Excerpt from The Art of Weaving, by Hand and by Power: With an Introductory Account of Its Rise and Progress in Ancient and Modern Times Many of our American weavers already possess sufficient skill and dexterity in several branches Of this, the most complex Of all arts, to prove dangerous rivals to those similarly engaged in other parts of the globe; but the field for improvement is still very ex tensive. In every quarter Of this vast country men of scientific genius are busy in applying those elementary and speculative prin ciples, which were formerly confined to the closet of the philosopher, to the grand purpose of social improvement. The great chain which connects theory with the useful arts, is rapidly extending, and it is impossible to anticipate what may be the result. The fabrication Of almost every species of cloth appears to have been carried on to a surprising extent in the ancient world and a knowledge Of the processes by which it was accomplished, together with the improvements made on many Of them since their intro duction into Europe, are objects of the first national importance, and no apology is necessary for our attempting a collection Of facts on the subject, embodying them with our own experience as a prac tical weaver and manufacturer, in England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Prussia, &c., for nearly a quarter of a century. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.