It results from this that the horn has the appearance of a mass of agglutinated hairs, which, in the newly growing part at the base, readily fray out on destruction of the softer intermediate substance; but the fibres differ from true hairs in growing from a free papilla of the derm, and not within a follicular involution of the same.
The object of crossing (croissage) is to round, smooth and condense the separate filaments of each set into one strand, and as the surface of the filaments is gummy and adhesive it is found on drying that they have agglutinated into a compact single fibre of raw silk.
In these cases, however, the portions of the hairs behind the growing region become agglutinated together into a solid cylindrical pseudo-parenchymatous axis.
This work is partly carried out beneath the surface and partly on the surface, upon which the worms wander at night and eject the swallowed and triturated earth; frequently castings of some height are formed of coiled ropes of agglutinated particles of mould.
The workman sits on a wooden stand, with a brass cup before him, which he lines with the leaves of poppy petals before-mentioned until the thickness of half an inch is reached, a few being allowed to hang over the cup; the leaves are agglutinated by means of " lewa," a pasty fluid which consists of a mixture of inferior opium, 8% of " pussewah " and the " dhoe " or washings of the vessels that have contained opium, and the whole is made of such consistence that 100 grains evaporated to dryness over a water-bath leave 53 grains of solid residue.