Thread-twisting

Abstract

THE habit of thread-twisting with the palm of the hand on the thigh is one which may be seen in every part of India at the present day; we think it can hardly be termed a rude method, or a savage art, though the Mohammedans, whose ancestors came not so very long ago from Central Asia, practise it as much as, or even more than, the Hindoos. As “J. S.” observes in NATURE of March 20 (p. 478), it may be one of the survivals from a barbarous period which we have lost since the introduction of machinery. Perhaps some of your correspondents may be able to tell us whether it is in use in the Orkneys and the Hebrides, or elsewhere, where the people still spin their own wool.