1847.] Ash of the Flax Fibre. 175 



any information which can enable us to state the precise effect 

 which the growth of the flax plant is capable of producing upon 

 the soils of Ireland, or which would assist the agriculturist in stu- 

 dying the chemical conditions requisite for its production, in the 

 state in which it is best adapted for the purposes of the manufac- 

 turer. I believe that chemistry is capable of giving us valuable 

 information on these subjects. 



As a proof that we require a complete examination of the flax 

 plant, I would direct the attention of the council to the results of 

 an analysis of the fibre of the plant with which I have been en- 

 gaged. These results, it will be perceived, are in opposition to 

 the opinion at present commonly entertained respecting the com- 

 position of that substance. The opinion which commonly prevails 

 on this subject, the council are aware, is that which supposes that 

 the flax fibre, in the state m which it is brought to market, after 

 it has undergone the various operations required to fit it for the 

 spinner, contains merely the elements, oxygen, hydrogen, and 

 carbon, united, nearly in the proportions in which these substances 

 exist in starch, and that it contains no trace of the ingredients of 

 the soil. It has, therefore, been represented, and the statement 

 has been widely circulated, that it is possible for the flax grower 

 to maintain the fertility of his field unimpaired, and to obviate the 

 admitted exhausting effects of the crop, by applying, as manure, 

 the steep water and the refuse of the dressed flax; the fibre, after 

 steeping and dressing, being supposed to consist solely of the con- 

 densed gases of the air. Being anxious to test the accuracy of a 

 statement which, if correct, was of such immense importance to 

 the flax grower, I procured several months ago, by the kindness 

 of the Secretary of the Royal Flax Society, a specimen of re- 

 markably fine flax fibre, from a sample which had obtained the 

 first prize at the exhibitions of the Flax Society, at Ballinasloe 

 and Belfast. That sample, I presumed, might safely be taken as 

 representing the fibre in the purest form in w^hich it is presented 

 to the manufacturer. 



As the details of the analysis would interest only the chemist, 

 it is unnecessary to describe them. The method which I followed 

 is that taught by my esteemed friend, Dr. H. Will, Extraordinarius 

 Professor of Chemistry, in the University of Geissen. It may, 

 however, be useful for the information of those who are not fami- 

 liar w^ith the processes of the laboratory, to mention that every 

 plant, when exposed to a strong heat, in the crucible of the che- 

 mist, is found to consist of two parts; a part which is combustible 

 and flies away, being composed of the elements which the plant, 

 during its growth, had derived from the air, and a fixed incom- 

 bustible ash, containing the materials supplied by the soil. The 

 pure flax fibre, if possessing the composition usually assigned to 



