On 16 August, the French Revolutionary Calendar celebrated Cotton. Here are 10 things you might not know about cotton.
- The word cotton comes from “qutun”, an arabic word used to describe any fine cloth.
- The cotton plant is a shrub which belongs to the family Malvaceae and genus Gossypium. There are about 52 species of this plant, of which four are cultivated for cotton production.
- Cotton has been around since ancient times. It is the oldest known textile. Seeds dating back to 450 BC have been found in Peru. It was grown in Ancient Egypt, but not widely used for clothing – only the high priest was allowed to wear it. The Greeks and Romans used it to make sails and awnings as well as clothes. The Aztecs used cotton as currency, using a brown coloured cotton to pay for things. Cotton is still used as currency in the developed world today – American paper money is actually 75% cotton.
- When cotton was first imported to Europe, people had no idea how it was produced, only that it came from a plant of some kind. Many assumed it grew on trees rather than shrubs and that it was a kind of wool. Hence the German word for cotton is Baumwolle, which translates as "tree wool". Some people, like the 14th century writer John Mandeville, thought there were trees in India which had tiny lambs growing on their branches. “These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungry," he wrote.
- In those days, all cotton was picked by hand, and still is in some places, notably India, Pakistan and China. The first mechanical picker was invented in 1850 but it was nearly 100 years before they really caught on.
- Cotton is the most abundantly produced natural fiber in the world. The largest producers of cotton are China and India, while the highest quality cotton comes from Australia and Egypt.
- Cotton can absorb water up to 27 times its own weight, which makes it easy to dye. It is also stronger when wet, unlike many other fibres. Hence items and garments likely to get wet are often made from cotton. However, before it can be used the oils and waxes which protect the fibre from the elements while it grows on the plant have to be removed.
- Many cotton items are White in colour, but this isn't the natural colour of the material. It's actually a tan colour, although Red, Green, and Brown shades can be grown as well. The fibre is purified to make it white.
- Longer fibres are best for making fabric. Shorter fibres are combed out of the harvest and are known as comber noils. They don't go to waste, however. They are used to make things like cotton balls and cotton buds.
- The first light bulb manufactured by Thomas Edison used a cotton filament.
NEW!!
Over the Rainbow
'We're not in Trinity anymore,' says Leonard Marx, quoting a line from an old Innovian movie. The moon is different; the planes flying overhead are different. Nobody has any idea where they are or if it's possible to get home.
In this strange new world, people from the highly technical Innovia and the less advanced Classica must co-operate in order to survive. In addition, travel through the inter-dimensional wormhole has given some people unusual and unexpected powers.
Innovia mourns the loss of its superhero, Power Blaster, last seen carrying a nuclear bomb to the upper atmosphere away from the inhabited Bird Island. They don't believe he could possibly have survived. Power Blaster has survived, but is close to death and stranded in the new dimension. He is nursed back to health by a Classican woman, Elena. She has no idea who he is, only that she is falling in love with the handsome stranger.
Shanna sets out to discover what happened to Nathan Tate, who didn't return from his hiking holiday, not knowing her life is about to be turned inside out and upside down.
Meanwhile, Desi Troyes, the man responsible for the catastrophe, is at large on the new world, plotting how he can transfer his plans for world domination to the planet he now finds himself on - Earth.
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