ON FLAX. 127 
and its longer limb made to pass to the bottom of a loosely-closed vial 
which is placed in a beaker containing some cold water. The apparatus thus 
constructed consists of three vessels; and the material to be extracted, reduced, 
if possible, to coarse powder, or cut into small pieces and bruised, is placed 
in the intermediate vessel, the lower tubulure of which should be loosely 
filled with a piece of cotton which has been previously boiled with zther 
and alcohol. A little flask, in which about an ounce of ether has been 
placed, is then attached, and the bent tube inserted, with the long limb 
passing into the vial, in which also there is some zxther. The apparatus 
being thus arranged, a spirit-lamp is held under the little flask, and the 
heat continued until nearly all the ether is volatilized. The flask is then, 
without being detached, cooled by immersion in a basin of cold water, 
when the ether in the intermediate vessel, and also that in the condenser, 
is forced into it by atmospheric pressure. The flask is then dried by blotting- 
paper, the heat of the lamp again applied, and. the process continued until 
the «ther which passes through the little bent tube connected with the flask 
is entirely free from colour. By this method of extraction, nearly all the 
zether employed can be recovered by applying heat to the flask, so as to cause 
the liquid to accumulate in the condenser, and a concentrated solution of the 
matter dissolved is collected in the flask. By placing the flask (the weight 
of which has been ascertained) in the water-bath, so as to remove all traces 
of the solvent, the amount of the extract can readily be determined. 
The total amount of matters extracted by ether, in five experiments, with 
samples of flax-straw, the produce of crops in this country, in different years, 
and all of first-rate quality, gave an average of 2°068 per cent. on the flax 
dried at 212°. The residue of the flax, after extraction with water, and the 
subtraction of the amount of wax, &c. extracted by ether, and of the in- 
soluble nitrogenized compounds, as calculated from the amount of nitrogen in 
the washed fibre, and assumed to possess the composition of albumen, and 
of the insoluble inorganic matters which it was found to contain, was regarded 
as fibre. 
_ The following is a statement of the results obtained in the examination of 
samples of dressed flax fibre, of average quality, and also of a sample of un- 
steeped flax-straw which had been taken from the field when fully matured, 
and had remained for some weeks in the stack. The samples of fibre dried 
at 212° contained, respectively—No. 1, 9°10, and No. 2, 8°61 per cent. of 
water; and the unsteeped straw 12 per cent. :— 
Unsteeped 
No. 1. No. 2. Straw. 
Wax volatile oil, lino-tannic acid, and 
YESINOUS MAttEL .......s.ceseveeeve goin) ,02:200 2:620 1°360 
Sugar and colouring matter, soluble 
in alcohol ...... serene tockR se devon cs) 116541 0°624 5°630 
Inorganie matters, soluble in aleohol 0-281 0°116 2°830 
PRIME i onisig sna sgussiande srassesacntsen, 0'098 0:280 0:360 
Salts, soluble in aleohol ...... icyes, | 0'076 0:044 0-080 
Nitrogenized eompounds, soluble in 
Water, Caseine, S&C. ..sccscsscscescece 3°560 1:380 0:834 
*  Nitrogenized compounds, insoluble 
in water...... dqouvaksaaeetee aesvesees.s.'- 2°940 4310 4:269 
Inorganic matters, united with the 
; BEEP) sgsunnceeass. josuqustenndenpsausdnaect’' 0°20 1-490 2°500 
MPP HIDEC sea ccectacejegecaqogettecserccesapaceses, 0461944 89-136 82:137 
100000 = 100000 «100-000 
