THE FARMER AT HOME. 165 



a warp, and woven after the manner of baize. Various theories have 

 been adopted to prove the utility of flannel as an article of dress. It 

 is unquestionably a bad conductor of heat, and on that account very 

 useful in cold weather ; this is accounted for from the structure of 

 the stuff; the fibres touch each other very slightly, so that the heat 

 moves slowly through the interstices, which being already filled with 

 air, give little assistance in carrying off the heat. On this subject 

 Count Rumford has made many experiments, from which it should 

 seern, that though a woolen substance is warmest in winter, it is also 

 preferable, under certain circumstances, in summer. He expresses 

 his surprise, that the custom of wearing flannel next the skin should 

 not have prevailed more universally. He is confident it would pre- 

 vent a number of diseases ; and he thinks there is no greater luxury 

 than the comfortable sensation which arises from wearing it, espe- 

 cially after one is a little accustomed to it. And he says it is a 

 mistaken notion, that it is a too warm clothing for summer. He says, 

 also, that he has worn it in the hottest climates, and at all seasons of 

 the year ; and never found the least inconvenience from it. This is 

 his philosophy in the case. It is the warm bath of perspiration con- 

 fined by a linen shirt, wet with sweat, which renders the summer 

 heat of southern climates so insupportable ; but flannel promotes 

 perspiration, and favors its evaporation ; and evaporation, as it is well 

 known, produces positive cold. 



FLAX. This plant has been cultivated from remote antiquity, 

 throughout a great part of Europe, Asia, and the north of Africa, for 

 various purposes. Its native country is not known with certainty, 

 though, according to Olivier, it is found wild in Persia. It is culti- 

 vated principally for the fibre yielded by the bark, of which linen 

 cloth is made The use of this article is so ancient, that no tradition 

 remains of its introduction. The ancient Scandinavians and other 

 barbarous nations were clothed with linen. The mummies of Egypt 

 are enveloped with it, and immense quantities are still made in that 

 country, especially about the mouths of the Nile ; and it is worn 

 almost exclusively by the inhabitants. 



The seeds of the flax are mucilaginous and emollient, and an 

 infusion of them is often used as a drink in various inflammatory dis- 

 orders ; they also yield an oil, well known in commerce under the 

 name of linseed oil, which differs, in some respects, from most 

 expressed oils, as in congealing in water, and not forming a solid 

 soap with fixed alkaline salts. This oil has no remarkable taste, is 

 used for lamps, sometimes in cookery, and also forms the base of all 

 the oily varnish made in imitation of China varnish. It is much 

 employed in the coarser kinds of painting, especially in situations not 

 much exposed to the weather. Equal parts of lime-water and linseed 

 oil form one of the best applications for burns. The cakes remaining 

 after the oil has been expressed, are us^d for fattening cattle and sheep. 



