A biographical article on Joseph Marie Jacquard (1752-1834) and the invention of the Jacquard loom. It covers his life in Lyons, his early drawboy machine and prizes, the hostility of the weavers, and his later honors. It also discusses his forerunners Falcon and Vaucanson, quotes an 1808 description of the card-controlled hook and griffe mechanism, and ends with the loom's worldwide spread. Illustrations include a portrait plate, a mechanism diagram, and a foot-pedal Jacquard loom from the 1840s.

A short historical sketch of John Mercer (1791-1866), the English calico printer and chemist whose 1844 observations on caustic soda treatment of cotton led to the process called mercerization. It covers Mercer's findings on cloth density, strength and dye affinity, his 1850 patent, Kurrer's 1858 appraisal, and Horace Lowe's 1890 discovery that tension produces luster. It also includes a brief biography and a photograph of Mercer from the estate of the chemist Heinrich Caro.