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ON THE CHEMICAL PREPARATION OF FLAX FOR MANUFAC- 
TURING PURPOSES. BY THOMAS JOHN PEARSALL, 
F.C.S, CONSULTING CHEMIST TO THE NORTH LINCOLN- 
SHIRE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, &C. 
When the subject of the meeting of this society in Leeds 
was named recently by some of its ardent friends, the desire 
was also expressed that some papers should be brought for- 
ward with reference to the staples of the town and neigh- 
bourhood, rather than upon purely scientific details, which 
could find other channels. As I had recently seen most of 
the best plans for preparing flax in Ireland, &c, I thought 
an account of some new chemical processes might call the 
attention, and deserve the discussion, of those who wish 
manufacturing skill and scientific truth and advantage to be 
united. 
With this view the subject is brought forward, and the 
specimens will show that means have been taken to make 
it as practical as a paper may be, where trade processes 
are alluded to ; and yet with no wish to advance into promi- 
nence any individual or plans, except so far as they conduce 
to the general bearings of the subject. 
Before men so conversant with flax, and with such ample 
endowments for manufacturing appliances, I may give for 
general purposes a short account of flax and its processes, 
before I solicit their attention to any special points. 
The flax plant, growing so extensively as it does, and in 
so many climes, has a name in the earliest histories, and 
even the " figures upon the wall" of the Egyptians show 
that the processes for obtaining the fibre were very similar 
to those employed even in Great Britain at recent periods ; 
and when drawings are shown of the rude instruments 
that have been employed in Ireland, and the means to 
separate the fibres are understood, the processes of manufac- 
