.MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 77 



ated by a slight alteration in the position of one of the rollers. As 

 the fibre may be prepared to any length, there will be no necessity in 

 future for even this alteration, the existing cotton machinery being 

 perfectly adapted for the purpose of spinning flax prepared according 

 to the process patented by M. Claussen. The patent granted is for the 

 preparation of flax in a short staple, so as to produce a substitute for 

 wool and cotton capable of being spun upon cotton machinery, and 

 also for the mixture of the materials thus obtained, which can be 

 carded together with silk, cotton, or wool, or separately. The right is 

 also secured for preparing long fibre as a substitute for silk, for 

 bleaching, in the preparation of materials for spinning and felting, and 

 also in yarns and felts. The inventor does not, however, confine him- 

 self to flax for the purpose of producing a fibre adapted to his purpose, 

 but states that he can obtain similar results from hemp, jute, Chinese 

 grass, and, to use his own expression, ' from an old tar rope, or a 

 bamboo cane.' In consideration of the importance attached to this 

 subject, the Board of Trade have consented to relax a general princi- 

 ple, and to grant a charter to a company who propose to bring into 

 flax cultivation no less than 100,000 acres, and to purchase the prod- 

 uce at the rate of 12 per acre. The whole of the new process, 

 from the first preparation of the raw material to the final manufacture 

 of the " cotton," " silk," and "wool" into textile fabrics, will be 

 shown at the Exhibition of 1851. 



IMPROVEMENT IN DISTILLING MERCURY. 



M. VIOLETTE has described to the French Academy an improved 

 mode of distilling mercury, by means of the vapor of water brought 

 to an intense heat. The process consists in plunging the amalgam 

 into a current of vapor of water heated to 350 or 400 degrees Centi- 

 grade. The aqueous vapor acts at the same time as a calorific agent 

 and as a mechanical agent. It heats the metal to the temperature re- 

 quired for its vaporization, and then bears off with it the metallic va- 

 pors, leaving free space for continued distillation. The mingled 

 vapors of water and mercury are condensed in an ordinary refrigera- 

 tor. The water and metal are precipitated separately to the bottom : 

 and two small distinct streams are observed issuing from the refriger- 

 ator, one of mercury below, that of water flowing on the top. The 

 loss and waste by this method are represented to be absolutely noth- 

 ing, or so small as to be unworthy of notice. Such, at least, has 

 been the result of numerous experiments, made with the pure mercu- 

 ry, with amalgams of tin, silver, and gold, with goldsmith's ashes, 

 and with metals gilded and plated. In operating upon an amalgam 

 obtained from the mines of Brittany, it was remarked with special 

 satisfaction that the mercury did not bear along with it to the refrig- 

 erator an atom of the metals dissolved by it. This total exemption is 

 never observed in the distillation of mercury by the ordinary process. 

 It is averred that the cost of distillation by the method of M. Violette 

 will be actually less, apart from the economy effected by avoiding 

 waste, than that of distillation by the ordinary process. The grand 



