CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 219 



of the fibres put forward by some persons who have conic forward to 

 explain the process in public do not appear to be well founded. The 

 flax fibres are in M. Claussen's process excessively finely divided and 

 separated from each other, but each remains still a thorough and com- 

 plete flax fibre, and quite unlike cotton, and the same amount of 

 division, and the same fineness and pliability of fibre may be given, 

 and often is given, to flax by simple dressing, especially if the flax had 

 been overrented. This point as to structural character is, however, 

 so fundamental to the value and quality of the flax cotton, that I deem 

 it indispensable to follow up still further the careful microscopic 

 examination of the material in all its stages, and shall, therefore, 

 reserve for a future complete report details and drawings." 



31. Hamel lately delivered an address before the Imperial Academy 

 of Russia, on the subject of flax cotton, in which he gives a different 

 account of its invention to what is generally supposed. According to 

 him, a native of Holstein, named Ahnesorge, by trade a dyer and 

 bleacher, had applied himself for several years to improving flax 

 spinning, as well as to turn to account the tow, which is of h'ttle 

 value. For this purpose he made several journies, and in 1838 went to 

 St. Petersburg!! with a sample of about a dozen pounds of a cottony 

 material from flax tow. In 1846 the king of Denmark, having been 

 informed of M. Ahuesorge's industrious efforts, sent him a sum of 

 money to help in establishing a manufactory, but just as he had begun, 

 at Neumeistler, the manufacture of cotton and woolen fabrics, mixed with 

 his cotton from flax tow, the disastrous war of the Duchies broke out, 

 and M. Ahnesorge sought refuge in London, where he arrived in 

 October, 1848. 



Having applied to one of the principal patent agents for advice, on 

 what steps he should take to procure a patent for his invention, he 

 was introduced to M. Claussen, who, delighted with his project, made 

 an agreement with him, by which he was to take out the patent in his 

 name. Ahnesorge commenced his labors in M. Claussen's house, in 

 London. His articles were highly spoken of, but he wanted the 

 necessary funds to develope the manufacture. A native of Hamburgh, 

 named Auguste Quitzow, resolved to carry on the manufacture in a 

 large way in Yorkshire. He bought a place between Bradford and 

 Leeds, and with the consent of Claussen, engaged Ahnesorge to pre- 

 pare the flax, and make the cotton according to his method. M. 

 Hamel says that all the samples, both white and dyed, exhibited at the 

 Crystal Palace in the name of Claussen, as well as in that of Quitlow, 

 Schelennger & Co., were made by M. Ahnesorge ; the public were not 

 informed of this circumstance. The attempts to card and spin 

 Ahuesorge's products were made near Rochdale, in a factory that Mr. 

 Bright, the well-known politician had placed at the disposal of M. 

 Claussen, who had, in fact, taken out the patent in his own name. 

 The high price of cotton, at the time of the Great Exhibition, had led 

 to the hope that a project for substituting flax would easily find 

 purchasers, and this was the reason why M. Claussen, described, in this 

 patent, a process for cutting the cotton flax into small pieces, of the 



