Year: 1873




romance by Sir Walter Scott, "The
Talisman," cannot fail to remember
the vivid pictures which he gives us of
the state of the arts among the Sara
Gems, and of the high degree of per-
fecJion which they have attained in
some of its branches. In the science
of medicine it is claimed they had at
tanned a degree of knowledge and skill
which put to shame the efforts of their
more clumsy and ignorant Western
contemporaries. In the manufacture
of delicate textile fabrics, they had
certainly reached wonderful degree
of perfection for we know from other
testimony besides that Of Scott, that
their fine gauze wells were so delicate
and SO perfect, that while they did not
in the slightest degree obscure the
clearness of vision of the wearers, they
completely excluded the fine dust Of
the desert, which is so annoying to
travellers, and withal so penetrating
that the most closely wrapped pack.
ages are not proof against it. These
wells we're so delicate and light, that
when skillfully thrown in the air, they
foated off as if possessed Of no more
weight than thistle-down. And yet
such was the perfection to which these
same people had brought the art of
sword making, that Scott represents
Saladin as throwing such a veil in the
air, and dividing it in two with the
stoke of his cimiter, the separate
pieces floating off in different direc-
tions. With the same weapon he is to
have cut in two light feather pillow,
leaving the separate halves standing
upright, as if they had remained un-
touched.


Although these facts find a distant
record only in the pages of romance,
they are said to be fully vouched for
by contemporary historians, and so
far at least as delicate fabrics are con-
cerned, they are almost equaled by
the spindles and looms of Hindostan.
The Indian weaver, working in moist
and underground apartments, not only
secures for the material in which he
works those conditions which are nec-
essary for the production of the most
delicate fabrics, but attains in his own
person that morbidly sensitive nervous
condition which confers upon him the
delicate tactile power capable of pro-
ducing fabric which from its exceed
ing delicacy has been called "woven
wind" Samples of these fabrics were
exhibited at the Worlds Fair in 1851 !;
and SO fine were they that whole
piece when folded to the full width
could be drawn through an ordinary
sized wedding ring. Even by ma
chinery, the most wonderful results
have been attained; although it must
be confessed that the best looms of
Manchester have not been able to
equal the work of the native East In
dian operative. A single pound of
cotton has been spun into yarn that
measured over two hundred miles-a
degree of tenuity, which almost rivals
that attained by the most ductile met
ais.


But by far the most wonderful at
tempts to rival the work of these East
ern artists was that made by an officer
of engineers residing in Munich, who
conceived the ingenious idea of EN-
ploying the caterpillar itself, not only
as the spinner but the weaver. Hav-
ing made a paste of the plant of which
the species of caterpillar that he EN-.
ploys feeds, he spreads its thinly over
a stone, or other fiat surface of the re-
quired size. He then, with a camel
hair pencil dipped in olive oil,
draws the pattern he wishes to leave
open. This stone is then placed in an
inclined position, and considerable
number Of the caterpillars are placed
at the bottom. A peculiar species is
chosen which spins strong web; and
the animals commence at the bottom,
eating and spinning their way to the
top. carfully avoiding every part touch
ed by the oil, but devouring every 9TH
er part of the paste. The extreme
lightness of these wells, combined with
some strength, is truly surprising.
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