LIMITATIONS. STATUTE OP. 



LINEN MANUFACTURE. 



" 9 * 

 purpose* 



We cannot, fur example, even define uniform velocity without 

 H. If I be the nurolier at feet described by a point in the number of 

 awxxwb I, then U uoifonn Telocity when -H< U the name (or all 

 values o( I, Aovrrrr a/'. begin to reckon I at what part of the motiun 

 we may. This b saying that, begin where we may, the limit of i+t U 

 aUiT the came. 



One ot the belt rtudie* in the theory of llmlU U the flrat eection of 

 Hewton's Prindpia. In the article I'HIME AND ULTIMATE RATIOS we 

 hall preeent one or two of the loading propositions. 

 1. IMITATIONS. STATUTE OF. [STATtr* or LIMITATIONS.] 

 L1MMA (A-W. rrm*iJrr\, in ancient Greek music, It that 

 which remaine of the Beater tone when the apotome U taken from it. 

 [ AroTom.) The greater tone, as, for instance. c, D, U divisible into 

 nine commae ; o( theee, Are conetitute the apotome, four the limma : 



"" ' Th " nit " l th< " '""*" ** 55'* n<1 fora " P nct > cal 

 U may be considered as the minor semitone of the moderh 



LIMONIN (C M H,.0.,f) U a bitter crystalline substance found in 

 the seeds of lemons and orange*. It dissolves in sulphuric acid with a 

 red colour, bat the addition of water reprecipitatee it. 



LINE. The definition of a lino, a* given by Euclid, will be dis- 

 cussed, with other matters relating to it, in the article SOLID, SUBFACEJ 

 LUCE. Pout (Definition* of). 



LIKE. The French used to divide their inch into twelve lilies, aud 

 the line into twelve points, which measures are out of date, since in all 

 scientific investigat : ons the metrical system is adopted. Sometime*, 

 bat randy, the line has been divided into ten points, thus giving 1440 

 poinU to the foot : the French metrological writers, particularly the 

 older toes, frequently give the measure* of other countries in 

 1440thsof their own foot. Some English writers have divided the 

 inch into lines. The French line U -0888 of an English inch, and is 

 also two millimetres and a quarter. 



LINEAL DESCENT. [DwcKxr.] 



LINEAR (Algebra). As all equations connected with straight lines 

 are of the first degree, the continental writers frequently call equations 

 of the first degree linear equations. 



LINEAR DIMENSIONS. [SOLID, SUPERFICIAL, AND LINEAR 

 DIMENSIONS 1 



LINEN MANUFACTURE. Linen (French, Time de Lin ; Spanish, 

 7W < de Lint ; German, Lumen ; Dutch, Lyatmat ; Italian, Tela ; 

 Russian, foloinn) is a general name for cloth woven with the fibres uf 

 the flax plant (//mum lut'dUun'mum), a manufacture of so ancient a 

 date that iU origin is unknown. Linen cloths were made at a very 

 early period in Egypt; as we see from the cloth wrappings of the 

 mummies, which are all of this substance. It appears also that linen 

 was, in the time of Herodotus, an article of export from Egypt. 

 (U. 105.) In the preeent day, linen as a generic term includes woven 

 fabrics of hemp as well as flax, except the special kinds known as 

 canvas, sail-cloth, and a few others. 



England has manufactured linen from an early but unknown date. 



The growth of the manufacture in Ireland is ascribed to the legislative 



obstruction raised in the reign of William III. to the proeecution in 



that part of the kingdom of the woollen manufacture, which it was 



alleged Interfered prejudicially with the clothiers of England; the 



linen weavers being at the same time encouraged by premiums of 



various kinds distributed by public boards authorised by parliament, 



and by bounties paid on the exportation of linen to foreign countries. 



It U known that linen was woven in Ireland as early as the Hth 



century ; that Louis Crommelin, driven from France by the revocation 



of the edict of Nantes, established the manufacture on an improved 



basin; that in 1711 the Duke of Ormonde, lord-lieutenant, ordered 



that funeral hat-bands and scarfs should be made of linen, as a means 



of encouraging the trade ; that a little machinery began to be applied 



to the manufacture in 1725 ; and that Dr. James Ferguson, of Belfast, 



greatly improved the processes by a method of bleaching adopted soon 



after the middle of the century. Messrs. Mulholland, of Btlfast, began 



to pin flax by machinery in 1820. In 1828 the Linen Board was 



dissolved; and in 1841 a society was founded for encouraging the 



growth of flax in Ireland. We have no certain means for ascertaining 



the growth of the linen manufacture in that country. The ..i, 



by which we can approximate to it* amount are afforded by custom- 



house records, which do not reach back to an early date, and nre 



wanting for the years subsequent to 1 825, when the intercourse between 



Great Britain and Ireland was put upon the footing of a coasting trade. 



The average quantity of linen exported annually from Ireland, princi- 



pally to England, in the three years ending March, 1790, was 34,191,754 



yards ; in the three yean ending March, 1 800, the yearly average was 



M, 11 2,349 yards; and the average annual exports in the last three 



year, of each of the next two decennary periods was 40,751,889 yards, 



and 48.345,711 yards, respectively. In 1 820, the quantity was 42,665,928 



yards; and In 1825, It amounted to 52,660,920 yards. An estimate 



made by the Irish railway .cummiMlooen in 1886, put down the 



quantity at 70,209,572 yards of linen, the value of which was 3.730,854/. 



Since the hut named date, the means of forming an estimate have been 



very doubtful. 



The linen manufacture WM introduced into Scotland early in the 



last century; and in 1727 a board of trustees was appointed for its 

 superintendence aud encouragement. Notwithstanding this and the 

 further stimulus afforded by premiums and bounties, the progress of 

 the manufacture in that part of tin- knit-lorn was for a long time com- 

 paratively unimportant At Dundee, the great seat of the Scotch 

 linen trade, the whole quantity of flax imported in 1745 was only 

 74 tons. In less than half a century after that time the annual impor- 

 tation of flax was 2500 tons, and there were exported 8,000,000 yards 

 of linen Ix-yond the quantity used at home. At this rate the manu- 

 facture continued nearly stationary until after the peace in 1S15, when 

 a new impulse was given to it. Improved fiscal arrangements aft. r- 

 wards greatly increased the production in Scotland, especially at 

 Dundee. 



In the article FLAX, an account is given of the chief processes to 

 which the fibre is subjected in preparing it for the spinnera. A very 

 few .vUlitiun.il details will xulilce here, to show how many attempts 

 have recently been made to supply our linen manufacturers by home 

 growth. All agree that some improved mo.U- of retting U necessary to 

 render flax-culture profitable in these islands. Russian, Prussian, aud 

 Belgian flax keep down the price of English and Irish to a point which 

 renders the profit often doubtful To lessen th expenses, and im- 

 prove the quality in various ways, several new modes of retting have 

 come under public notice within the last few years. The 

 and wo/r-retting are described in the article above cited. The ouch 

 retting has been conducted in various ways by Lee, Hill, Bundy, 

 Doulan, Davy, and others. It is a quick and economical process, and 

 seems to be applicable when the crop is of too poor a character to pay 

 for the expense of steeping ; or in districts where steeping is effected 

 with difficulty ; or in case* where coarse yarns only are required. The 

 steam-retting and the AoMrater-rettiug are intended to effect the sepa- 

 ration of the film- without producing the fermentation which results 

 from ordinary retting, with its offensive odour and it* waste of substance. 

 Schenk's hot-water process WM patented in 1846, and a rettory was 

 established in Mayo to test iU value. Watte, Buchanan, and other 

 inventors, have varied in many ways the application of heat to the 

 process. The cAemAo/. retting is founded on the same consideration* 

 as those by steam and hot-water : namely, that the dry or mechanical 

 process is not suited to the production of fine yarn, owing to the large 

 portion of the substance of the plant which remains attached to the 

 fibre. The ordinary retting is in o.Iect chemical, seeing that it is fer- 

 mentation which sets free the fibre from the other parts of the plant ; 

 the hot-water and steam processes are also chemical, for they dissolve 

 the non-fibrous portions even though they do not ferment them ; but 

 the chemical processes here adverted to are those in which alkalies or 

 other agents are add**! to the water, to increase the separating effect. 

 The systems of Lilljikreusc, Palinquist, Gay Lussac, Berthollet. Claussen, 

 and many others, are chemical in this sense. At one time. Claussen's 

 method attracted BO much attention that 3000 acres were laid down in 

 flax in Ireland, for conducting the process on a large scale. Somo 

 observers have thought, on comparing the result* of the dry and .< 

 processes, that the best plan would probably be to combine both to 

 separate the fibre from the boon roughly by a machine ; to use the 

 boon as fodder or manure ; and to sell the fibre to flax preparers, who 

 would apply a wet process for finishing it. Not only have inventors 

 brought forward all theee various projects, but numerous suggestions 

 have in other ways been made to encourage the home growth of flax. 

 The British government has not recently offered any direct bounty or 

 encouragement for the growth of flax ; but the New Zealand govern- 

 ment, in 1850, offered 4000/. in various sums as prizes to persons who 

 would produce New Zealand flax good enough and cheap enough to 

 encourage the colonists to attend to this branch of industry. As to 

 joint stock companies, many have been suggested in reference to flax 

 growing and manufacture. One was proposed in 1859, to work out 

 Cator's plan ; the objects of which were to encourage the growth of 

 flax at home, to buy the plants, to establish rettories, to ret the flax to 

 a certain stage, and sell it to the spinnera thereby relieving the 

 grower, as an agriculturist, from all the mechanical and chemical diffi- 

 culties of retting. Notwithstanding all these efforts, however, the 

 home growth of flax moke* slow progress. Ireland had 50,000 acres 

 Max in 1812; this rose to 110,000 in 1826; a gradual decline 

 brought it down to 68,000 in 1847 ; it rose again to 170,000 in 1853 ; 

 liich year it has fluctuated greatly. Taking the whole of the 

 United Kindlon), we did not in 1S58 grow one-fourth of the flax 

 I l.y our spinners. The Irish produce seems to be about 6 cwt. 

 of clean fibre to the acre. 



I'ntil recently little machinery was used in the production of linen 

 el. .tli. After the separation of the ligneous fibre of the plant, the 

 distaff and common spinning-wheel were employed for the preparation 

 of the thread or yarn ; and the hand-loom generally, in its simplest 

 f'iriii, wa n ving the cloth. Within the present century 



the first attempts were made at Leeds to adapt the inventions of 

 Hoi-greaves ami Arkwright to the Hpinning of flax. Mill-spun yarn is 

 now universally employed by the linen weavers of this kingdom for the 

 production of the very finest lawn, as well as of the coarsest linen ; and 

 of late years the use of the power-loom has been adopted for weaving 

 all bn> neat and m.ut costly fabrics. These improvement* 



have rendered tliu country independent of all others for the supply of 

 linen yam of every quality, and diminished in a most important degree 



