TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS, 63 
grains) was obtained. Determinations of the amount of nitrogen in the leaves as 
received, and also in the insoluble residue, were made; and while the nitrogen of the 
original sample amounted to 4425 per cent., the insoluble residue was found to 
contain only 2°109 parts, the amount of mineral matters by treatment with water 
being reduced to 1:56 part ; so that 68 per cent. of the total mineral matter of the 
tea, and about 58 per cent. of the nitrogen, had been removed in the infusion. 
On the Composition of the Fibre of the Jute-plant, and its use as a Teatile 
Material. By Professor Hopexs, M.D., F.C.S. 
At the Meeting of the Association held in Belfast twenty-two years ago, the 
author read a report on the composition of the flax-plant, the fibre of which 
supplies the raw material of the staple industry of this part of Ireland. In that 
and subsequent reports he gave an account of a series of investigations which had 
been undertaken at the request of the Association, and in which the composition 
of the fibre and the changes which it undergoes in its technical preparation were 
for the first time completely examined. The interest which these reports excited 
in this great centre of the linen industry, has encouraged him to offer some 
account of the history and chemical composition of another textile material, 
which at the time of our former Meeting was scarcely known in this country, but 
which has lately assumed a most important place among the vegetable substances 
employed by manufacturers. Fifty years ago the fibre of the jute-plant was to be 
found only in owr museums, now the quantity of it introduced into the United 
Kingdom almost equals that of the flax which we import, and exceeds the annual 
importation of hemp ; and owing to the improvements which have been effected in 
the processes for its preparation, and especially in the methods of bleaching, it is, 
the author believes, destined to occupy in future a far more important place among 
the raw material of our textile manufactures. The plant which yields the fibre 
known in commerce as jute (a name which is supposed to be derived from a corrup- 
tion of the Bengali name of the plant) is a member of the family Tiliacex, tie 
Linden or Lime-tree family, which from remote periods has been cultivated by 
the natives of Southern Asia for textile purposes. Two species of it are used for 
the production of fibre, Corchorus capsularis and Corchorus olitorius, and both 
kinds are found in the jute brought to this country. The Corchorus is an annual, 
the seeds of which are sown broad-cast in the months of March and April on 
‘ploughed land along the sandy banks of rivers, usually neither irrigation nor 
‘manure being required. In August, before the seeds which replace the small 
‘yellow flowers of the plant have ripened, and when the stems have attained the 
‘height of about 12 feet, the erop is cut: when the seed is allowed to become fully 
‘ripe, as is also the case with flax, the fibre becomes stiff and hard, and the stem is 
‘rendered of a reddish colour. The stalks when cut are tied in bundles and placed 
in tanks, usually of dirty water, and allowed to ferment, or “ret,” for five or six 
days, and then taken out and swung about repeatedly in the air, by which the long 
fibres are separated from the brittle wood which constituted the bark of the stem ; 
and thus prepared, the fibres are dried by exposure on the ground to the air, and, 
when dry, packed in round bundles for the market. The treatment of the plant 
for the separation of the fibre is therefore precisely like the ordinary methods 
used by farmers in this country in the preparation of the flax-fibré. The produce 
of jute far exceeds that of flax, being, it is stated, five times as great as that which 
flax affords. Though India is the great seat of jute cultivation and supplies the 
‘fibre used in this country, yet the jute-plants, especially Corchorus olitorius, have 
been long cultivated in China and other eastern countries. Experiments have been 
made to grow the plants for textile purposes in the Southern States of America, 
on the banks of the Lower Mississippi, and also. in Algiers, and it is said the re- 
sults are encouraging. ele: 2 ; i aca 
For some time after the introduction of jute, the opinion prevailed that it could 
not be bleached, and was therefore of little value as a textile material. Experi- 
ments made at several times proved that this was a mistake; but until lately 
scarcely any progress had been made in improving the qualities of the fibre, or 
giving it the whiteness of linen fabrics, The difficulties, however, which retarded 
