英文科学读本 第五册·Lesson 51 Sources of Clothing

Lesson 51 Sources of Clothing

Now that we know something of the laws which must guide us in the selection of our clothing, it will be well for us to look into the sources from which we derive our supply of clothing materials. We obtain these materials from both the animal and the vegetable world. From the former we get wool, fur, leather, and silk; from the latter, linen and cotton.

All the animal substances are bad conductors of heat. Amongst them wool undoubtedly stands first as regards its general utility. It is. as you know, the natural covering of the sheep. The wool is shorn from the animal, during its lifetime, every spring.

Wool differs in quality and characteristics. Much of our common wool has long, coarse fibers, and is usually known as long wool. From it are made flannels, blankets, worsted goods, and stuffs, such as moreens, merinos, etc.

The wool imported from Australia and Saxony is of a different kind. Its fibers are comparatively short, but fine, soft, and silky. This class of wool is used in the manufacture of broadcloth and other fabrics, mostly for men's wear, and commonly known as woollen goods.

Fur is Nature's wise and beneficent covering for a large class of her creatures, which live mostly in the cold regions of the earth. It consists really of very fine, soft hair, set extremely thick on the skin, so as to form a smooth, close coat. Hair itself is a bad conductor of heat; hence this thick, close-fitting coat of fine hair is the very best provision that could be made to protect these creatures from the rigor of the climate.

In the short summer of those regions, when the thick coat is no longer required, much of the hair falls out and is shed, leaving the rest loose and open, but before winter returns a new supply grows, and the coat again becomes thick and close.

Among the fur animals whose skins supply us with clothing material are the rabbit, hare, squirrel, cat, ermine, sable, marten, racoon, badger, black and silver foxes, otter, beaver, seal, bear, etc.

Unlike the wool of the sheep, the fur coat of these animals becomes serviceable to us only after the animal is dead. The skin itself, with its fur covering, is taken from the animal, and dressed without removing the fur. The man who dresses the skin is called a furrier.

Siberia and British North America are the two great fur-producing regions of the world. They form immense hunting-grounds for almost every variety of fur-bearing animals. They give constant employment to large numbers of bold, adventurous men, who in their trapping and hunting are exposed to great risks and dangers.

Leather is made from the skins of many animals. These skins in their raw state would, like all other animal matter, decay and rot. The treatment which they are made to undergo is to prevent this. After the removal of the hair, they are soaked in a liquid called ooze, made by steeping oak-bark in water. This is the process of tanning; the result of it is to permanently arrest all tendency to decay, and at the same time to render the skin waterproof. It changes the perishable skin into durable and comparatively imperishable leather. Being a bad conductor of heat, and at the same time waterproof, it is the best of all materials as a covering for the feet.

Silk, the softest and most costly of all materials, is the product of the caterpillar of the silk-worm moth. During the change from the caterpillar to the moth, the chrysalis spins its cocoon of soft, glossy fibres. These fibers are spun and manufactured into the silks and satins and velvets of commerce.

Linen holds the first place among the vegetable materials used for clothing, both for its strength and durability as well as for its beauty of texture. Our earlier lessons have made us familiar with its history, properties, and uses. We are not concerned with those things now. Our business here is to regard it as being the best conductor of heat, among the textile fabrics, and therefore having its own special usefulness.

As an article of clothing it keeps the body cool, by allowing the superfluous heat easily to pass away. Because of the beauty of its glossy surface, it is used for shirt-fronts, collars, and cuffs. It is too costly to be used for the whole garment, except by wealthy people.

Cotton is a sort of vegetable wool. It is obtained from the seed-pods of a plant which grows in most of the warm countries of the world. It is a conductor of heat, but is not of such high conducting power as linen. It forms an admirable material for clothing in hot climates, and, being cheaper than linen, is much in request. It is by far the most abundant and important of all materials used for textile fabrics, and supplies man in all parts of the world with clothing material.