Excerpt from Dwight's American Magazine, and Family Newspaper, 1845, Vol. 1: With Numerous Illustrative and Ornamental Wood Engravings, for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, and Moral and Religious Principles

T ere are some wonderful things about (feathers, which ought to be explained to those who have never been told the cause. The fibres of most feathers stick together, and so make the whole look smooth and connected, as if made of one piece. If it were not so, most feathers would lose their beauty. This will be understood by observing the lower parts of a quill, where we may find a few fibres sepa rated and stickin out in all directions. Each fibre of a eather usually has two rows of very small hooks along the e es, which catch in those of the next, and t us all are held together. The hooks cannot be seen without a microscope. If you pull the fibres, you can separate them: or you may do it by drawing a pin between them. But they are easily made to hook to ether ain.

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