Chapter M: D’Arcet states the analysis of Marseilles soap at (16)

_Turning sour._--The production of too much acid in a wine, is a proof of its containing originally too little alcohol, of its being exposed too largely to the air, or to vibrations, or to too high a temperature in the cellar. The best thing to be done in this case is, to mix it with its bulk of a stronger wine in a less advanced state, to fine the mixture, to bottle it, and to consume it as soon as possible, for it will never prove a good keeping wine. This _distemper_ in wines formerly gave rise to the very dangerous practice of adding litharge as a sweetener; whereby a quantity of acetate or sugar of lead was formed in the liquor, productive of the most deleterious consequences to those who drunk of it. In France, the regulations of police, and the enlightened _surveillance_ of the council of salubrity, have completely put down this gross abuse. The saturation of the acid by lime and other alkaline bases has generally a prejudicial effect, and injures more or less the vinous flavour and taste.

_Ropiness or viscidity of wines._--The cause of this phenomenon, which renders wine unfit for drinking, was altogether unknown, till M. François, an apothecary of Nantes, demonstrated that it was owing to an azotized matter, analogous to _gliadine_ (gluten); and in fact it is the white wines, especially those which contain the least tannin, which are subject to this malady. He also pointed out the proper remedy, in the addition of tannin under a rather agreeable form, namely, the bruised berries of the mountain-ash (_sorbier_), in a somewhat unripe state; of which one pound, well stirred in, is sufficient for a barrel. After agitation, the wine is to be left in repose for a day or two, and then racked off. The tannin by this time will have separated the azotized matter from the liquor, and removed the ropiness. The wine is to be fined and bottled off.

_The taste of the cask_, which sometimes happens to wine put into casks which had remained long empty, is best remedied by agitating the wine for some time with a spoonful of olive oil. An essential oil, the chief cause of the bad taste, combines with the fixed oil, and rises with it to the surface.

According to a statement in the _Dictionnaire Technologique_, the annual produce of a hectare of vineyard, upon the average of 113 years, in the district of Volnay, is 1779 litres, which fetch 0·877 francs each, or 200 francs the piece of 228 litres, amounting in all to 1672 francs. Deducting for expenses and taxes (_contributions_) 572 francs, there remain 1100 francs of net proceeds; and as the value of the capital may be estimated at 23,000 francs, the profit turns out to be no more than 5 per cent. The net proceeds in the growths of Beaune, Nuits, &c., does not exceed 600 francs per hectare (2·4 acres), and therefore is equivalent to only 2-1/2 per cent. upon the capital.

The quantity of alcohol contained in different wines, has been made the subject of elaborate experiments by Brande and Fontenelle; but as it must evidently vary with different seasons, the results can be received merely as approximative. The only apparatus required for this research, is a small still and refrigeratory, so well fitted up as to permit none of the spirituous vapours to be dissipated. The distilled liquor should be received in a glass tube, graduated into one hundred measures, of such capacity as to contain the whole of the alcohol which the given measure of wine employed is capable of yielding. In the successive experiments, the quantity of wine used, and of spirit distilled over, being the same in volume, the relative densities of the latter will show at once the relative strengths of the wines. A very neat small apparatus has been contrived for the purpose of analyzing wines in this manner, by M. Gay Lussac. It is constructed, and sold at a moderate price, by M. Collardeau, No. 56, Rue Faubourg St. Martin, Paris. The proportion given by Brande (Table I.), has been reduced to the standard of absolute alcohol by Fesser; and that by Fontenelle (Table II.), to the same standard by Schubarth; as in the following tables:--

TABLE I.

+------------------+---------+------------------+
| | | 100 measures, |
| | |contain at 60° F. |
|Name of the Wine. |Sp. grav.+---------+--------+
| | | Alcohol |Absolute|
| | |of 0·825.|alcohol.|
+------------------+---------+---------+--------+
|Port Wine | 0·97616 | 21·40 | 19·82 |
| Do. | 0·97200 | 25·83 | 23·92 |
| Mean| 0·97460 | 23·49 | 21·75 |
|Madeira | 0·97810 | 19·34 | 17·91 |
| Do. | 0·97333 | 21·42 | 22·61 |
|Sherry | 0·97913 | 18·25 | 17·00 |
| Do. | 0·97700 | 19·83 | 18·37 |
|Bordeaux, Claret | 0·97410 | 12·91 | 11·95 |
| Do. | 0·97092 | 16·32 | 15·11 |
|Calcavella | 0·97920 | 18·10 | 16·76 |
|Lisbon | 0·97846 | 18·94 | 17·45 |
|Malaga | 0·98000 | 17·26 | 15·98 |
|Bucellas | 0·97890 | 18·49 | 17·22 |
|Red Madeira | 0·97899 | 18·40 | 17·04 |
|Malmsey | 0·98090 | 16·40 | 15·91 |
|Marsala | 0·98190 | 15·26 | 14·31 |
| Do. | 0·98000 | 17·26 | 15·98 |
|Champagne (rose) | 0·98608 | 11·30 | 10·46 |
| Do. (white) | 0·98450 | 12·80 | 11·84 |
|Burgundy | 0·98300 | 14·53 | 13·34 |
| Do. | 0·98540 | 11·95 | 11·06 |
|White Hermitage | 0·97990 | 17·43 | 16·14 |
|Red do. | 0·98495 | 12·32 | 11·40 |
|Hock | 0·98290 | 14·37 | 13·31 |
| Do. | 0·98873 | 8·88 | 8·00 |
|Vin de Grave | 0·98450 | 12·80 | 11·84 |
|Frontignac | 0·98452 | 17·79 | 11·84 |
|Côte-Rotí | 0·98495 | 12·27 | 11·36 |
|Roussillon | 0·98005 | 17·24 | 15·96 |
|Cape Madeira | 0·97924 | 18·11 | 16·77 |
|Muscat | 0·97913 | 18·25 | 17·00 |
|Constantia | 0·97770 | 19·75 | 18·29 |
|Tinto | 0·98399 | 13·30 | 12·32 |
|Schiraz | 0·98176 | 15·52 | 14·35 |
|Syracuse | 0·98200 | 15·28 | 14·15 |
|Nice | 0·98263 | 14·63 | 13·64 |
|Tokay | 0·98760 | 9·88 | 9·15 |
|Raisin wine | 0·97205 | 25·77 | 23·86 |
|Drained grape wine| 0·97925 | 18·11 | 16·77 |
|Lachrymæ Christi | -- | 19·70 | 18·24 |
|Currant wine | 0·97696 | 20·55 | 19·03 |
|Gooseberry wine | 0·98550 | 11·84 | 10·96 |
|Elder wine } | | | |
|Cyder } | 0·98760 | 9·87 | 9·14 |
|Perry } | | | |
|Brown Stout | 0·99116 | 6·80 | 6·30 |
|Ale | 0·98873 | 8·88 | 8·00 |
|Porter | -- | 4·20 | 3·89 |
|Rum | 0·93494 | 53·68 | 49·71 |
|Hollands | 0·93855 | 51·60 | 47·77 |
|Scotch whiskey | -- | 54·32 | 50·20 |
|Irish whiskey | -- | 53·90 | 49·91 |
+------------------+---------+---------+--------+

TABLE II.

+--------------------------------+--------+
| |Absolute|
| Name of the Wine. |alcohol.|
+--------------------------------+--------+
|_Roussillon (Eastern Pyrenees.)_| |
|Rive-saltes 18 yrs. old | 9·156 |
|Banyulls 18 | 9·223 |
|Collyouvre 15 | 9·080 |
|Salces 10 | 8·580 |
| | |
| _Department of the Aude._ | |
|Fitou and Leucaté 10 | 8·568 |
|Lapalme 10 | 8·790 |
|Sijeau 8 | 8·635 |
|Narbonne 8 | 8·379 |
|Lezignan 10 | 8·173 |
|Mirepeisset 10 | 8·589 |
|Carcasonne 8 | 7·190 |
| | |
| _Department of l’Herault._ | |
|Nissau 9 | 7·896 |
|Beziers 8 | 7·728 |
|Montagnac 10 | 8·108 |
|Mèze 10 | 7·812 |
|Montpellier 5 | 7·413 |
|Lunel 8 | 7·564 |
|Frontignan 5 | 7·098 |
|Red Hermitage 4 | 5·838 |
|White do. | 7·056 |
|Burgundy 4 | 6·195 |
|Grave 3 | 5·838 |
|Champagne (sparkling) | 5·880 |
| Do. white do. | 5·145 |
| Do. rose | 4·956 |
|Bordeaux | 6·186 |
|Toulouse | 5·027 |
+--------------------------------+--------+

WINE, FAMILY, may be made by the following recipe:--Take black, red, white currants, ripe cherries (black hearts are the best), and raspberries, of each an equal quantity. To 4 pounds of the mixed fruit, well bruised, put 1 gallon of clear soft water; steep three days and nights, in open vessels, frequently stirring up the magma; then strain through a hair sieve; press the residuary pulp to dryness, and add its juice to the former. In each gallon of the mixed liquors dissolve 3 pounds of good yellow muscovado sugar; let the solution stand other three days and nights, frequently skimming and stirring it up; then tun it into casks, which should remain full, and purging at the bung-hole, about two weeks. Lastly, to every 9 gallons, put 1 quart of good Cognac brandy (but not the drugged imitations made in London with grain whiskey), and bung down. If it does not soon become fine, a steeping of isinglass may be stirred into the liquid, in the proportion of about half an ounce to 9 gallons. I have found that the addition of an ounce of cream of tartar to each gallon of the fermentable liquor, improves the quality of the wine, and makes it resemble more nearly the produce of the grape.

WINE-STONE, is the deposit of crude tartar, called argal, which settles on the sides and bottoms of wine casks.

WIRE-DRAWING. (_Tréfilerie_, Fr.; _Draht-ziehen_, _Drahtzug_, Germ.) When an oblong lump of metal is forced through a series of progressively diminishing apertures in a steel plate, so as to assume in its cross section the form and dimensions of the last hole, and to be augmented in length at the expense of its thickness, it is said to be wire-drawn. The piece of steel called the _draw-plate_ is pierced with a regular gradation of holes, from the largest to the smallest; and the machine for overcoming the lateral adhesion of the metallic particles to one another, is called the _draw-bench_. The pincers which lay hold of the extremity of the wire, to pull it through the successive holes, are adapted to bite it firmly, by having the inside of the jaws, cut like a file. For drawing thick rods of gilt silver down into stout wire, the hydraulic press has been had recourse to with advantage.

_Fig._ 1202. represents a convenient form of the draw-bench, where the power is applied by a toothed wheel, pinion, and rack-work, moved by the hands of one or two men working at a winch; the motion being so regulated by a fly-wheel, that it does not proceed in fits and starts, and cause inequalities in the wire. The metal requires to be annealed, now and then, between successive drawings, otherwise it would become too hard and brittle for further extension. The reel upon which it is wound is sometimes mounted in a cistern of sour small beer, for the purpose of clearing off, or loosening at least, any crust of oxide formed in the annealing, before the wire enters the draw-plate.

When, for very accurate purposes of science or the arts, a considerable length of uniform wire is to be drawn, a plate with one or more jewelled holes, that is, filled with one or more perforated rubies, sapphires, or chrysolites, can alone be trusted to, because the holes even in the best steel become rapidly wider by the abrasion. Through a hole in a ruby 0·0033 of an inch in diameter, a silver wire 170 miles long has been drawn, which possessed at the end, the very same section as at the beginning; a result determined by weighing portions of equal length, as also by measuring it with a micrometer. The hole in an ordinary draw-plate of soft steel becomes so wide, by drawing 14,000 fathoms of brass wire, that it requires to be narrowed before the original sized wire can be again obtained.

Wire, by being diminished one-half, one-third, one-fourth, &c., in diameter, is augmented in length respectively, four, nine, sixteen times, &c. The speed with which it may be prudently drawn out, depends upon the ductility and tenacity of the metal; but may be always increased the more the wire becomes attenuated, because its particles progressively assume more and more of the filamentous form, and accommodate themselves more readily to the extending force. Iron and brass wires, of 0·3 inch in diameter, bear drawing at the rate of from 12 to 15 inches per second; but when of 0·025 (1/40) of an inch, at the rate of from 40 to 45 inches in the same time. Finer silver and copper wire may be extended from 60 to 70 inches per second.

By enclosing a wire of platinum within one of silver ten times thicker, and drawing down the compound wire till it be 1/300 of an inch, a wire of platinum of 1/3000 of an inch, will exist in its centre, which may be obtained apart, by dissolving the silver away in nitric acid. This pretty experiment was first made by Dr. Wollaston.

The French draw-plates are so much esteemed, that one of the best of them used to be sold in this country, during the late war, for its weight in silver. The holes are formed with a steel punch; being made large on that side where the wire enters, and diminishing with a regular taper to the other side. In the act of drawing, they must be well supplied with grease for the larger kinds of wire, and with wax for the smaller.

WOAD (_Vouëde_, _Pastel_, Fr.; _Waid_, Germ; _Isatis tinctoria_, Linn.); the _glastum_ of the antient Gauls and Germans; is an herbaceous plant which was formerly much cultivated, as affording a permanent blue dye, but it has been in modern times well nigh superseded by _indigo_. Pliny says, “A certain plant which resembles _plantago_, called _glastum_, is employed by the women and girls in Great Britain for dyeing their bodies all over, when they assist at certain religious ceremonies; they have then the colour of Ethiopians.”--_Hist. Nat._ cap. xxii. § 2.

When the arts, which had perished with the Roman empire, were revived, in the middle ages, woad began to be generally used for dyeing blue, and became an object of most extensive cultivation in many countries of Europe. The environs of Toulouse and Mirepoix, in Upper Languedoc, produced annually 40,000,000 pounds of the prepared woad, or pastel, of which 200,000 bales were consumed at Bordeaux. Beruni, a rich manufacturer of this drug, became surety for the payment of the ransom of his king, Francis I., then the prisoner of Charles V. in Spain.

The leaves of woad are fermented in heaps, to destroy certain vegetable principles injurious to the beauty of the dye, as also to elaborate the indigoferous matter present, before they are brought into the market; but they should be carefully watched during this process. Whenever the leaves have arrived at maturity, a point judged of very differently in different countries, they are stripped off the plant, a cropping which is repeated as often as they shoot, being three or four times in Germany, and eight or ten times in Italy. The leaves are dried as quickly as possible, but not so much as to become black; and they are ground before they get quite dry. The resulting paste is laid upon a sloping pavement, with gutters for conducting the juice which exudes into a tank; the heap being tramped from time to time, to promote the discharge of the juice. The woad ferments, swells, and cracks in many places, which fissures must be closed; the whole being occasionally watered. The fermentation is continued for twenty or thirty days, in cold weather; and if the leaves have been gathered dry, as in Italy, for four months. When the fermented heap has become moderately dry, it is ground again, and put up in cakes of from one to three pounds; which are then fully dried, and packed up in bundles for the market. Many dyers subject the pastel to a second fermentation.

1,600 square toises (fathoms) of land afford in two cuttings at least 19,000 pounds of leaves, of which weight four-fifths are lost in the fermentation, leaving 3,880 pounds of pastel, in loaves or cakes. When good, it has rather a yellow, or greenish-yellow, than a blue colour; it is light, and slightly humid; it gives to paper a pale-green trace; and improves by age, in consequence of an obscure fermentation; for if kept four years, it dyes twice as much as after two years. According to Hellot, 4 pounds of Guatimala indigo produce the same effect as 210 pounds of the pastel of Albi. At Quins, in Piedmont, the dyers estimate that 6 pounds of indigo are equivalent to 300 of pastel; but Chaptal thinks the indigo underrated.

Pastel will dye blue of itself, but it is commonly employed as a fermentative addition to the proper blue vat, as described under INDIGO.

Fresh woad, analyzed by Chevreul, afforded, in 100 parts, 65·4 of juice. After being steeped in water, the remaining mass yielded, on expression, 29·65 of liquid; being in whole, 95·05 parts, leaving 4·95 of ligneous fibre. The juice, by filtration, gave 1·95 of green fecula. 100 parts of fresh woad, when dried, are reduced to 13·76 parts. Alcohol, boiled upon dry woad, deposits, after cooling, indigo in microscopic needles; but these cannot be separated from the vegetable albumine, which retains a greenish-gray colour.

WOLFRAM, is the native tungstate of iron and manganese, a mineral which occurs in primitive formations, along with the ores of tin, antimony, and lead, in the Bohemian Erzgebirge, in Cornwall, Switzerland, North America, &c. It is used by chemists for obtaining tungstic acid and tungsten.

WOOD (_Bois_, Fr.; _Holz_, Germ.); is the hard but porous tissue between the pith and the bark of trees and shrubs, through which the chief part of the juices are conducted from the root towards the branches and leaves, during the life of the vegetable. The ligneous fibre is the substance which remains, after the plant has been subjected to the solvent action of ether, alcohol, water, dilute acids, and caustic alkaline lyes. It is considered by chemists that dry timber consists, on an average, of 96 parts of fibrous, and 4 of soluble matter, in 100; but that these proportions vary somewhat with the seasons, the soil, and the plant. All kinds of wood sink in water, when placed in a basin of it under the exhausted receiver of an air-pump; showing their specific gravity to be greater than 1·000. That of fir and maple is stated, by chemical authors, to be 1·46; and that of oak and beech, at 1·53; but I believe them to have all the same spec. grav. as the fibre of flax; namely, 1·50, as determined by me some years ago.[71]

[71] “From the small difference found by experiment between the
specific gravity of flax (1·50), and of cotton (1·47), I am inclined
to think that the density of both may be considered to be equal.” or
1·50.--_Philosophy of Manufactures_, 2d edition, pp. 97, 98, 99.

Wood becomes snow-white, when exposed to the action of chlorine; digested with sulphuric acid, it is transformed first into gum, and, by ebullition with water, afterwards into grape-sugar; with concentrated nitric acid, it grows yellow, loses its coherence, falls into a pulverulent mass, but eventually dissolves, and is converted into oxalic acid; with strong caustic alkaline lyes, in a hot state, it swells up excessively, dissolves into a homogeneous liquid, and changes into a blackish-brown mass, containing oxalic and acetic acids.

The composition of wood has been examined by Gay Lussac and Thenard, and Dr. Prout. The first two chemists found it to consist, in 100 parts, of--

Oak. Beech.
Carbon 52·53 51·45
Hydrogen 5·69 5·82
Oxygen 41·78 42·73

According to Dr. Prout, the oxygen and hydrogen are in the exact proportions to form water. Willow contains 50, and box 49·8 per cent. of carbon; each containing, therefore, very nearly 44·444 of oxygen, and 5·555 of hydrogen. In the analyses of Gay Lussac and Thenard, there is a great excess of hydrogen above what the oxygen requires to form water. Authenrieth stated, some years ago, that he found that fine sawdust, mixed with a sufficient quantity of wheat flour, made a coherent dough with water, which formed an excellent food for pigs; apparently showing that the digestive organs of this animal could operate the same sort of change upon wood as sulphuric acid does.

TABLE of the DISTILLATION of ONE POUND of WOOD, dried, at 86° Fahr.

+-------------------------+----------+-----------+---------+---------+
| Name of the wood. |Weight of |One ounce |Weight of|Weight of|
| |wood acid.|of the acid|the com- |the char-|
| | |saturates |bustible |coal. |
| | |of carbon- |oil. | |
| | |ate of | | |
| | |potash. | | |
+-------------------------+----------+-----------+---------+---------+
| | _Ounces._| _Grains._ |_Ounces._|_Ounces._|
|White birch | 7 | 44 | 1-1/4 | 3-3/4 |
|Red beech | 7 | 44 | 1-1/2 | 3-3/4 |
|Prick wood (spindle tree)| 7-1/2 | 40 | 1-3/4 | 3-1/2 |
|Large leaved linden | 6-3/4 | 41 | 2 | 3-3/4 |
|Red or scarlet oak | 7 | 40 | 1-1/2 | 4-1/4 |
|White beech | 6-1/2 | 40 | 1-3/4 | 3-3/4 |
|Common ash | 7-1/2 | 34 | 1-1/2 | 3-1/2 |
|Horse chestnut | 7-1/2 | 31 | 1-1/2 | 3-1/2 |
|Italian poplar | 7-1/4 | 30 | 1-1/2 | 3-3/4 |
|Silver poplar | 7-1/4 | 30 | 1-1/4 | 3-3/4 |
|White willow | 7-1/4 | 28 | 1-1/2 | 3-1/2 |
|Root of the sassafras | | | | |
|laurel | 6-3/4 | 29 | 1-3/4 | 4-1/4 |
|Wild service tree | 7 | 28 | 1-3/4 | 3-1/2 |
|Basket willow | 8 | 27 | 1-1/2 | 3-1/2 |
|Dogberry tree | 7 | 27 | 2 | 3-1/2 |
|Buckthorn | 7-1/2 | 26 | 1-1/2 | 3-1/2 |
|Logwood | 7-3/4 | 26 | 1-1/2 | 4 |
|Alder | 7-1/4 | 22 | 1-1/2 | 3-1/2 |
|Juniper | 7-1/4 | 23 | 1-3/4 | 3-1/2 |
|White fir (deal) | 6-1/2 | 23 | 2-1/4 | 3-1/2 |
|Common pine wood | 6-3/4 | 22 | 1-3/4 | 3-1/2 |
|Savine tree | 7 | 20 | 1-3/4 | 3-3/4 |
|Red deal (pine) | 6-1/2 | 18 | 2-1/4 | 3-3/4 |
|Guiac wood | 6 | 16 | 2-1/2 | 4-1/4 |
+-------------------------+----------+-----------+---------+---------+

WOOF, is the same as WEFT.

WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. In reference to textile fabrics, sheep’s wool is of two different sorts, the short and the long stapled; each of which requires different modes of manufacture in the preparation and spinning processes, as also in the treatment of the cloth after it is woven, to fit it for the market. Each of these is, moreover, distinguished in commerce by the names of fleece wools and dead wools, according as they have been shorn at the usual annual period from the living animal, or are cut from its skin after death. The latter are comparatively harsh, weak, and incapable of imbibing the dyeing principles, more especially if the sheep has died of some malignant distemper. The annular pores, leading into the tubular cavities of the filaments, seem, in this case, to have shrunk and become obstructed. The time of year for sheep-shearing most favourable to the quality of the wool, and the comfort of the animal, is towards the end of June and beginning of July;--the period when Lord Leicester holds his celebrated rural fête for that interesting purpose.

The wool of the sheep has been surprisingly improved, by its domestic culture. The _mouflon_ (_Ovis aries_), the parent stock from which our sheep is undoubtedly derived, and which is still found in a wild state upon the mountains of Sardinia, Corsica, Barbary, Greece, and Asia Minor, has a very short and coarse fleece, more like hair than wool. When this animal is brought under the fostering care of man, the rank fibres gradually disappear; while the soft wool round their roots, little conspicuous in the wild animal, becomes singularly developed. The male most speedily undergoes this change, and continues ever afterwards to possess far more power in modifying the fleece of the offspring, than the female parent. The produce of a breed from a coarse-woolled ewe, and a fine-woolled ram, is not of a mean quality between the two, but half-way nearer that of the sire. By coupling the female thus generated, with such a male as the former, another improvement of one-half will be obtained, affording a staple three-fourths finer than that of the grandam. By proceeding inversely, the wool would be as rapidly deteriorated. It is, therefore, a matter of the first consequence in wool husbandry, to exclude from the flock all coarse-fleeced rams.

Long wool is the produce of a peculiar variety of sheep, and varies in the length of its fibres from 3 to 8 inches. Such wool is not carded like cotton, but combed like flax, either by hand or appropriate machinery. Short wool is seldom longer than 3 or 4 inches; it is susceptible of carding and felting, by which processes the filaments become first convoluted, and then densely matted together. The shorter sorts of the combing wool are used principally for hosiery, though of late years the finer kinds have been extensively worked up into merino and mousseline-de-laine fabrics. The longer wools of the Leicestershire breed are manufactured into hard yarns, for worsted pieces, such as waistcoats, carpets, bombasines, poplins, crapes, &c.

The wool of which good broad cloth is made, should be not only shorter, but, generally speaking, finer and softer than the worsted wools, in order to fit them for the fulling process. Some wool-sorters and wool-staplers acquire by practice great nicety of discernment in judging of wools by the touch and traction of the fingers. Two years ago, I made a series of observations upon different wools, and published the results. The filaments of the finer qualities varied in thickness from 1/1100 to 1/1500 of an inch; their structure is very curious, exhibiting, in a good achromatic microscope, at intervals of about 1/300 of an inch, a series of serrated rings, imbricated towards each other, like the joints of _Equisetum_, or rather like the scaly zones of a serpent’s skin. See _Philosophy of Manufactures_, _figs._ 11, 12., page 91. second edition.

There are four distinct qualities of wool upon every sheep; the finest being upon the spine, from the neck to within 6 inches of the tail, including one-third of the breadth of the back; the second covers the flanks between the thighs and the shoulders; the third clothes the neck and the rump; and the fourth extends upon the lower part of the neck and breast down to the feet, as also upon a part of the shoulders and the thighs, to the bottom of the hind quarter. These should be torn asunder, and sorted, immediately after the shearing.

The harshness of wools is dependent not solely upon the breed of the animal, or the climate, but is owing to certain peculiarities in the pasture, derived from the soil. It is known, that in sheep fed upon chalky districts, wool is apt to get coarse; but in those upon a rich loamy soil, it becomes soft and silky. The ardent sun of Spain renders the fleece of the Merino breed harsher than it is in the milder climate of Saxony. Smearing sheep with a mixture of tar and butter, is deemed favourable to the softness of their wool.

All wool, in its natural state, contains a quantity of a peculiar potash-soap, secreted by the animal, called in this country the _yolk_; which may be washed out by water alone, with which it forms a sort of lather. It constitutes from 25 to 50 per cent. of the wool, being most abundant in the Merino breed of sheep; and however favourable to the growth of the wool on the living animal, should be taken out soon after it is shorn, lest it injure the fibres by fermentation, and cause them to become hard and brittle. After being washed in water, somewhat more than lukewarm, the wool should be well pressed, and carefully dried. England grows annually about 1,000,000 packs of wool, and imports 100,000 bags.

Wool imported into the United Kingdom, in 1836, 64,239,977 lbs.; in 1837, 48,356,121 lbs. Retained for home consumption, in 1836, 60,724,795 lbs.; in 1837, 43,148,297 lbs. Duty received, in 1836, _£_190,075; in 1837, _£_118,519.

Having premised these general observations on wool, I shall now proceed to treat of its manufacture, beginning with that of wool-combing, or

THE WORSTED MANUFACTURE.

In this branch of business, a long stapled and firm fibre is required to form a smooth level yarn, little liable to shrink, curl, or felt in weaving and finishing the cloth. It must not be entangled by carding, but stretched in lines as parallel as possible, by a suitable system of _combing_, manual or mechanical.

When the long wool is brought into the worsted factory, it is first of all washed by men with soap and water, who are paid for their labour by the piece, and are each assisted by a boy, who receives the wool as it issues from between the drying _squeezers_ (see BLEACHING). The boy carries off the wool in baskets, and spreads it evenly upon the floor of the drying-room, usually an apartment over the boilers of the steam-engine, which is thus economically heated to the proper temperature. The health of the boys employed in this business is found to be not at all injured.

The wool, when properly dried, is transferred to a machine called the _plucker_, which is always superintended by a boy of 12 or 14 years of age, being very light work. He lays the tresses of wool pretty evenly upon the feed-apron, or table covered with an endless moving web of canvas, which, as it advances, delivers the ends of the long tufts to a pair of fluted rollers, whence it is introduced into a fanning apparatus, somewhat similar to the _willow_ employed in the cotton manufacture, which see. The filaments are turned out, at the opposite end of this winnowing machine, straightened, cleaned, and ready for the combing operation. According to the old practice of the trade, and still for the finer descriptions of the long staple, according to the present practice, the wool is carded by hand. This is far more severe labour than any subservient to machinery, and is carried on in rooms rendered close and hot by the number of stoves requisite to heat the combs, and so enable them to render the fibres soft, flexible, and elastic. This is a task at which only robust men are engaged. They use three implements: 1. a pair of combs for each person; 2. a post, to which one of the combs can be fixed; 3. a comb-pot, or small stove for heating the teeth of the combs. Each comb is composed either of two or three rows of pointed tapering steel teeth, _b_, _fig._ 1203., disposed in two or three parallel planes, each row being a little longer than the preceding. They are made fast at the roots to a wooden stock or head _c_, which is covered with horn, and has a handle _d_, fixed into it at right angles to the lines of the teeth. The spaces between these two or three planes of teeth, is about one-third of an inch at their bottoms, but somewhat more at their tips. The first combing, when the fibres are most entangled, is performed with the two-row toothed combs; the second or finishing combing, with the three-row toothed.

In the workshop a post is planted (_fig._ 1204.) upright, for resting the combs occasionally upon, during the operation. An iron stem _g_, projects from it horizontally, having its end turned up, so as to pass through a hole in the handle of the comb. Near its point of insertion into the post, there is another staple point _h_, which enters into the hollow end of the handle; which, between these two catches, is firmly secured to the post. The stove is a very simple affair, consisting merely of a flat iron plate, heated by fire or steam, and surmounted with a similar plate, at an interval sufficient to allow the teeth to be inserted between them at one side, which is left open, while the space between their edges, on the other sides, is closed to confine the heat.

In combing the wool, the workman takes it up in tresses of about four ounces each, sprinkles it with oil, and rolls it about in his hands, to render all the filaments equally unctuous. Some harsh dry wools require one-sixteenth their weight of oil, others no more than a fortieth. He next attaches a heated comb to the post, with its teeth pointed upwards, seizes one-half of the tress of wool in his hands, throws it over the teeth, then draws it through them, and thus repeatedly: leaving a few straight filaments each time upon the comb. When the comb has in this way collected all the wool, it is placed with its points inserted into the cell of the stove, with the wool hanging down outside, exposed to the influence of the heat. The other comb, just removed in a heated state from the stove, is planted upon the post, and furnished in its turn with the remaining two-ounce tress of wool; after which it supplants the preceding at the stove. Having both combs now hot, he holds one of them with his left hand over his knee, being seated upon a low stool, and seizing the other with his right hand, he combs the wool upon the first, by introducing the teeth of one comb into the wool stuck in the other, and drawing them through it. This manipulation is skilfully repeated, till the fibres are laid truly parallel, like a flat tress of hair. It is proper to begin by combing the tips of the tress, and to advance progressively, from the one end towards the other, till at length the combs are worked with their teeth as closely together as is possible, without bringing them into collision. If the workman proceeded otherwise, he would be apt to rupture the filaments, or tear their ends entirely out of one of the combs. The flocks left at the end of the process, because they are too short for the comber to grasp them in his hand, are called _noyls_. They are unfit for the worsted spinner, and are reserved for the coarse cloth manufacture.

The wool finally drawn off from the comb, though it may form a uniform tress of straight filaments, must yet be combed again at a somewhat lower temperature, to prepare it perfectly for the spinning operation. From ten to twelve slivers are then arranged in one parcel.

To relieve the workman from this laborious and not very salubrious task, has been the object of many mechanical inventions. One of these, considerably employed in this country and in France, is the invention of the late Mr. John Collier, of Paris, for which a patent was obtained in England, under the name of John Platt, of Salford, in November, 1827. It consists of two comb-wheels, about ten feet in diameter, having hollow iron spokes filled with steam, in order to keep the whole apparatus at a proper combing heat. The comb forms a circle, made fast to the periphery of the wheel, the teeth being at right angles to the plane of the wheel. The shafts of the two wheels are mounted in a strong frame of cast iron; not, however, in horizontal positions, but inclined at acute angles to the horizon, and in planes crossing each other, so that the teeth of one circular comb sweep with a steady obliquity over the teeth of the other, in a most ingenious manner, with the effect of combing the tresses of wool hung upon them. The proper quantity of long wool, in its ordinary state, is stuck in handfuls upon the wheel, revolving slowly, by a boy, seated upon the ground at one side of the machine. Whenever the wheel is dressed, the machine is made to revolve more rapidly, by shifting its driving-band on another pulley; and it is beautiful to observe the delicacy and precision with which it smoothes the tangled tress. When the wools are set in rapid rotation, the loose ends of the fleece, by the centrifugal force, are thrown out, in the direction of radii, upon the teeth of the other revolving comb-wheel, so as to be drawn out and made truly straight. The operation commences upon the tips of the tresses, where the wheels, by the oblique posture of their shafts, are at the greatest distance apart; but as the planes slowly approach to parallelism, the teeth enter more deeply into the wool, till they progressively comb the whole length of its fibres. The machines being then thrown out of geer, the teeth are stript of the tresses by the hand of the attendant; the _noyls_, or short refuse wool, being also removed, and kept by itself.

This operation being one of simple superintendence, not of handicraft effort and skill, like the old combing of long wool, is now performed by boys or girls of 13 and 14 years of age; and places in a striking point of view the influence of automatic mechanism, in so embodying dexterity and intelligence in a machine, as to render the cheap and tractable labour of children a substitute for the high-priced and often refractory exertions of workmen too prone to capricious combinations. The chief precaution to be taken with this machine, is to keep the steam-joints tight, so as not to wet the apartments, and to provide due ventilation for the operatives.

The following machine, patented by James Noble, of Halifax, worsted-spinner, in February, 1834, deserves particular notice, as its mode of operation adapts it well also for heckling flax. In _fig._ 1205. the internal structure is exhibited. The frame-work _a_, _a_, supports the axle of a wheel _b_, _b_, in suitable bearings on each side. To the face of this wheel is affixed the eccentric or heart-wheel cam _c_, _c_. On the upper part of the periphery of this cam or heart-wheel, a lever _d_, _d_, bears merely by its gravity; one end of which lever is connected by a joint to the crank _e_. By the rotation of the crank _e_, it will be perceived that the lever _d_, will be slidden to and fro on the upper part of the periphery of the eccentric or heart-wheel cam _c_, the outer end of the lever _d_, carrying the upper or working comb or needle-points _f_, as it moves, performing an elliptical curve, which curve will be dependent upon the position of the heart-wheel cam _c_, that guides it. A movable frame _g_, carries a series of points _h_, which are to constitute the lower comb or frame of needles. Into these lower needles the rough uncombed wool is to be fed by hand, and to be drawn out and combed straight by the movements of the upper or working comb.

As it is important, in order to prevent waste, that the ends of the wool should be first combed out, and that the needle-points should be made to penetrate the wool progressively, the movable frame _g_, is in the first instance placed as far back as possible; and the action of the lever _d_, during the whole operation, is so directed by the varying positions of the cam-wheel, as to allow the upper comb to enter at first a very little way only into the wool; but as the operation of combing goes on, the frame with the lower combs is made to advance gradually, and the relative positions of the revolving heart cam-wheel _c_, being also gradually changed, the upper or working needles are at length allowed to be drawn completely through the wool, for the purpose of combing out straight the whole length of its fibre.

In order to give to the machine the necessary movements, a train of toothed wheels and pinions is mounted, mostly on studs attached to the side of the frame; which train of wheels and pinions is shown by dots in the figure, to avoid confusion. The driving power, a horse or steam-engine, is communicated by a band to a rigger on the short axle _i_; which axle carries a pinion, taking into one of the wheels of the train. From this wheel the crank _e_, that works the lever _d_, is driven; and also, by geer from the same pinion, the axle of the wheel _b_, carrying the eccentric or heart-wheel cam, is also actuated, but slower than the crank-axle.

At the end of the axle of the wheel _b_, and cam _c_, a bevel pinion is affixed, which geers into a corresponding bevel pinion on the end of the lateral shaft _k_. The reverse end of this shaft has a worm or endless screw _l_, taking into a toothed wheel _m_; and this last-mentioned toothed wheel geers into a rack at the under part of the frame _g_.

It will hence be perceived, that by the movements of the train of wheels, a slow motion is given to the frame _g_, by which the lower needles carrying the wool are progressively advanced as the operation goes on; and also, that by the other wheels of the train, the heart-wheel cam is made to rotate, for the purpose of giving such varying directions to the stroke of the lever which slides upon its periphery, and to the working comb, as shall cause the comb to operate gradually upon the wool as it is brought forward. The construction of the frames which hold the needles, and the manner of fixing them in the machine, present no features of importance; it is therefore unnecessary to describe them farther, than to say, that the heckles are to be heated when used for combing wool. Instead of introducing the wool to be combed into the lower needles by hand, it is sometimes fed in, by means of an endless feeding-cloth, as shown in _fig._ 1206. This endless cloth is distended over two rollers, which are made to revolve, for the purpose of carrying the cloth with the wool forward, by means of the endless screw and pinions.

A slight variation in the machine is shown at _fig._ 1207., for the purpose of combing wool of long fibre, which differs from the former only in placing the combs or needle points upon a revolving cylinder or shaft. At the end of the axle of this shaft, there is a toothed wheel, which is actuated by an endless screw upon a lateral shaft. The axle of the cylinder on which the needles are fixed, is mounted in a movable frame or carriage, in order that the points of the needles may, in the first instance, be brought to act upon the ends of the wool only, and ultimately be so advanced as to enable the whole length of the fibres to be drawn through. The progressive advancement of this carriage, with the needle cylinder, is effected by the agency of the endless screw on the lateral shaft before mentioned.

Some combing-machines reduce the wool into a continuous sliver, which is ready for the drawing-frame; but the short slivers produced by the hand combing, must be first joined together, by what is called _planking_. These slivers are rolled up by the combers ten or twelve together, in balls called tops, each of which weighs half a pound. At the spinning-mill these are unrolled, and the slivers are laid on a long plank or trough, with the ends lapping over, in order to splice the long end of one sliver into the short end of another. The long end is that which was drawn off first from the comb, and contains the longer fibres; the short is that which comes last from the comb, and contains the shorter. The wool-comber lays all the slivers of each ball the same way, and marks the long end of each by twisting up the end of the sliver. It is a curious circumstance, that when a top or ball of slivers is unrolled and stretched out straight, they will not separate from each other without tearing and breaking, if the separation is begun at the short ends; but if they are first parted at the long ends, they will readily separate.

The machine for combing long wool, for which Messrs. Donisthorpe and Rawson obtained a patent in April, 1835, has been found to work well, and therefore merits a detailed description:--

_Fig._ 1208. is an elevation; _fig._ 1209. an end view; and _fig._ 1210. a plan; in which _a_, _a_, is the framing; _b_, the main shaft, bearing a pinion which drives the wheel and shaft _c_, in geer with the wheel _d_, on the shaft _e_. Upon each of the wheels _c_ and _d_, there are two projections or studs _f_, which cause the action of the combs _g_, _g_, of which _h_, _h_, are the tables or carriages. These are capable of sliding along the upper guide rails of the framing _a_. Through these carriages or tables _h_, _h_, there are openings or slits, shown by dotted lines, which act as guides to the holders _i_, _i_, of the combs _g_, _g_, rendering the holders susceptible of motion at right angles to the course pursued by the tables _h_. The combs are retained in the holders _i_, _i_, by means of the lever handles _j_, _j_, which move upon inclined surfaces, and are made to press on the surface of the heads of the combs _g_, _g_, so as to be retained in their places; and they are also held by studs affixed to the holders, which pass into the comb-heads. From the under side of the tables, forked projections _i_, _i_, stand out, which pass through the openings or slits formed in the tables _h h_; these projections are worked from side to side by the frame _k_, _k_, which turning on the axis or shaft _l_, _l_, is caused to vibrate, or rock to and fro, by the arms _m_, moved by the eccentric groove _n_, made fast to the shaft _e_. The tables _h_, are drawn inwards, by weights suspended on cords or straps _o_, _o_, which pass over friction pulleys _p_, _p_; whereby the weights have a constant tendency to draw the combs into the centre of the machine, as soon as it is released by the studs _f_, passing beyond the projecting arms _g_, on the tables. On the shaft _c_, a driving-tooth or catch _r_, is fixed, which takes into the ratchet wheel _s_, and propels one of its teeth at every revolution of the shaft _c_. This ratchet wheel turns on an axis at _t_; to the ratchet the pulley _v_ is made fast, to which the cord or band _w_ is secured, as also to the pulley _x_, on the shaft _y_. On the shaft _y_, there are two other pulleys _z_, _z_, having the cords or bands A, A, made fast to them, and also to the end of the gauge-plates B, furnished with graduated steps, against which the tables _h_, _h_, are drawing at each operation of the machine. In proportion as these gauge-plates are raised, the nearer the carriages or tables _h_, will be able to advance to the centre of the machine, and thus permit the combs _g_, _g_, to lay hold of, and comb, additional lengths of the woolly fibres. The gauge-plates B, are guided up by the bars C, which pass through openings, slots, or guides, made in the framing _a_, as shown by D.

To the ratchet wheel _s_, an inclined projection E, is made fast, which in the course of the rotation of the ratchet wheel, comes under the lever F, fixed to the shaft G, that turns in bearings H. To this shaft the levers I and J, are also fixed; I serving to throw out the click or catch K, from the ratchet wheel, by which the parts of the machine will be released, and restored to positions ready for starting again. The lever J, serves to slide the drum upon the driving shaft _b_, out of geer, by means of the forked handle L, when the machine is to be stopped, whenever it has finished combing a certain quantity of wool. The combs which hold the wool have a motion upwards, in order to take the wool out of the way of the combs _g_, _g_, as these are drawn into the centre of the machine; while the holding combs descend to lay the wool among the points of the combs _g_, _g_. For obtaining this upward and downward motion, the combs M, M, are placed upon the frame N, and retained there just as the combs _g_, _g_, are upon the holders _i_, _i_. The framing N is made fast to the bar or spindle O, which moves vertically through openings in the cross-head P, and the cross-framing of the machine Q; from the top of which, there is a strap passes over pulleys with a weight suspended to it; the cross-head being supported by the two guide-rods R, fixed to the cross-framing Q. It is by the guide-rods R, and the spindle O, that the frame N is made to move up and down; while the spindle is made to rise by the studs _f_, as the wheels _c_ and _d_ come successively under the studs _s_, on the spindle O.

A quantity of wool is to be placed on each of the combs _g_, _g_, and M, M, the machine being in the position shown in _fig._ 1210. When the main shaft _b_, is set in motion, it will drive by its pinion the toothed wheel _c_, and therefrom the remaining parts of the machine. The first effect of the movement will be to raise the combs M, M, sufficiently high to remove the wool out of the way of the combs _g_, _g_, which will be drawn towards the centre of the machine, as soon as they are released by the studs _f_, passing the projecting arms _q_, on the tables _h_; but the distance between the combs _g_, _g_, and the combs H, H, will depend on the height to which the gauge-plates B, have been raised. These plates are raised one step at each revolution of the shaft _c_; the combs _g_, _g_, will therefore be continually approaching more nearly to the combs M, M, till the plates B, are so much raised as to permit the tables _h_, to approach the plates B, below the lowest step or graduation, when the machine will continue to work. Notwithstanding the plates B, continuing to rise, there being only parallel surfaces against which the tables come, the combs _g_, _g_, will successively come to the same position, till the inclined projection E, on the ratchet wheel _s_, comes under the lever F, which will stop the machine. The wool which has been combed, is then to be removed, and a fresh quantity introduced. It should be remarked, that the combs _g_, _g_, are continually moving from side to side of the machine, at the same time that they are combing out the wool. The chief object of the invention is obviously to give the above peculiar motions to the combs _g_, _g_, and M, M; which may be applied also to combing goat-hair.

For the purposes of the worsted manufacture, wool should be rendered inelastic to a considerable degree, so that its fibres may form long lines, capable of being twisted into straight level yarn. Mr. Bayliffe, of Kendal, has sought to accomplish this object, first, by introducing into the _drawing_ machine a rapidly revolving wheel, in contact with the front drawing roller, by whose friction the filaments are heated, and at the same time deprived of their curling elasticity; secondly, by employing a movable regulating roller, by which the extent of surface on the periphery of the wheel that the lengths of wool is to act upon, may be increased or diminished at pleasure, and, consequently, the effect regulated or tempered as the quality of the wool may require; thirdly, the employment of steam in a rotatory drum, or hollow wheel, in place of the wheel first described, for the purpose of heating the wool, in the process of drawing, in order to facilitate the operation of straightening the fibres.