第687页 / 共2651页

Both in the coarse and in the fine woollen manufacture, the

machinery employed was much more imperfect in those ancient, than

it is in the present times. It has since received three very

capital improvements, besides, probably, many smaller ones, of

which it may be difficult to ascertain either the number or the

importance. The three capital improvements are, first, the

exchange of the rock and spindle for the spinning-wheel, which,

with the same quantity of labour, will perform more than double

the quantity of work. Secondly, the use of several very ingenious

machines, which facilitate and abridge, in a still greater

proportion, the winding of the worsted and woollen yarn, or the

proper arrangement of the warp and woof before they are put into

the loom; an operation which, previous to the invention of those

machines, must have been extremely tedious and troublesome.

Thirdly, the employment of the fulling-mill for thickening the

cloth, instead of treading it in water.