Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/736

 712 WOODWOETII WOOL low flowers, in short racemes at the ends of the branches, are papilionaceous; the stamens all united into a sheath, with the five alternate anthers shorter than the other five ; the pod, Woodwaxen (Genista tlnctoria). about an inch long, smooth, flat, and several- seeded. The plant was formerly important as a dye; a decoction of the flowering tops, with alum and cream of tartar as mordants, gives a good yellow color ; cloth thus dyed was made green by dipping it in a vat of woad. This is the method by which the once famous Eendal reon was produced; the process was intro- uced by Flemish emigrants, who in the reign of Edward III. settled at Kendal in Westmore- land. This, like woad, has long since been superseded by dyes of foreign origin, though still somewhat employed in domestic dyeing. The plant flourishes in the most sterile places. WOODWORTH, San of I, an American author, born in Scituate, Mass., Jan. 13, 1785, died in New York, Dec. 9, 1842. He learned the printer's trade in Boston, worked at it in nu- merous places, and in 1823 with George P. Morris founded the " New York Mirror." He produced several dramatic pieces, but his repu- tation rests chiefly upon the song of " The Old Oaken Bucket." His collected poems were published, with a memoir, in 1861 (2 vols. 18ino, Now York). WOOL, a covering similar to hair, growing from the skins of several kinds of animals, but principally of the sheep, the alpaca, and the Cashmere and Rocky mountain goat. In all but the sheep the wool is found only on cer- tain parts of the body ; and some parts of the sheep, as the nose and legs, are covered with hair. Other animals, as the beaver and wild cat, have more or less wool concealed beneath the longer growth of hair. Wool is in its struc- ture a modification of hair, and like it is com- posed of an epithelium and a rind, but is with- out a marrow. The epithelium consists of small thin plates which overlap each other, giving the surface a scaly appearance, as will be seen in the figures, which represent magnified sections of fibres of Southdown and of Saxon wool. The scaly grooves give to wool its Sections of Southdown and Saxon Wool, magnified. peculiar feeling of rawness and its property of felting. (See FELT.) In all the early races of sheep the distinction between wool and hair is very marked. The hair is coarse and hollow or pithy, and its appearance is much the same, whether on the sheep of the tropics or of cold regions ; but in the tropics it is almost free from the under coating of true wool. The structure of wool fits it as perfectly for twisting into a yarn which will not unwind as for felting. The transverse grooves or serrations are exceedingly minute, measuring from each other only y^ ff to I8 & fla of an inch. Wool varies in character accord- ing to the particular breed of sheep upon which it grows, and also in some degree to the nature of the soil, food, shelter, and cli- mate. In fine Saxon wool there are about 2,720 imbrications to the inch ; in ordinary merino, about 2,400; in the Australian me- rino, 2,000 to 2,400 ; in Southdown, about 2,000; and in Leicester, about 1,800. The fibres vary in diameter from T ^ T to -nVv f an inch. In felting properties Saxon wool is su- perior to all others, the Leicester and South- down being inferior, and making only coarse hairy cloth. The finest wool grows on the shoulders and along the back ; the next finest on the neck, under the shoulders, and along the ribs. (For the manner of development and growth of wool, see UAIB.) A fatty secretion called the " yolk " accompanies the growth of wool, consisting of a soapy matter with a pot- ash base, a small quantity of carbonate of pot- ash, traces of acetate of potash, chloride of potassium, lime, and animal oil, the last im- parting a peculiar odor. The yolk may there- fore be regarded aa a soap with oil in excess. As a rule, the finer wooled sheep have the greatest percentage of yolk, the Saxon often containing from 60 to 75 per cent., while coarse wools contain only from 20 to 50 per cent. The yolk obviously imparts flexibility to the fibres, and as a rule the fineness of fibre cor- responds to the fineness of texture of the skin