Evening star., 1912-09-05
COWS YIELD WOOL
Animals Other Than Sheep
Produce the Fiber.
SEEN UNDER MICROSCOPE
Question of What Is Wool One of
Commercial as Well as Scientific
1nterest-A German Puzzle.
SEEN UNDER MICROSCOPE

From the Literary Digest
If cow has wool instead of hair is
it hair or wool? This sounds like the
query, III a cat had kittens in the
oven, would they be kittens or bis
cuits?" In other words, are we to
judge by the source or the charac-
teristics in deciding whether wool Is
wool or something else? Questions Of
this kind sometimes involve large sums
of money in this age of exact defini
ton The meanings OF commonly used
words. with which mankind has been
reasonably familiar for centuries, are
being questioned. adjusted and revamp-
ed to suit new conditions. Most of these
words have been used loosely. but the
requirements of commercial law. espe-
cialiy in connection with the passage of
all sorts Of new statutes in regulation
Of trade, have necessitated the formu-
latest of these queries is that at the
head of this article, which ]. E. Lard,
an English microscopic analyst. pro-
ceeds to discuss in knowledge. promis
ing that the possibility Of any doubt on
the subject will doubtless cause some
many unthinkable." The writer goes
on to say, in part:
There can be no doubt that wool, be-
sides being one of the best known and
most widely used fibers, was also one OF
the very first to be used by man to protect
himself from the inclemency of the
weather following. indeed, very closely
upon his first tentative, but unsatisfac-
tory, essay in this direction. Ones first
thought is, very naturally. that wool is
the hair of the sheep. This is, however
far from being the last word on the SUBJ
Ject; for IL we make the necessary in
quiries we shall discover that commercial
ly, at all events. the term wool is not
solely confined to the product of the
sheep. Hairs from several animals are
described as being wool, no doubt from
their having characteristics similar to
those from the sheep. 1 need here only
mention that the hairs of several species
of goat, such as the Alpaca. Angora
and kashmir, are invariably designated
wool, as are also the hairs of the
llama and camel. Indeed, there can be
little doubt but that many animals would
furnish hairs which most microscopists
would characterize as wool. Failing some
authoritative decision on the point, 1t
would appear that We can only fall back
on the physical and microscopical char
acteristics of the fiber. In this connec-
tion it must not be forgotten that even
the hairs of the sheep differ within fairly
wide limits according to climatic and
other conditions. the principal Of which.
no doubt, would be the breed of the sheep.
In what is recognized as the best wool
from the sheep, a careful examination
will. show that the hairs have a soft.
slender, wavy appearance. and micro
scopically the medullary. or central, cells
are either absent or at least not strongly
marked. while the cortical cells are well
developed as sheathing scales. overlapping
each other SO as to give a finely serrated
appearance to the margin Of the filament
and an appearance of fine. sinuous lines
crossing the fiber Any hairs having
these characteristics would unhesitatingly
be pronounced wool by most microscOp-
lists. and from astrological standpoint
they would be fully justified. 1t is one of the
commonplaces of knowledge that the hairs
of most, and probably all. animals differ
very materially, according to the part Of
the body from which they are taken !;
those from tine back. for instance, being
usually coarser. while those from the un-
der parts are invariably finer and softer.
and it is an undoubted fact that many Of
the latter have a strongly marked, wool
like structure"