THE CULTIVATOR. 
61 
PHILOSOPHY OF WOOL.—No. I. 
Messes. Editors — I propose to furnish your readers 
with several chapters on the subject of wool—embra¬ 
cing the anatominal structure of the fibre—the peculiari¬ 
ties which constitute its felting property, and other cha¬ 
racteristics it possesses indispensable to its manufacture 
into broadcloth. From the extent to which the produc¬ 
tion of wool has already arrived in our widely extended 
and now once more prosperous country, and the certain¬ 
ty that it is destined to increase beyond the calculations 
of the most sanguine, it will be readily admitted by all, 
the subject is an important one. My attention has 
been directed to it, principally, from the ignorance 
which so generally prevails with farmers, and in¬ 
deed with very many high above them in general in¬ 
telligence, as to the felting principle of wool. All 
well know the fact, that cloth of wool, after being 
taken from the loom and subjected to a process of the 
manufacturer called pulling, will thicken to almost any 
degree desirable, by a general and uniform contraction 
of its dimensions. Now let the reader at once put the 
query to himself, what is the cause? and if he can render 
a philosophical solution, he may be considered an ex¬ 
ception, not among hundreds, but thousands. 
In the discussion of the subject, I beg leave to state 
that no claim is setup to originality; therefore, all I can 
claim of your readers is their thanks for imparting- in¬ 
formation difficult of access to all, condensing what I 
have found in many instances diffuse, and making more 
perspicuous what I have found in a measure obscure. The 
first thing deemed necessary to notice is the 
STRUCTURE OF THE SKIN. 
The skin of the sheep, and of animals generally, is 
composed of three coats, or layers. The external one is 
called the cuticle or scarf skin, which is exceedingly 
tough, devoid of feeling, and pierced by innumerable 
small holes, for the passage of the wool and insensble 
prespiration. 
The next layer is termed the mucus coat, a soft struc¬ 
ture, its fibres having scarcely more consistence than 
mucilage, and consequently separated with much diffi¬ 
culty 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 mi¬ 
nutely 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 composed almost entirely of gelatine, so that al¬ 
though it may be dissolved by much boiling, it is inso¬ 
luble in water at the common temperature. 
It is well known the skin of the sheep is seldom fully 
tanned, but is prepared in a peculiar w-ay, and used for 
the common sort of binding for books, or is converted 
into parchment, which, from its durable nature, is used 
for the inscription of documents of more than ordinary 
value. Other uses made of the pelts of lambs in foreign 
countries, mention will probably be made hereafter. 
ANATOMY AND CHEMICAL COMPOSITION 
OF WOOL. 
Although the fibre of wool has been tested by severe 
examinations of powerful microscopes, its internal struc¬ 
ture is not yet definitely settled—whether solid, or con¬ 
sisting of a hard exterior tube with a pith within. The 
weight of testimony, however, is much in favor of the 
supposition of the latter. The fact may be adduced in 
support of this conclusion, that a sheep when in high 
condition, the wool growing upon it is coarser than ano¬ 
ther whose condition is the reverse, the fibre being dis¬ 
tended apparently from no other cause than the super¬ 
abundance of secretive matter designed for its growth. 
Could it be otherwise were it not tubular in its confor¬ 
mation? It may, however, proceed from another cause, 
for it has been well ascertained that the fibre is vascular, 
being supplied with vessels wffiich convey nourishment 
from the pulp, which seem to accompany it to a conside¬ 
rable distance from the root, if not through its whole ex¬ 
tent. The learned Dr. Good says :—“ The Plica polonica, 
a disease whose existence is doubted by some, but of the 
occasional occurrence of which there is abundant testi¬ 
mony, completely establishes the vascularity of the hair; 
for it is an enlargement of the bulk of the hair itself; an 
enlargement of the individual hairs, so much so as in 
some cases, to permit the passage of red blood, for the 
hair will bleed when divided by the scissors.” Admit¬ 
ting it to be true that the hair is vascular, it follows that 
the fibre of wool is also; and hence if a sheep is in more 
than ordinary condition, the consequent repletion of the 
fluids would cause an increased bulk of the fibre, without 
the necessity of a tubular conformation. But I take leave 
of the question, with the repetition that the preponder¬ 
ance of testimony is in favor of the theory that the fibre 
is hollow. 
Each fibre of wool is composed of a number of fila¬ 
ments or smaller hairs, ranged side by side, which can¬ 
not be perceived without difficulty, from the tendency it 
sometimes has to unravel at the point. Mr. Bakewell 
has remarked on this as follows: “ Hair is frequently ob 
served to split at its points into distinct fibres—a division 
has also been seen in the hair of wool. This seems to 
prove that they are formed of distinct long filaments uni¬ 
ting in one thread or hair. In large hairs I have disco¬ 
vered a number of divisions from the root to the point. 
In one hair I distinctly perceived fifteen of these divi¬ 
sions or fibres lying parellel to each other, and in some 
of the fibres a further subdivision was distinguishable. 
Probably these subdivisions were each composed of oth¬ 
ers still smaller, which the limited power of our instru¬ 
ments may prevent us from discovering. If such be the 
structure of the hair of some animals, it is at least proba¬ 
ble that the hair of all others may have a similar confor¬ 
mation, although the fibres of which they are composed 
may be too minute, or adhere too firmly together to per¬ 
mit us to separate or distinguish them.” 
The fact has long since been established that the che¬ 
mical composition of nails, hoofs, horns, hair, wool, and 
even feathers, is substantially the same. According to 
Henry, they are made up of an animal substance resem¬ 
bling coagulated albumen; and sulphur, silica, carbonate 
and phosphate of lime, and oxides of iron and manga¬ 
nese. The similarity of the odor of hoofs, horns and 
hair, perceptible when burned, is within the experience 
of all. It is also well known that the horns of cattle are 
made up of elongated fibres or hair, which will be obvi¬ 
ous to any one who will take the trouble to examine 
with the aid of a microscope. Indeed, without this in¬ 
strument, the fact can be established as exemplified ic 
the horns of the deer, at certain stages of the growth, 
and also those of the giraffe, on the surface of which hairs 
can be distinctly traced. Other testimony may be founf 
in the circumstance, uniformly the same, that the horn? 
conform in the degree of their twist or curve to the hais 
or wool of the animals on which they respectively grow. 
Thus, in the Angora goat and wild sheep of the Rockj 
mountains, the horns are, like the hair and wool thej 
produce, comparatively straight; while the horns of th® 
Saxon and Merino resemble the beautiful spiral curve of 
their wool. The yolk, with other matters, will be con 
sidered in my next. L. A. Morrell. 
Lake Ridge, Tompkins co., N. F., Jan. 4, 1844. 
PRESERVING POTATOES THROUGH WINTER. 
An intelligent neighbor practices the following modes 
by which lie rarely loses one bushel in five hundred. The 
potatoes are placed in a large heap on dry ground, and 
covered with straw in sufficient quantity to be at least 
one foot thick around the heap when closely packed. 
Three or four inches of earth are then shoveled upon it. 
During the mild weather of autumn, a hole is made in 
the top for ventilation, which is closed on the arrival 
of the severe frosty weather in winter. J. J. T. 
Blackwood’s magazine. 
The New World edition of the Dec. no. is receiwSd. 
It is issued by J. Winchester, New World Press, No. 
30 Ann st., New-York, at $2 a year in advance; cheap 
enough, for it is one of the best publications u a-going.’* 
