200 



Flax^ its Treatment, 



has been discovered to be really no novelty ; inasmuch as, in 

 1775, Lady Moira prepared both flax and hemp fibre in the 

 same manner ; the detailed particulars of which are given in the 

 Transactions of the Society of Arts for that year. Specimens of 

 the " flax-cotton," and of the fabrics woven from it, are still pre- 

 served in the Museum of that Society, and are remarkable for 

 their beauty and permanence of colour. Previous to Lady 

 Moira's experiments, which were conducted on a considerable 

 scale, and only relinquished because she could not get any one 

 to take the process up and continue the manufacture, the action 

 of alkalies on flax fibre had been described by Lilljikreuses and 

 Palmquist, who, in 1745, had made use of a solution of caustic 

 potassa. In 1777 Baron Meidingen proposed the use of alkaline 

 solutions for the purpose of cottonizing flax, and in 1780 a factory 

 was established at Berchtoldsdorf, near Vienna, for carrying this 

 process into practical operation ; and similar methods were also 

 brought forward by Kreutzer in 1801, by Stadler and Haupfner 

 in 1811, by Sokou in 1816, and subsequently by several others. 

 At Berchtoldsdorf, not only was the flax fibre made use of for 

 the preparation of " flax-cotton," but a good article was obtained 

 from the tow and refuse fibre. And the same is said to have 

 been done by Haag, near Presburg, in 1788, by Gbbelli in 1803, 

 and Segalla in 1811. 



From some cause or other, none of these various attempts seem 

 to have been persevered in for any length of time. Either they 

 failed when tested commercially, or the opposition of old-esta- 

 blished interests and prejudices seem to have been too powerful 

 for them ; for Beckmann, who speaks of its introduction near 

 Brunswick, states that the workpeople determined not to use the 

 new material ; though at the same time, he observes, that excel- 

 lent fustians were made from it, which could not be distinguished 

 from those manufactured from the ordinary cotton. The simi- 

 larity of this prepared flax to common cotton was remarked by 

 Des Charmes, in 1799, and subsequently the subject received 

 considerable attention from Gay-Lussac, Berthollet, and others, 

 whose investigations included the action of both hot solutions of 

 acid and alkalies separately, and also by alternate immersions. 

 More recently, in 1842, M. Rouchon, of I'Ecole Polytechnique, 

 at Paris, devised a method for preparing flax by means of im- 

 mersions in a weak acid solution for a short period, and then 

 placing it in a mass kept moist by occasional arrosions. These 

 were repeated daily until the desired effect was produced. The 

 flax was kept tied up in small bundles, and a man and a boy 

 could attend to 2 tons per day. This process is still carried on 

 by Messrs. Bisson and Pradet de St. Charles. 



The use of chemical solvents has the advantage of effectin;;^ a 



