90. _The COMMON SHEEP_ (Ovis aries, Fig. 14) _has, in general, hollow, compressed, transversely wrinkled, and somewhat crescent-shaped horns; but some of the varieties are entirely destitute of these weapons._ _The male is called_ ram, _the female_ ewe, _and the young one has the name of_ lamb. _Sheep are found in nearly every country of the world._ The bodies of these animals, in temperate and cold climates, are clad with a curled and closely matted kind of hair, which has the peculiar appellation of _wool_. The distinguishing characteristic of wool is that, when even the coarsest sort is manufactured into cloth, it thickens in the milling, and forms a close texture, owing to the peculiar roughness of its surface, and to its curly form; whereas the finest possible hair, under the same operation, will neither thicken nor form any texture whatever. It is by the manufacture of wool into various kinds of clothing that many thousands of people, in different countries of Europe, are entirely supported and fed. In temperate countries the fleeces of sheep are shorn or cut off once, and in others, where the climate is warmer, twice in the year, the animals being previously well washed to cleanse the wool. The Shetland sheep, and some others, have the fleece pulled, and not cut off. When wool is intended to be manufactured into cloth of mixed colours, it is dyed in the fleece before it is spun. When intended for tapestry, it is dyed after it is spun; and when to be wrought into cloth of uniform colour, it is not dyed until the cloth is made. Much wool is used in the manufacture of hats. For this purpose it goes through a process called _felting_, to unite or mat it into a firm substance. Felt is either made of wool alone, or of a mixture of wool with camel's or other hair. The _skins_ of sheep, after the processes called tanning and currying, are manufactured into a thin and coarse but useful kind of leather, which is much in request by saddlers, book-binders, and others. These skins, by a different process, are converted into _parchment_, which is used for writing deeds upon. Lambs' skins are made into gloves.