtained in chemical expe¬ 
riments, and found at the bottom of the crucible wherein 
the operation is performed, is by chemifts called buttons. 
The manufacture of buttons, has of late years become 
a conliderable article of foreign and domeftic trade. But¬ 
tons are made of various materials, as mohair, ftlk, horfe- 
hair, metal, &c. ot which we (hall fpeak in their order : 
i. Common buttons, are generally made of mohair; lome in¬ 
deed are made of filk, and others of thread ; but the lat¬ 
ter are of a very inferior fort. In order to make a button, 
the mohair mull be previoufly wound on a bobbin ; and 
the mould fixed to a board by means of a bodkin thru ft 
through the middle of it. This being done, the work¬ 
man wraps the mohair round the mould in three, four, or 
lix, columns, according to the burton. 2. Horfe-hair but¬ 
tons. The moulds of thefe are covered with a kind of (luff 
compofed of filk and hair; the warp being balladine filk, 
and the (hoot horfe-hair. This fluff is wove with two 
felvedges, in the fame manner and in the fame loom as 
ribbands. It is then cut into fquare pieces proportional 
to the lize of the button wrapped round the moulds, and 
their felvedges ditched together, which form the under 
part of the button. It is here to be obferved, that a but¬ 
ton is not finifhed when it comes from the maker’s hands; 
for the fuperfluous hairs and hubs of filk mud be taken 
off, and the button rendered gloffy and beautiful before it 
can be fold. This is done in the following manner: a quan¬ 
tity of buttons are put into a kind of iron fieve, called by 
workmen a fingeing-box. Then a little fpirit of wine being 
poured into a lhallow iron difli, and fet on fire, the work¬ 
man moves and diak.es the fingeing-box, containing the 
buttons, brilkly over the flame of the fpirit, by which the 
fuperfluous hairs, hubs of filk, &c. are burnt oft', with¬ 
out damaging the buttons. Great care, however, niufi 
be taken that the buttons in the fingeing-box be kept con¬ 
tinually in motion ; for, if they are buffered to reft over the 
flame, they will immediately burn. When all thefe loofe 
hairs, &c. are burnt oft' by the flame of the fpirit, the 
buttons are taken out of the fingeing-box, and put, with 
a proper quantity of the crumbs of bread, into a leather 
bag, about three feet long, and of a conical diape ; the 
mouth or fmaller end of which being tied up, the work¬ 
man takes one of the ends in one hand and the other in 
the other, and (hakes the hand brilkly with a particular 
jerk. This operation cleanfes the buttons, renders them 
very gloffy, and fit for fake. 3. Gold-tioijl buttons. The 
mould of thefe is firft covered in the fame way as with 
that of common buttons. This being done, the whole is 
covered with a thin plate of gold or filver, and then 
wrought over of different forms, with purle and gimp. 
The former is a kind of thread compofed qf filk and gold- 
wire twifled together; and the latter, capillary tubes of 
gold or filver, about the tenth of an inch long. Thefe are 
joined together by means of a fine needle, filled with filk, 
thruft through their apertures, in the fame manner as 
beads or bugles. 4 . Metal buttons. The metal with w hich 
the moulds are intended to be covered is firft caft into fmall 
ingots, and then rolled into thin plates or leaves; after 
1 
TON. 
which it is cut into fmall round pieces proportionable 'to 
the fize of the mould they are intended to cover, by means 
of proper punches on a block of wood covered with a 
thick plate of lead. Each piece of metal thus cut out of 
the plate is reduced into the form of a button, by beating 
it fuccefiively in feveral cavities, or concave moulds, of a 
fpherical form, with a convex puncheon of iron, always 
beginning with the (hallowed: cavity or mould, and pro¬ 
ceeding to the deeper, till the plate has acquired the in¬ 
tended form ; and, the better to manage fo thin a plate, 
they form ten, twelve, and fometimes even twenty-four* 
to the cavities, or concave moulds, at once; often nealing 
the metal during the operation, to make it more ductile^ 
This plate is generally, called by workmen the cap of the 
button. 
The form being thus given, they ftrike the intended 
impreftion on the convex fide, by means of a limila*iron 
puncheon, in a kind of mould engraven en ceux, either 
by the hammer or the prefs irfed in coining. The cavity 
or mould, wherein the impreftion is to be made, is of a 
diameter and depth fuitable to the fort of button intended 
to be (truck in it, each kind requiring a particular mould. 
Between the puncheon and the plate is placed a thin piece 
of lead, called by workmen a bob, which greatly .contri¬ 
butes to the taking off all the ftrokes of the engraving ; 
the lead, by reafon of its foftnefs, eafily giving way to the 
parts that have relievo, and as eafily infinuating itfelf into 
the traces or indentures. The plate thus prepared makes 
the cap or lliell of the button. The lower part is formed 
of another plate, in the fame manner, bur much flatter, 
and without any impreflion. To the laft or under plate is 
foldered a (mail eye made of wire, by which the button 
is to be faftened. The two plates being thus finifhed, they 
are foldered together with (oft folder, and then turned in 
a lathe. Sometimes indeed they ufe a wooden mould, in- 
ftead of the under plate ; and, in order to fallen it, they 
pafs a thread or gut acrofs, through the middle of the 
mould, and fill the cavity between the mould and the cap 
with cement, in order to render the button firm and (olid ; 
for the cement, entering,all the cavities formed by the re¬ 
lievo of the other fide, fuftains it, prevents its flattening, 
and preferves its bode or defign. 
The prefent exilling laws for regulating the button ma¬ 
nufactory, are as follow: Foreign buttons are not to be 
imported on penalty of iool. on the importer, and 50I. 
on the feller, by ftatutes 13 and 14 Car. IF. c. 13: and 4 
Will, and Mary, c. io. And by the tame ftatutes, ajul'- 
tice may i 11 lie his warrant to f'earch for and (eize the fame. 
By fiat. 10 Will. III. c. 2, No perfon ftiall make, fell, or 
fet on, any buttons made of wood only, and turned in imi¬ 
tation of other buttons, under penalty of 40s. a dozen. A 
lliank of wire being added to the button makes no diffe¬ 
rence. Ld.Raym.71z. By the faid (tat. Will. III. no per- 
fon (hall make, fell, or fet on, buttons made of cloth, or 
other fluffs of which clothes are ufually made, on penalty 
of 40s. By (tat. 8 Anne, c. 6, no tailor, or other perfon, 
ftiail make, fell, fet on, ufe, or bind, on any clothes, any 
buttons or button-holes of cloth, &c. on pain of 5I. a do¬ 
zen. By this aCt no power is given to make dillrefs. Stat. 
4 Geo. I. c. 7, is fuid, in Burn’s Juftice, (title Buttons,) to 
be a loofe, injudicious, ungrammatical, aft, and which by 
its garb may leem to have been drawn up by tailors or 
button-makers. This ait impofes, (indiftinftly enough,) 
40s. a dozen on all fetch buttons and button-holes, with an 
exception of velvet ; it teems levelled again!! the tailors 
only, but clothes with fitch buttons and button-holes ex- 
poled to (ale are to be forfeited and feized. By (tat. 7 
Geo. I. c. 12, no perfon (hall life, or wear, on any clothes, 
(velvet excepted,) any fuch buttons or button-holes, on 
pain of 40s. a dozen, half to the witnefs on whofe oath 
they are convidted ; an application of the penalty deferv- 
cdly reprobated as nearly lingular, and on a principle not 
reconcileable to the ufual rules of evidence. This (latnte 
is alfo incorreCt, particularly in making no difpofal of a 
moiety of the penalty, in cafe of conviction or confellion 
