230 Scientific Intelligence. [Surr. 
interfere in the hours of attendance; and the whole is calculated to 
form a complete Course of Medical and Chirurgical Instruction. 
Dr. Clutterbuck will begin his Autumn Course of Lectures on 
.the Theory and Practice of Physic, Materia Medica, and Chemistry, 
on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at ten o’clock in the morning, at his house, 
No. 1,.in the Crescent, New Bridge-street, Blackfriars, 
Dr. Clarke and Mr. Clarke will commence their Lectures on 
Midwifery, and the Diseases of Women and Children, on Wed- 
nesday, Oct. 5. The lectures are read every morning from a 
quarter past ten to a quarter past eleven, for the convenience of 
students attending the hospitals. 
Il. New Mode of manufacturing Hemp and Flax. 
About two years ago Mr. Lee took out a patent for obtaining 
hemp and flax directly from the plants by a new method. He has 
established a manufactory for the purpose at Old Bow, on the river 
Lea, near London, where his method, and the resu!t of it, may be 
seen. I consider Mr. Lee’s invention as the greatest improvement 
ever introduced into the linen business, and as likely to occasion a 
total change in the whole of our bleach-fields. Hitherto the only 
way of obtaining hemp and flax has been to steep the plants in water 
till they begin to rot. ‘They are then exposed for some days to the 
sun spread out upon the grass, after which the woody part, now 
become very brittle, is removed by the flax mill, the nature of 
which is too .well known to require any description. By these pro- 
cesses the fibres of the flax are weakened, and a considerable portion 
of them is altogether destroyed and lost. The flax, too, ‘acquires 
a greenish yellow colour, and it is well known that a very expensive 
and tedious bleaching process is necessary to render it white. Mr. 
Lee neither steeps his flax, nor spreads it on the grass. When the 
plant is ripe, it is pulled in the usual way. It is then thrashed, by 
placing it between two grooved wooden beams shod with iron. One 
of these is fixed; the other is suspended on hinges, and is made to 
impinge with some force on the fixed beam; the grooves in the one 
beam corresponding with flutes in the other, By a mechanical 
contrivance almost exactly similar, the woody matter is beaten off, 
and the fibres of flax left. By passing these through hackles, vary- 
ing progressively in fineness, the flax is very speedily dressed, and 
rendered proper for the use for which it is intended. The advan- 
tages of this process are manifold, ‘The expense of steeping and 
spreading is saved; a much greater produce of flax is obtained ; it 
is much stronger ; the fibres may be divided into much finer fibres, 
so as to obtain at once, and in any quantity, flax fine enough for 
the manufacture of lace. But the greatest advantage of all remains 
yet to be stated. Flax manufactured in this manner requires only 
to be washed in pure water in order to become white. The colour- 
ing matter is not chemically combined with the fibre, and therefore 
is removed at once by water, It is the steeping of the flax and hemp, 
PD 
