18 



TEXTILE FIBRES. 



shorter than the common flax and has a more definite and forked 

 system of branching. It is common in hilly districts generally and is 

 well known for its purgative properties. 



Flax fibres were used at a very early period in Egypt, and, before 

 cotton fibres came into notice, was probably the principal textile fibre 



Fig. 8. Mummy cloth made from flax. 



used. Fig. 8 represents some specimens of flax mummy cloth obtained 

 from the tombs of Egypt by Dr. Flinders Petrie, given to me by the late 

 Thomas Roger, Esq., Egyptologist, of Manchester. 



Mr. C. F. Cross, who has studied the chemical composition of the 

 flax fibre, says : " Flax differs in essential respects from Rhea ; apart 

 from structural differences it is spun not as purified 

 cellulose, but, chemically speaking, in its raw or 

 natural condition. In this state it contains, asso- 

 ciated with the cellulose, 20 to 30 per cent, of 

 a pectic substance, a substance which is easily 

 hydrated to gummy modifications by water and 

 dilute alkali being freely soluble in the latter 

 and also 3 to 5 per cent, of a complex of waxes 

 and oily bodies drawn from the cuticuiar covering 

 of the flax stem, with which the bast tissue is in 

 this plant in very close contact." 



Microscopic Appearances. Fig.' 9 shows the 

 fibres of flax highly magnified. In a are seen the 

 striation and nodes which adapt the fibres for 

 spinning into yarn and for weaving into linen cloth ; b represents the 

 fibrilla bands, as seen after the fibre has been treated with nitric acid ; 



Fig. 9. Flax fibres 

 (magn. ). 



