210 BUCHANAN’S PROCESS FOR PREPARING FLAX. e 
the abstraction of the azotised extractive matter, and also the 
quantity of fibre produced. It is well known that albuminous 
solutions, containing even a very small proportion of albumen 
(1 in 1000), coagulate at a temperature of 180°, and then 
became insoluble; and it is always considered that fibre is 
more or less injured if exposed beyond a certain temperature. 
These two important points have been taken advantage of in 
Buchanan’s process: the temperature of the steep-liquor is kept 
between 150° and 180°, and the operation, both as regards 
time and produce, more satisfactorily performed. The process 
is quite automaton—thus saving labour and the risks con- 
sequent upon carelessness ; and the mechanical arrangements 
by which it is effected are very simple and inexpensive.”’ So 
far as the experiments have gone, it has been found that by 
ten immersions, the whole of the colouring matter of the Flax 
has been removed. By this process, the Author concludes we 
have all the advantages obtained by water; economy of pro- 
ducts, increased economy of time—only four hours being 
required instead of twelve; and, in addition, great economy of 
labour. Another great improvement is claimed by Buchanan 
—his method of drying the steeped shove preparatory to 
scutching. The process in Watt’s method is also very perfect, 
but Professor Wilson had been unable to obtain, at the time 
he wrote (16th May, 1853), any results of the working of the 
process on a commercial scale. 
Mr. C. Fane, referring to the difficulties experienced in the 
fermentative processes,“has given a graphic account of another 
method by which the fibre of the Flax, as no doubt of other 
plants, may easily be separated, Subjecting the wet fibres to 
heavy pressure is now adopted in most of the improved 
processes. 
“At this juncture, an English gentleman, a Mr. Pownall, in 
endeavouring to work out Mr. Claussen’s idea of obtaining 
from Flax a fibre that would spin on cotton-machinery, made 
a most valuable discovery, as to the preparing Flax for the 
common linen purposes, which was this, that if the Flax straw, 
when taken out of the water in which it had been steeped and 
fermented, were instantly, and before drying, subjected to severe 
pressure and a stream of cold water, the pressure would press 
‘ Professor Wilson’s paper in ‘ Journ. of Agric. Soc.,’ vol. xiv, p. 204. 
