process soap is obtained. After having been taken out of the pans, it is cooled into a solid mass, and cut up by wires into bars, in which shape it is sold. Yellow soap is made with palm oil or resin, instead of tallow. Soft-soap is made of pearl-ash instead of soda. 106.-INK.

The ink which we commonly use in writing is made from nut-galls, which grow on the leaves of a small tree, common in Asia Minor. These baving been ground into a powder are mixed with gum and vitriol, dissolved in water. The ink used by printers is composed of oil and lamp-black, a colour procured by collecting on blankets the soot which arises from the burning of oil. The colour of ink is not very deep when first made, but it becomes much darker after having been exposed to the air for some days.

107.-HEMP.

This is a fibrous plant of which coarse linen, sailcloth, and ropes are made. Most of the hemp used in England is brought from Russia. The stems of the plant, stripped of its leaves, are placed in water, so that the fibres of which they are composed may be separated from each other. The fibres are

usually each three or four feet long. When beaten out and dried they are spun into yarn or thick thread, and then woven into canvass, sack-cloth, or sail-cloth, or twisted into rope or cord.

108.-FLAX.

From the seeds of this plant the oil called linseed is made, which is much used by painters and by glaziers, for making paint and putty. After the oil has been pressed out of the seeds a crushed mass remains which is called oil-cake and is used for fattening cattle. From the skins in which the seeds grow linseed tea is procured. The stems of the plant having been steeped in water are dried like hemp, out of which is spun thread fit for lacemaking or needlework. Flax is also woven into linen cloth, damask, and sheetings.

109.-WOOL.

The principal manufactures of England are those of wool, silk, and cotton. The wool shorn from the sheep by the farmer is sold to the woolstapler, by whom it is sent to be made into woollen goods, being spun into worsted or else into yarn from which cloth is manufactured. Worsted goods are spun chiefly from English wool, and yield flannel, camlet, blankets, and other useful articles. Broad cloth, kerseymere, and other cloths are the produce of Saxon or Australian wool. The woollen manufacture is chiefly carried on in the West of England and in Yorkshire. It began in the reign of Edward III., about the year A.D. 1326, when that king invited some Flemish weavers to this country.

110.-SILK.

Silk, which is produced by the silkworm, is brought to England in large quantities from the south of Europe and from Asia. Raw silk, in order that it may be woven, is first washed and carefully wound upon reels. After this they are spun, or twisted, by an engine called the spinning machine. The silk spun for the use of the weaver is usually dyed after it is thus twisted. The thick strong silk, known as sowing silk, is made by hand in the same manner as hemp is spun into a rope; each piece of silk twist being from fifty to one hundred feet in length. Satin, velvet, and ribbons are all made from silk, by different processes of weaving.

111.-COTTON.

The cotton plant grows in all the warmer parts of the world, and is largely cultivated in India, China, the United States of America, and on the shores of the Mediterranean sea. In the pod of this plant a soft substance is found, which admits of being spun into threads or yarn and manufactured into calicoes and other fabrics. Some yarn, the name given to spun cotton, is very fine, being made into muslin and lace. Other yarn is twisted into cotton thread Nearly two millions of persons are employed in England in the cotton manufacture.

112.-LEATHER.

Here

The skins of animals, by a process called tanning, are made into leather. The hides or skins being cleaned and soaked in lime water, are placed in pits, called tan-pits, full of oak-bark and water. they remain from six to twelve months, when they are taken out, dried, and passed between heavy rollers to make them smooth. The leather is then sent from the tanner to the currier, who by rubbing, paring, and polishing it, prepares it for the shoemaker or the saddler and harness-maker. Morocco leather is made from goat skins; saddles from the skin of pigs. The thin leather of which gloves are made, is taken from the skins of lambs, having been tanned with alum.

113.-GOLD.

The largest gold mines are in South America. It is obtained in considerable quantities in California. It is also found in many rivers in Africa and Peru, in the shape of small grains, called gold dust. Of all metals gold is most easily beaten out; so that one grain of it will cover fifty square inches. Gold does not rust. It is heavier than other

metals. It is much used for making chains, seals, watches, and watch-cases. When used as gilding or covering for other articles, it is called gold leaf. One ounce of gold is worth about sixteen ounces of silver.

114. SILVER.

This metal is chiefly found in Chili and in Peru, in South America. The mountain of Potosi, in the Andes, is full of silver mines. Silver is whiter and may be polished better than any other metal. It is much used for making plate, candlesticks, spoons, forks, and other useful articles. When used for coins, such as crowns and shillings, it is mixed with one twelfth part of copper, which gives it greater hardness. It is much used in plating or covering over articles made of copper. The principal silver mine in Europe is that at Konigsberg, in Norway. 115.-COPPER.

This metal is found in large quantities in the counties of Devon and Cornwall, in North Wales, and the Isle of Anglesea. It is used in large sheets for covering the bottoms of ships; also for money; and, when compounded with other metals, for many useful purposes. Bronze is a mixture of copper with a small quantity of tin; and this is the metal which is spoken of in the Scriptures as brass. What we call brass, is made of 80 parts of copper and 20 of a metal called zinc. Copper vessels ought not to be used in cooking, as it is partially dissolved by acids, such as vinegar, and is poisonous. Many lives have been lost in this way. Bell-metal consists of three parts of copper and one of tin.