126 SUBSTITUTES FOE COTTON AND NEW FIBRES. 



colour, fineness, and length of staple, Mr. Fleming at once confirmed the 

 judgment of Mr. Wrigley, while its strength'proved so satisfactory that 

 he lost no time in calling the attention of the leading public men and 

 manufacturers to the matter. All these gentlemen were unanimous in 

 their conclusion as to the value of the material. The general opinion 

 being satisfactory, the Chamber of Commerce at once took the subject in 

 hand, with the view of forming a committee to investigate and report 

 upon the practicability of working up the material in the same way as 

 cotton, and upon its value and availability for the purpose. 



On the 20th of September that committee met, and the discoverer of 

 the new fibre, Mr. Henry Harben, showed small specimens in different 

 states of preparation, and stated that they were the produce of the ma- 

 rine plant, Zostera marina, or common grass wrack. Carefully conducted 

 experiment must determine whether the fibre which the Zostera marina 

 jdelds can be produced as cheaply as to make it of commercial value. 

 Both of the suitability of the material, and of the extent of the supply 

 we have very grave doubts. Subsequently to the experiments of Claus- 

 sen, a patent was taken out by Mr. Thomas Jackson, for preparing paper 

 fibre directly from the flax strands, or from the refuse of the flax manu- 

 facture. Though proceeding by a somewhat different method, Mr. Jack- 

 son succeeded in producing a material which the papermakers declared 

 to be too good to make anything but bank-notes. When dried and 

 carded, this material also closely resembled cotton, and, but for the low 

 price of the American staple, would undoubtedly have come into use. 



The cottony appearance of flax and hemp when half rotten by over 

 retting in the process of steeping, long since led to the idea that those 

 fibres might be made to resemble cotton in the fineness of its filaments, 

 and thus be adapted to cotton machinery. A crude attempt was made 

 to effect this object in Sweden as far back as 1747. Thirty years later, 

 Lady Moira succeeded in producing a substance from flax which closely 

 resembled cotton in appearance, and which possessed many of its 

 properties. Similar attempts were made at different times in France 

 and Germany, but not leading to any satisfactory commercial result. 

 Those who remember the wonders of the Exhibition of 1851 will 

 possibly call to mind a display of textile fabrics exhibited by Chevalier 

 Claussen, made from flax, which had been submitted to this cottonising 

 process. u% Some material.," closely resembling coarse cotton cloth was 

 exhibited, which had been woven in cotton-machinery from yarn spun 

 from this flax-cotton. Imperfect as these specimens were, they esta- 

 blished the practicability of manufacturing the artificial cotton. Com- 

 panies in England, Scotland, France, Belgium, and Xorth America, 

 were formed to carry out the Claussen process, and for some time 

 continued in operation. The supply of cotton, however, at that time, 

 was too abundant and too cheap to induce manufacturers to try the 

 experiment of converting a new raw material. The cottonised flax was 

 no cheaper than cotton, while the inequality in the length of its fibre 



