40 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION, 1876. WOOL FABRICS. CLASS 235.—Card-Wool Fabrics,—Yarns, Broadcloth, Doe skins, Fancy Cassimeres, Felted Goods, Hat Bodies. In considering the different classes of the manufactured products of wool at the Exhibition, it would be inconvenient, if not impracticable, to observe the geographical arrangement pursued in discussing the raw material. The peculiar national distinctions are less marked than in the raw material, and the products of some countries exhibit nothing calling for particular remark. It would be interesting to give the statistics of production of the different countries exhibiting, but these were not obtainable from any sources at our command. The fabrics of the class now under consideration, with the excep tion of yarns and hat bodies, may be properly designated as “ cloths.” The most marked impression made by an examination in detail of the cloths of different countries was the cosmopolitan character of the cloths of all manufacturing nations. Although there are marked distinctions in the kinds of cloths, these seem to bear the impress of the time, or the fashion of the time, rather than of the country of fabrication. This is especially true of the great mass of cloths for general con sumption, which can scarcely be distinguished except by the degrees of perfection in their fabrication. It has been remarked that woolen cloths, by their universal use, have tended to obliterate the outward social distinctions of classes. It was observable at the Exhibition that they served to obscure the distinction of nationalities. This uniformity may be partially due to the supremacy of fashion, made more universal by modern facilities of communication, but equally to the identity of modern machinery, and the influence of the raw material upon manufactures. In the last and in the early part of the present century, scarcely any fabrics were known under the designation of “ cloths,” except broadcloths, and twilled fabrics similar in face to broadcloths, called “ cassimeres.” Each piece was uniform in color. Variety of color and shade was the only element which the manufacturers had at command to satisfy the taste for change or the caprice of fashion. The principal distinctions were in the fineness and perfection of finish. From the descriptions which remain of the methods of weaving broadcloths in the French convents during the fourteenth century, this fabric would appear to be now substantially the same made four