THE 



PIJILOSOPIIICAL MAGAZINE 

 AND JOURNAL. 



I. On Flax-sleeping, and Us Effects on the Colour and Qua- 

 lity c,j the Flax. Bxj G.wrN Inglis, Esq. 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



Dear Sir, — If vou consider the following obsevvatious on 

 flax-steeping vvortliV of a place in your valuable Magazine, I will 

 thank you to insert them. They are the substance of an- 

 swers furnished by me to inquiries made upon that subject by 

 G. Thomson, Esq", of the Trustees Office, Edinburgh. 



When in Dumbartonshire in 1801, reducing to practice the 

 process of bleaching by steam, I had a few spindles of yarn given 

 me to prepare for weaving. There was in the sleekness of the 

 thread something that attracted my attention. Having soaked 

 it over-night in warm water to prepare it for steaming, I was 

 much surprised at the change of colour, and the quantity of co- 

 louring matter dissolved in the water. It was then washed, wrung, 

 and soaked in a weak alkaline ley, and laid for steaming over 

 some bro\vn linens. After steaming the usual time, the covers were 

 taken off. The yarn was found to have attained a degree of 

 whiteness I never had before observed under similar circum- 

 stances. It was washed in the stream so long as any colouring 

 matter came from it, and laid to the grass for two days. I re- 

 member well the colour was such as to impress me with a strong 

 belief that some great and important discovery might be the re- 

 sult of accurately following up the process this flax had gone 

 through; and I inmiediately made inquiry of the lady to whom the 

 yarn belonged, who informed me she had it from a person she 

 named, in the neighbourhood : to this individual I made the 

 same application, and traced tlie yarn to have been purchased at 

 a Kilmarnock fair. 



Here the matter rested till the next season of lint pulling. I 

 had a particular wish to trace if possible the matter to its source, 

 and ronceived the best plan would be to traverse that part of the 

 country, from Stirling towards Kilmarnock. My time was far 



Vol.'51.No.237. J"«w. 1S18. A 2 too 



