(b. 1832) became assistant in the geological department of the British Museum in 1858, and in 1880 keeper of that department. He became F.R.S. in 1873, LL.D. (St Andrews) in 1878, president of the Geological Society of London (1894–1896), and was awarded the Wollaston medal of that society in 1906. He published a Monograph of the British Fossil Crustacea, Order Merostomata (Palaeontograph. Soc. 1866-1878); A Monograph of Carboniferous Trilobites (Pal. Soc. 1883–1884), and many articles in scientific journals. He was editor of the Geological Magazine from its commencement in 1864.
See Memoir of S. Woodward (with bibliography) in Trans. Norfolk Nat. Soc. (1879), and of S. P. Woodward (with portrait and bibliography), Ibid. (1882), by H. B. Woodward.
WOOL, WORSTED AND WOOLLEN MANUFACTURES. Wool is a modified form of hair, distinguished by its slender, soft and wavy or curly structure, and, as seen under the microscope, by its highly imbricated or serrated surface. At what point an animal fibre ceases to be hair and becomes wool it is impossible to determine, because the one by imperceptible gradations merges into the other, so that a continuous chain can be formed from the finest and softest merino to the rigid bristles of the wild boar. Thus the fine soft wool of the Australian merino merges into the cross-bred of New Zealand; the cross-bred of New Zealand merges into the long English and lustre wool, which in turn merges into alpaca and mohair-materials with clearly marked but undeveloped scale structure. Again, such animals as the camel and the Cashmere goat yield fibres, which it would perhaps be difficult to class rigidly as either wool or hair.
Wool is one of the most important of the textile fibres. Owing to the ease with which it may be spun into thread, and the Wool in Britain. comfort derived from clothing made of wool, it would naturally be one of the first textiles used by mankind for clothing. Ancient records prove the high antiquity of wool textures and the early importance of the sheep. The different kinds of wool and the cloth made from them in antiquity are described by Pliny and referred to by other writers, and among the arts which the British Isles owe to the Romans not the least important is the spinning and weaving of wool. The sheep certainly was a domestic animal in Britain long before the period of the Roman occupation; and it is probable that some use was made of sheep skins and of wool. But the Romans established a wool factory whence the occupying army was supplied with clothing, and the value of the manufacture was soon recognized by the Britons, of whom Tacitus remarks, “Inde etiam habitus nostri honor et frequens toga” (Agric. c. 21). The product of the Winchester looms soon established a reputation abroad, it being remarked that “the wool of Britain is often spun so fine that it is in a manner comparable to the spider's thread.” This reputation was maintained throughout the middle ages, and the fibre was in great demand in the Low Countries and other continental centres. There are many allusions to woollen manufactures in England in early times; but the native industry could not rival the products of the continent, although the troubles in various industrial centres, from time to time, caused skilled workers in wool to seek an asylum in England. In the time of William the Conqueror Flemish weavers settled under the protection of the queen at Carlisle, but subsequently they were removed to Pembrokeshire. At various subsequent periods there were further immigrations of skilled Flemish weavers, who were planted at different places throughout the country. The cloth fair in the church yard of the priory of St Bartholomew was instituted by Henry II.; gilds of weavers were established; and the exclusive privilege of exporting woollen cloth was granted to the city of London. Edward III. made special efforts to encourage wool industries. He brought weavers, dyers and fullers from Flanders; he himself wore British cloth; but to stimulate native industry he prohibited, under pain of life and limb, the exportation of English wool. Previous to this time English wool had been in large demand on the continent, where it had a reputation exceeded only by the wool of Spain. The customs duties levied on the export of wool were an important source of the royal revenue. Edward III.'s prohibitory law was, however, found to be unworkable, and the utmost that both he and his successors were able to effect was to hamper the export trade by vexatious restrictions and to encourage much smuggling of wool. Thus while Edward III. limited the right of exporting to merchant strangers, Edward IV. decreed that no alien should export wool and that denizens should export it only to Calais. Legislation of this kind prevailed till the reign of Elizabeth, when the free exportation of English wool was permitted; and Smith, in his Memoirs of Wool, points out that it was during this reign that the manufacture made the most rapid progress. In 1660 the absolute prohibition of the export of wool was again decreed, and it was not till 1825 that this law was finally repealed. The results of the prohibitory law were exceedingly detrimental; the production of wool far exceeded the consumption; the price of the raw material fell; wool-“running” or smuggling became an organized traffic; and the whole industry became disorganized. Extraordinary expedients were resorted to for stimulating the demand for woollen manufactures, among which was an act passed in the reign of Charles II. decreeing that all dead bodies should be buried in woollen shrouds—an enactment which remained in the Statute Book, if not in force, for a period of 120 years. On the opening up of the colonies, every effort was made to encourage the use of English cloth, and the manufacture was discouraged and even prohibited in Ireland.
It was not without reason that the attention of monarchs and legislators was so frequently directed to the wool industries. Wool was indeed “the flower and strength and revenue and blood of England,” and till the development of the cotton trade, towards the end of the 18th century, the wool industries were, beyond comparison, the most important sources of wealth in the country. Towards the close of the 17th century the wool produced in England was estimated to be worth £2,000,000 yearly, furnishing £8,000,000 worth of manufactured goods, of which there was exported about £2,000,000 in value. In 1700 the official value of woollen goods exported was about £3,000,000, and in the third quarter of the century the exports had increased in value by about £500,000 only. In 1774 Dr Campbell (Political Survey of Great Britain) estimated the number of sheep in England at 10,000,000 or 12,000,000, the value of the wool produced yearly at £3,000,000, the manufactured products at £12,000,000, and the exports at £3,000,000 to £4,000,000. He also reckoned that the industry then gave employment to 1,000,000 persons. These figures, in the light of the dimensions of present-day industries, may appear small, but they bore a predominant relationship to the other great sources of employment and trade of the period. In 1800 the native crop of wool was estimated to amount to 96,000,000 ℔; and, import duty not being imposed till 1802, the quantity brought from abroad was 8,600,000 ℔, 6,000,000 ℔ of which came from Spain. In 1825 the importation of colonial wool became free, the duty leviable having been for several previous years as high as 6d. per ℔, and in 1844 the duty was finally remitted on foreign wool also.
Sheep were introduced at Jamestown in Virginia in 1609, and in 1633 the animals were first brought to Boston. Ten years Wool in America. later a fulling mill was erected at Rowley, Mass., “by Mr Rowley's people, who were the first that set upon making cloth in this western world.” The factory woollen industry was, however, not established till the close of the 18th century, and it is recorded that the first carding machine put in operation in the United States was constructed in 1794 under the supervision of John and Arthur Schofield.
For centuries the finer wools used for cloth-making throughout Europe had been obtained from Spain—the home of the famous Merino wool. merino breed developed from races of sheep originally introduced into the Peninsula by the Moors. Till early in the 19th century the superiority of Spanish merinos remained unchallenged, but the Peninsular War and its attendant evils produced a depreciation of quality concurrently
