102 Dr. Kane on the Chemical Constitution 



Stem of flax dried at 212°; the plant bad its usual amount 

 of leaves, but the seed vessels had not ripened. 



Carbon 38*72 



Hydrogen 7*33 



Nitrogen '56 



Oxygen 48*39 



Ashes 5-00 



100-00 

 There is a great difference here shown between the compo- 

 sition of the plants of hemp and flax, though they resemble 

 each other so much in their uses. The hemp contains a large 

 amount of nitrogen, the flax very little. The hemp contains 

 more oxygen than would form water with the hydrogen. Flax, 

 on the contrary, contains an excess of hydrogen. The differ- 

 ence is also remarkable in the composition of the ashes. 

 The ashes of the flax plant consist of 



Potash 9-78 



Soda 9-82 



Lime 12*33 



Magnesia 7*79 



Alumina 6*08 



Silica 21*35 



Phosphoric acid . . . 10*84 

 Sulphuric acid . . . 2*65 



Chlorine 2*41 



Carbonic acid , . . . 16*95 



100*00 

 The great quantity of lime which characterized the hemp 

 here disappears, and the peculiar quality of the ash is the 

 presence of soda and potash in equal quantities, much mag- 

 nesia, and especially the large proportion of phosphoric acid. 

 Dr. Kane has not met with any analysis of the ash of a plant 

 yielding the same amount of phosphoric acid, and hence the 

 exceedingly exhausting power of the flax crop is easily under- 

 stood. 



Dr. Kane notices in this ash of flax, that the potash, soda, 

 sulphuric acid and chlorine are in a very simple relation to 

 each other, the numbers given above coinciding closely with 

 those of two atoms each of sulphuric acid and chlorine, six of 

 potash, and nine of soda. So that if (in the ash) all the soda 

 be taken as carbonate, the potash will be divided equally 

 among sulphuric, muriatic and carbonic acids. Dr. Kane 

 thinks that this simplicity is probably accidental, but suggests 

 it for attention in subsequent analyses of flax ashes from other 

 localities. 



