176 Jish of the Flax Fibre. [Sept., 1847.] 



it, shoukl, when burned in tlie open crucible, totally disappear, 

 without leaving any solid residuum. The first step in my experi- 

 ment was, therefore, to ascertain whether that substance, when 

 heated, as I have described, left any incombustible earthy matter. 

 A portion of the fibre, dried at 212°, was burned in a clean pla- 

 tinum crucible, and ignited, until all organic matter had burned 

 away, when there remained in the crucible a quantity of a very 

 light bulky ash, which possessed the same slightly yellowish white 

 tinge which the fibre exhibited. A qualitative examination of 

 this ash, showed that it contained the following ingredients of the 

 soil, iron, lime, magnesia, soda, chlorine, sulphuric acid, phospho- 

 ric acid. One hundred parts of the dry flax fibre I found to con- 

 tain 0.54 parts of ash, so that 2| cwt. of dressed flax would con- 

 tain more than 1| lbs. of the ingredients of the soil. 



A quantity of ash was prepared from the same sample, and was 

 found to possess the following composition in the 100 parts: 



Carbonate of lime, .... 62.00 



Sulphate of lime, gvpsum, - - 7.15 



Phosphate of lime. . . - - 13.66 



Oxide of Iron, .... 3.99 



Carbonate of magnesia, with traces of 



chloride of sodium, (common salt,) - 2.00 



Silica, 11.20 



100.00 



It is evident, therefore, from the above anal>sis, that the fibre 

 of the flax plant, even after steeping and dressing, contrary to 

 what is commonly supposed, does not consist merely of the con- 

 densed gases of the air, but robs the soil of a considerable amount 

 of its most valuable ingredients. These gonsist, as we might na- 

 turally suppose from the treatment which the fibre has undergone, 

 chiefly of the most insoluble ingredients of the inorganic matter 

 of the plant, the carbonate of lime, and the phosphate of lime and 

 silica; but it appears that the steep water does not abstract all the 

 soluble salts of the fibre, as the sample examined contained con- 

 siderable traces of the chloride of sodium, (common salt). 



