404 FLAX 



bark of Qiurcus tinctoria, many erroneous views seem still to exist. Bolloy, in his 

 nbovo-mentionod treatise, observes, for instance, that it was probable that the flavine 

 furnishes a purer yellow than the bark of quercitron, because it has been freed from 

 the greater part of tannic acid. It appears to me that it would have been more 

 correct to state that the flaviuo produces a purer colour because it consists chiefly of 

 quercetin, as Bolley himself has demonstrated, while the bark contains only the less 

 colouring quercitriu. It is, moreover, not quite clear to me in what manner the tannic 

 acid referred to could act injuriously, since, for dyeing yellow, the goods are not 

 mordanted with iron salts. Besides, the tannic acid from quercitron, according to 

 Schlobsberger, yields green, not black, when coming in contact with salts of peroxide 

 of iron. This was already known by Dr. Bancroft when he wrote in his Patent 

 Specification, bearing date of 1775 : " This species of bark may be distinguished from 

 all others by its giving with alum a fine yellow colour, and not striking a black upon 

 the addition of iron." 



' According to Grothe (" Katechismus," &c., p. 103) flavine yields a dark, greenish- 

 black precipitate with salts of protoxide of iron, and citron-yellow with salts of 

 protoxide of tin. This can be comprehended only when it is known that Grothe com- 

 piled from the above-mentioned book of Napier, who evidently examined a kind of 

 flavino containing much tannic acid. With salts of protoxide of iron, pure flavine 

 yields a green colour with olive tint ; with tin salt the liquid only assumes a brighter 

 colour. A decoction of bark, however, from which quercitrin has already separated, 

 produces, with salts of protoxide of iron, a greenish-black ; with tin salt, a light 

 yellowish precipitate. In this latter case the supernatant liquor grows reddish. 



' In dyeing with a decoction of the bark, the brown colour discovered by Chevreul 

 acts undoubtedly more injuriously than tannin does. If, therefore, one chooses, with 

 Bolley, to ascribe the purer yellow of the flavine to the absence of a foreign substance, 

 it would certainly be more correct to seek the cause of this fact in the absence of the 

 brown colour of Chevreul. Every dyer knows that in dyeing with the bark of quer- 

 citron high temperatures are not desirable, the brown dye being then absorbed by the 

 fibre, just as in dyeing with aniline violet the real colour contained therein is with- 

 drawn at a high degree of heat.' 



The quantity of colouring matter in flavin is very great, its value as compared 

 with bark is 16 to 1, or one ounce of flavin is equal to one pound of quercitron bark. 

 A portion burned left 4'4 per cent, of ash, and a solution of it gives the following 

 reaction with salts : 



Persalts of iron 

 Protosalts of iron 

 Protosalts of tin 

 Persalts of tin 

 Alumina 



Orange black precipitate. 

 Deep greenish black precipitate. 

 Lemon yellow precipitate. 

 Orange yellow precipitate. 

 A rich yellow precipitate. 



Acids lighten the colour of the solution, and alkalis deepen it, rendering it 

 redder. Napier. 



FliA VINDIN". A substance isomeric with indin and Indigo blue. It is produced 

 by the action of potash on indin. Flavindin may be obtained in large quantities by 

 continuing the ebullition of indin with solution of potash for a long time. It is 

 purified by solution in water containing a few drops of ammonia, and precipitation 

 with hydrochloric acid. Flavindin is of a pale yellow colour, .and is sparingly 

 soluble in alcohol. See Watts's * Dictionary of Chemistry.' 



FIiAX (Latin, linum; French, lin ; Italian and Spanish, lino; Portuguese. linho ; 

 German Flacks ; Dutch vlas), the Linum usitatissimum, a plant of the class Pentandria, 

 order Pentagynia, in the system of Linnaeus, and the typo of the order Linacese, in 

 the natural system of Botany, largely cultivated for its fibre and seed, and, next to 

 cotton, the most extensively used raw material for textile manufacture in the vegetable 

 kingdom. This plant was primarily a native of Asia, and was introduced at an early 

 period into Europe. Frequent mention is made of it in Scripture history, as grown 

 both in Palestine and in Egypt, as well as of the fabrics manufactured from its fibre. 

 It was probably introduced into Europe by the Phoenician traders, or the Greek 

 colonists of Egypt and Syria. Homer alludes to the linen manufacture of Greece. 



At the present day, the flax plant is grown for fibre alone, for seed alone, or for 

 lx>th products together, in many countries of the eastern, and in some of the wslrni 

 hemisphere. For seed alone, in Hindostan, Turkey, and the United States of AHUTUM ; 

 for fibre and seed in Russia, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, 

 Switzerland, the Iberian Peninsula, Great Britain, and Egypt ; in Ireland, chiefly for 

 the fibre, without titilising the seed. 



The average annual production of fibre, in the chief countries where flax is grown, 

 ip as follows : 



