FIBER (Lat. fibra), a term of very common use as applied to objects of a stringy or thread-like character, whether of the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom. Miner als are often described as of a fibrous structure or appearance, in which there is, however, no possibility of detaching the apparent fibers from the general mass, or in which they are inflexible and brittle if detached: but a more perfect example of mineral F. is found in amianthus, a variety of asbestos (q.v.). For the scientific use of F. with regard to the animal kingdom, we refer to the article MUSCLE; for its scientific use with regard to the vegetable kingdom, to VEGETABLE TISSUE and to WOOD and WOODY FIBER. In its more popular, but perfectly accurate use, it includes the hair or wool of quadrupeds, the silken threads of the cocoons of silk-worms and other insects, the fibers of the leaves and of the inner bark of plants, and the elongated cells or hairs connected with the seeds of plants, the ordinary materials of cordage and of textile fabrics.
Of mineral substances, amianthus alone has been used for textile fabrics, and that only to a very limited extent. Animal and vegetable fibers have, from the earliest ages, supplied man with cordage and with cloth. How the invention took place, can only be matter of conjecture.
The animal fibers used for textile purposes are chiefly of the two classes already men tioned—(1) the wool or hair of quadrupeds, and (2) the silk of the cocoons of insects. To these may be added (3) the byssus (q.v.) of mollusks, but this class contains only the byssus of the pinna (q.v.) of the Mediterranean, an article of ancient and high reputa tion, but more of curiosity than of use. The skins and intestines of animals, although sometimes twisted Or plaited for variouS uses, Can 'scarcely be reckoned among the fibrous materials afforded by the animal kingdom. For information regarding the fibers obtained from the cocoons of insects, see SILK and Stmcwoluet. It is to the first class that the greater number of different kinds of animal F. used for textile purposes belong; and the wool of the sheep far exceeds all the rest in importance. See SHEEP and Woof.. But the wool or hair of other quadrupeds is also to some extent used, as of the goat (see GOAT and ANGORA), the alpaca (q.v.), the camel (q.v.), the bison (q.v.), the musk ox (q.v.), the yak (q.v.), and the chinchilla (q.v.); all of which, except the last—and it has but a doubtful claim to be mentioned—are, like the sheep, ruminants. The hair of comparatively few animals is sufficiently long for textile purposes, or can be procured in sufficient abundance to make it of economic importance. The warmth of clothing depends much on the fineness of the hair, and on other characters in which wool particularly excels.
The useful vegetable fibers are far more numerous and various than the animal. They are obtained from plants of natural orders very different from each other; none of them, however, belonging to the class of acrogenous or cryptogamous plants. They are obtained also from different parts of plants. Those which are derived from exogenous plants are either the fibers of the inner bark (or bast, q.v.), as flax, hemp, etc., or hairs
of the fruit, as cotton. The useful fibers of endogenous plants sometimes also belong to the fruit, as coir or cocoa-nut F., and the unimportant F. of cotton-grass. The spathe of some of the palms is sometimes also sufficiently fibrous and strong to be used for bags, etc., without separation of its fibers; the fibers of the interior of the stem of old cocoa-nut palms are sometimes used for coarse purposes; the fibrous character of the stems of the slender palms called rattans, of bulrushes, etc., fits them for wicker work, for plaiting into chair-bottoms, and the like; the roots of the agaves (q.v.) yield fibers useful for various purposes; but generally, the more valuable fibers obtained from endogenous plants are those of their leaves, either of the leaf-stalks—as piassaba F. and gomuto or ejoo F., both produced by palms—or of the blade of the leaf, as pine apple F., pita flax, New Zealand flax, bowstring hemp, etc. The fibers of the leaves of endogens being parallel to each other, are easily obtained of sufficient length for eco nomical purposes; whilst the reticulated fibers of the leaves of exogens, even if long enough, which is comparatively seldom the case, cannot be separated for use. The bast fibers of exogens, however, are often of sufficient length, and easily separable. Their separation is generally accomplished by steeping in water, or by frequent bedewing with water, so as to cause a partial rotting of the other parts of the bast and of the bark which covers it. But the fibers of endogens being in general discolored and injured by this process to a much greater degree than those of exogens, mere mechanical means are usually preferred for their separation, such as beating, passing between rollers, and scraping. The fibers of many leaves are separated by scraping alone. The fibers of fruits, as cotton, exist in nature in a separate state, like the wool or hair of animals, and require merely to be collected and cleaned.
A complete enumeration of the kinds of vegetable F. applied to economical pur poses would not be easy. Flax, hemp, and cotton have long had the pre-eminence. To these have recently been added New Zealand flax, jute, sunn or sunn hemp, coir, pita flax, abaci or Manilla hemp, bowstring hemp, China grass, piassaba, and many others. New kinds are continually being brought under notice, and to this industrial exhibi tions and industrial museums have most beneficially contributed. New kinds, however, do not immediately command the attention they deserve. "If a new product is sent into the market," says Dr. Royle, " few of the regular customers will buy it, as they want that to which their machinery and manufactures are suited." But for the judgment and enterprise of Mr. Salt, it might have been long ere alpaca wool had obtained its present place among the materials of our manufactures; and there is much reason to think that many vegetable fibers, now little regarded, may yet in like manner be exalted to importance.
For the use of vegetable fibers in the manufacture of paper, see PAPER.