PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 481 



tlie British possessions copper is found in the primitive forma- 

 tion, an entirely different formation from that of the Lake Supe- 

 rior region. We have the same formation as on Lake Superior 

 in South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee, in New York, and in 

 the lead region of Missouri. 



COOKING CANTEEN. 



Mr. Herbert exhibited a canteen which could be used for 

 cooking potatos, rice, beans, &c. 



Referred to the Section on Mechanics. 



TEXTILE FABRICS. 



The Chairman stated that he had as yet seen no evidence of 

 any progress, since this subject was last under consideration, in 

 adapting the flax fibre to the machinery now used for spinning 

 wool and cfbtton, or removing any of the difficulties attending it. 

 So with the tree cottons. He had come to the conclusion that 

 they are all unsuited for cotton machinery in consequence of the 

 unequal length of the fibres. Upon a careful microscopic exami- 

 nation of seven samples of cotton, and estimating their value 

 from the length of the fibre, its fineness, and the degree to which 

 it is twisted into the corkscrew form, he had found that the 

 actual market value in Wall street corresponded with his esti- 

 mates, showing that these characteristics actually regulate the 

 market value of any description of cotton. 



Mr. Bull. — Would there be any more difficulty in constructing 

 machinery for working the flax fibre than for working cotton? 



The Chairman stated that cotton was peculiarly adapted to 

 being worked by machinery, whereas there seemed to be no such, 

 adaptation in the flax fibre. Napoleon ofl'ered a prize of thirty 

 thousand dollars for a machine for spinning flax into a thread; 

 but the machine never appeared. No machine has ever been 

 invented specially for working flax at a rate as cheap as cotton 

 is spun; but the proposition is not merely to spin flax, but to 

 spin it upon cotton and woolen machinery. The great difficulty 

 has been to cause the flax fibre to form a fine thread. 



Mr. Fisher suggested that the flax fibre prepared by the steam 

 gun might be available for an extra quality of linen paper. He 

 considered cotton paper as hardly fit to be used for the best kinds 

 of printing and writing. This flax fibre might be found superior 

 to worn linen rags. 



[Am. Inst.J EE 



