360 
TOUCHING  LINT. 
Lint  made  from  linen  rags  is  now  seldom  seen,  though  many 
eminent  practitioners  prefer  it  to  that  made  by  steam-worked 
machinery.  Six  years  ago  the  scraped-linen  lint  was  in  general 
use,  and  a  sad  outcry  was  raised  against  the  patent  fabric  which 
had  then  been  but  recently  introduced.  The  wholesale  lint 
manufacturer  of  that  day  looked  to  the  Jews  for  a  supply  of  linen 
rags  applicable  to  his  purposes.  For  these  rags  he  generally 
paid  an  exorbitant  price.  To  prepare  them  for  the  operative 
lint- maker,  who  was  invariably  a  female,  the  seams  had  to  be 
cut  out,  and  the  ragged  and  threadbare  portions  removed.  The 
average  loss  in  weight  from  this  operation  amounted  to  nearly 
twelve  per  cent,  upon  ordinary  rags,  and  to  about  half  that  on 
old  sheeting  i^nd  linen  of  an  analogous  description.  The  rags 
were  then  washed  thoroughly  clean,  and  cut  to  the  width  of  the 
linting  machine.  Before  describing  the  process  of  linting,  I 
must  call  attention  to  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  article  which 
it  produced.  If  the  reader  will  take  a  piece  of  the  old-fashioned 
lint  in  his  hand,  he  will  find,  on  endeavoring  to  pull  it  to  pieces, 
that  he  can  do  so  with  the  utmost  ease  in  one  direction,  but  not 
in  another.  On  examining  it  in  a  strong  light  he  will  see  the 
reason  of  this.  All  the  threads  which  run  in  one  direction  are 
but  very  slightly  frayed  or  scraped,  and  remain  nearly  as  strong 
as  when  they  came  from  the  loom  ;  but  the  threads  which  run 
cross  wise  are  reduced  to  hairs  of  infinitesimal  thinness — though 
none  are  cut  through — the  rest  of  their  substance  being  raised 
into  a  soft  "  fluff,"  which  constitutes  the  lint.  The  process  by 
which  this  result  was  attained  has  been  thus  described  by  a 
writer  in  OJiamhers  Journal,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  several 
of  the  preceding  facts  : — 
On  visiting  the  lint-maker  at  her  work,  we  find  her  seated 
in  a  lofty  attic  of  a  dingy  house  in  a  back  street  not  far  from  the 
bank  of  the  Thames,  where  the  river  runs  towards  Lime-house. 
In  order  to  get  at  her  apartment,  we  have  to  pass  through  a 
series  of  hanging  gardens  of  damp  rags,  for  the  most  part  less 
than  a  foot  square  in  size,  and  which,  having  been  washed  clean, 
are  hung  out  to  dry  iipon  the  staircase  and  landing,  the  weather 
being  «  mizzly'  out  of  doors.  From  such  a  manifold  demonstra- 
tion, we  conclude  that  the  lint-maker  we  have  come  to  visit,  by 
introduction  of  a  friend  who  employs  her^  if  she  works  for  the 
