76 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



liquor and the gluten being drawn off, and the residue washed with 

 water, we have a pure starch mixed with fibrine ; this latter is sep- 

 arated from the starch in the usual way adopted by the rice-starch 

 makers. The gain by the use of the lime and salt solution is such, 

 that we can advance the manufacture of starch in about 48 hours to 

 the same stage which it now requires 132 hours and upwards to arrive 

 at, and obtain besides an increase of from six to seven per cent, in the 

 quantity produced. The starch is also purer than any obtained by 

 means of a caustic alkaline or acid solution, and is fitted for all pur- 

 poses to which wheat-starch, produced by fermentation, is usually ap- 

 plied. Starch of a good quality for some purposes, though not for all, 

 may also be made by using solutions of lime alone, in the manner be- 

 fore specified. The solution of lime and salt may be employed witli 

 like good effect in manufacturing starch from rye, peas, beans, and 

 other leguminous substances, and in the preparatory steps also of the 

 manufacture of other like articles of commerce, such as dextrine or 

 British gum. For detailed account see Chemist, May, 1850. 



IMPROVEMENT IN THE PREPARATION OF FLAX. 



THE London Morning Chronicle, for Nov. 15, notices an improve- 

 ment in the manufacture of flax, recently patented by M. Claussen. 

 Hitherto a great obstacle in the way of the successful cultivation of 

 flax has been the trouble, delay, and expense attendant upon its steep- 

 ing, in order to prepare it for the market ; but the new invention en- 

 tirely supersedes the process of steeping, and the fibre is handed over 

 to the spinner in a perfectly natural and unimpaired condition, free 

 from dirt and discoloration, and retaining all those oleaginous proper- 

 ties on which its strength so much depends. The inventor has also 

 discovered a means of obviating the cold feel which has always been 

 deemed an inherent characteristic of linen fabrics. He has succeeded 

 in manufacturing the unsteeped flax into various descriptions of mate- 

 rial, possessing respectively all the warmth of wool, the softness of 

 cotton, and the glossiness of silk, and closely resembling these fabrics 

 both to the eye and the touch. The cost of converting the unsteeped 

 flax into " cotton" amounts to no more than seven sixteenths of a 

 penny per pound, and the difference between the price of flax thus 

 prepared and that of raw cotton is estimated at from one third to one 

 half in favor of the former. 



The Chronicle further says : " We stated on Monday that there 

 had been placed in our hands a quantity of flax rovings and yarns spun 

 upon cotton machinery by the inventor. Since that period we have 

 had an opportunity of personally inspecting at Manchester the whole 

 process connected with the invention, and the result has fully con- 

 vinced us of its practicability. The finest portion of the yarn spun 

 was equal in fineness to ISO's cotton, the coarsest being equal to 60's. 

 The . application of such a test as that of 120's for the first time was 

 certainly a most severe one ; the result, however, was perfectly suc- 

 cessful. A slight difficulty arose at first with the machinery, in con- 

 sequence of the length of the fibre ; this, however, was easily obvi- 



