Fleece

“ The main point is that the fleece is to be made different from the soil around it. It is to be a proof of God's power to endow with characteristics not derived from, and resulting in qualities unlike, the surroundings. ”

“ The animal whose fleece serves them for clothing and many other purposes, is more like the Italian she-goat than any other creature, but is considerably larger, has no horns, and is free from the displeasing odour of our goats. Its fleece is not thick, but very long and fine; it varies in colour, but is never white, more generally of a slate-like or lavender hue. For clothing it is usually worn dyed to suit the taste of the wearer. ”

“ The property first attracting attention, and being of greater importance than any other, is the fineness of the pile—the quantity of fine wool which a fleece yields, and the degree of that fineness. Of the absolute fineness, little can be said, varying, as it does, in different parts of the same fleece to a very considerable degree, and the diameter of the same fibre often being exceedingly different at the extremity and the centre. ”

“ Generally speaking, the best portion of a fleece is from the shoulders and side of the animal. The quality decreases towards the tail end of the sheep, the “britch” being frequently long, strong and irregular. The belly wool is short, worn and dirty, as is also the front of the throat, while on tie head and shins the product is short, stiff and straight, more like hair than wool and is liable to contain grey hairs. ”

“ Each year's fleece often amounts in weight to eight to twelve pounds, and in its lifetime the animal may yield a mass of wool far exceeding its [115] weight of flesh and bones in any time of its life. ”

“ As in sheep of all breeds the fleece naturally consists of longer and coarser hair covering shorter and softer wool, the change which it often undergoes in hot climates is probably merely a case of unequal development; for even with those sheep which like goats are covered with hair, a small quantity of underlying wool may always be found. ”

“ Instead of those beautiful feathers with which we adorn our heads, they often buy up a monstrous bush of hair, which covers their heads, and falls down in a large fleece below the middle of their backs ”

“ This is what old Best says:—
'"I. When the wool is well risen from the skin the fleece is as it were walked together on the top, and underneath it is but lightly fastened to the undergrowth; and when a fleece is thus it is called a mattrice coat.
'"II. When wool is thus risen there is no waste, for it comes wholly off without any bits or locks.
'"III. Fleeces, when they are thus, are far more easy to wind up, and also more easy for the clippers, for a man may almost pull them off without any clipping at all. ”

“ Where there is abundance of water and other conveniences it is the practice to wash or half-wash sheep previous to shearing, and Sheep washing. such wool comes into the market as washed or half-washed fleece. ”

“ Their sheep have crusts, and they the bread;
The chips, and they the cheer:
They have the fleece, and eke the flesh,
(O seely sheep the while!)
The corn is theirs, let others thresh,
Their hands they may not file. ”

“ The soles of the feet of these Briefites are composed of a substance most nearly resembling hoof material. They never think of covering the feet under any change of climate. If one of the Briefites were to step upon the shores of our rugged Earth and see the cotton or wool and leather that lies around our feet, it would appear to him as the most ridiculous thing imaginable, and no doubt his shapely feet of ivory cast would be of more than passing interest to us. ”

“ Such are the properties, then, of vein, sinew and skin, of fibre and membrane, of hair, nail, claw and hoof, of horns, of teeth, of beak, of gristle, of bones, and of parts that are analogous to any of the parts here enumerated.
Part 16 Flesh, and that which is by nature akin to it in sanguineous animals, is in all cases situated in between the skin and the bone, or the substance analogous to bone; for just as spine is a counterpart of bone, so is the flesh-like substance of animals that are constructed a spinous system the counterpart of the flesh of animals constructed on an osseous one. ”

“ The texture of the body, in which all these varieties have their seat, is the extracorial or exodermal structure, constituting, if I may so speak, the outer coating of the body, external to the true skin, which corresponds to the cuticular and corneous excrescences of animals—a structure which includes horns, hoofs, hair, feathers, and all similar appendages in different orders of animals. This structure displays infinite diversities in colour, constitution, and organization, and is the most variable tissue on the whole body. ”

“ I am strengthened in this opinion, by the history of the cripples I have met with in different parts of the country, whether they have been brought up in the woolen, worsted, flax, cotton, or silk mill; nine out of every ten having been compelled to work from morning to night, without being allowed to sit down for a minute.
Let us turn our attention, for a moment, to the formation of the lower extremities of the human frame. There is a beautiful arch of bones formed in the foot, on the middle of which the main bone of the leg is planted ”

“ Skin of Palm and Sole.
One can examine in more detail the remarkable form of skin which is found to cover the palmar and plantar surfaces in many mammals. It is highly specialised and appears in many degrees of efficiency for the purposes, or uses, of walking and climbing, grasping and discrimina­tion of objects. With two or three insignificant exceptions these are the only regions even of man’s body where hairs do not grow in the normal state, and in most other mammals hair is absent from the component parts or pads, which correspond to our palms and soles. ”

“ Considerable flesh is still preserved on the hands and arms, but none on the shoulders and elbows. On the back, under the belt, and for two inches above and below, the skin and flesh are in good preservation, and have the appearance of being tanned. ”

“ The sheep are grazing and storing up food and energy to be converted into food for us to eat and clothing for us to wear. Mr. Allen has over a hundred sheep on his farm. How grateful we should be to the patient sheep. This animal fiber called wool is a variety of hair, and varies in fineness. The coarser varieties are called hair. Hair is obtained from the angora goat, the camel, and alpaca. Perhaps your teacher has a microscope. Look at the fibers under the glass. You can see how hair differs from wool. ”

“ Hair, wool, fur, and animal down are simply slender filaments or thread-like fibres issuing out of the pores of the skins of animals, and all partaking of the same general nature, such as great ductility, flexibility, elasticity, and tenacity, differing entirely from the vegetable wools and downs, such as cotton, &c., which contain neither of these four great characteristics to any valuable or appreciable extent. ”

“ All we know of the origin of limbs shows that they commence as outgrowths upon the surface of the body, and that the first-formed portions are the most distal segments. The limb, as proved by its permanent state in the lowest vertebrates, and by its embryological condition in higher forms, is at first a mere projection or outward fold of the skin, which, in the course of development, as it becomes of use in moving or supporting the animal, acquires the internal framework which strengthens it and perfects its functions. ”

“ The pelvic, or hind, limb supports the body. The bones of each leg are the femur, which constitutes the thigh, the tibia and the fibula, which represents the leg, and the metatarsus and the phalanges, which form the foot. ”

“ The skin should be freed down nearly to the beak, and then the back of the head, with neck attached, should be cut off, the brains extracted, all the flesh cleared from the skull and from the bones of the wings, legs, and tail, the skin painted with the preservative, and ultimately turned into its proper position. ”

“ I said: “I never saw the flesh of any person’s face like the flesh in the faces which that man paints. He reminds me of wax-work. Why does he paint the same waxy flesh in all four of his pictures? I don’t see the same colored flesh in all the faces about us.” ”

“ The flesh serves him as food, the bones and horns make all sorts of implements, the tendons supply twine for sewing his clothing, that, and whatever else he requires in the way of leather, is furnished by the skin; even the hoofs are utilized. ”

“ The legs are very generally modeled to represent animal forms. In a majority of cases the fish was chosen because, perhaps, its shape was suitable or because the fish bore some relation to the use to which the vessel was to be devoted. Lizards and mammals are also seen and the human form occasionally appears. In some cases the animal figure is attached to the upper part of the leg or is perched upon the hip, where that feature is pronounced. ”

“ The limbs of all the vertebrate animals are, in like manner, on one plan, however various they may appear. In the hind-leg of a horse, for example, the angle called the hock is the same part which in us forms the heel; and the horse, and all other quadrupeds, with almost the solitary exception of the bear, walk, in reality, upon what answers to the toes of a human being. ”

“ Again, the bones being produced through the muscles, and these through the nutrition of the animal, there is always a proportion between the skeleton and the stomach and soft parts of the body. The skeleton is a very good index of the comparative bulk of the animal, and this fact assists us when we attempt restorations of extinct species. ”

“ Making up a Dry Skin.—The Legs.—Having applied the preservatives, if you propose to make up your specimen as a dry skin, wrap a little tow, oakum, cotton, or cotton cloth around the bones of each leg, to partly replace the flesh, and keep the skin away from the bone, so that both can dry quickly. If you have no other material, paper will do. In the East Indies, where transportation was difficult, I used to carry with me bundles of coarse brown paper such as the grocers use, and used it for wrapping the leg bones of monkeys, foxes, and the like. ”

“ In the se­cond, the trunk is larger and longer, the waist and hips broader, the lower limbs shorter, affording ample space for the development of all the vital organs. In the third, the trunk is shorter, the extremities longer and more powerful, the head smaller, and generally speaking, the character more determined. ”

“ I account that fine meat mixed with white, that lies wedged in along the doublings and shelves of the bones, as the most glorious species of man's food;—round the broad shoulder-bone, for instance, the spool-bone,—that through which we look for the storms. Think but of the layers of the red [288] and the white that lie bedded around that. Peatstacknowe, let me feel your shoulder. I suppose a man has no spool-bone,—ah no!—none! ”

“ My hands and feet are not beautiful, but there is great beauty in their flesh, and the flesh of my throat is also very pretty. My leg is straight, and my foot is well formed. My hair is a beautiful ash-blonde. ”

“ Bones of young animals, sheep, calves, dogs, cats, etc., being readily disintegrated, are thrown into one pile, and also the light bones of oxen, such as skull bones, shoulder bones, the vertebra of the tail, etc. ”

“ The middle layer, leather-skin or dermis, is composed of solid, fibrous, and elastic tissues, and contains many blood-vessels, small nerves, sweat-and oil-glands, and hair follicles from which the hair grows. ”

“ Now take fine, clean tow, of good long fibre, and, beginning at the foot, proceed to wrap it around the leg bones, smoothly and evenly, to replace the muscles which have been cut away. The lower part of the leg is flat on the inside and round on the outside, [117] almost bare of flesh at the ankle. Remember always that the flesh on the "calf" of the leg, and the forearm, lies behind the bones, swelling out toward the back and the inside of the limb, and in front the skin lies upon the bone itself. ”

“ In the flex of the shoulder, the crook of the outstretched arm, the conquering onward stride, is expressed all the force of that word of the Lord to the first toiler, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." ”

“ We find, in studying the regions of the body in some of the vertebrates, that, while they present differences from the corresponding regions of the human body, they also offer most striking analogies. We can, for example, recognise the upper limb of man in the anterior one of quadrupeds, in the wing of the bat, in the paddle of the seal, etc. ”

“ It is interesting for a stranger visiting the country at this period to view the processes of washing and shearing the animals—sorting, pressing, and packing the wool;—to often hear the terms of short and long staple wool, and to see the specimens of it arranged in small locks, showing the different degrees of fineness. ”

“ The trunk, from the shoulder to the hip, has the appearance, more than any thing else, of a large bellows, a mere bag of hoops covered with leather, through which the pulsation of the heart is distinctly visible. On the thicker part of the fore-arm there is flesh, white in appearance, though of a soft and unhealthy character ”

“ You will then see that the front feet are cleansing organs. They are beset with hairs which stand out at right angles to the length of the limb, radiating in all directions, like the bristles of a bottle-brush. You will not see them to advantage, it is true, in dried specimens; but in a living state, or even when preserved in spirits, they are conspicuous enough under a lens. ”

“ Skin down each side of the bird until you come to the knee-joint, which lies close to the body, and well within the skin. Sever each leg completely at the knee, leaving the thigh attached to the body, turn the skin of the leg wrong side out over the fleshy part, quite down to the joint, and then cut away every particle of flesh from the bone of the leg. ”