279 
easily spun into finer linen, and bleach more readily, than 
where earthy waters prevail. 
This will at once explain why certain waters and rivers 
have been justly preferred for this process. It will be found 
that, for small quantities, rain water in pools or ditches answers 
well ; indeed, to get the fermenting change, we can under- 
stand why sometimes old leaves have been added to form a sort 
of fermenting mixture. In the great rivers in Belgium and 
France, it may be found that the character obtained for 
these streams is not only due to the temperature and com- 
parative purity of the water, but the whole stream is one 
vast volume of matter, floating about, undergoing putrefaction 
and decay. Dr. Hodges found by samples of water taken in 
the depth of winter from the River Lys, bordering France 
and Belgium, that the whole stream might be considered 
as charged with the vegetable matter in decay ; so large is 
the quantity of flax steeped therein, and so constantly used 
is it for the purpose. Other analyses tend to the view that 
of the salts the river contains, some have the tendency to 
make the " flax gum" more soluble than it would be in 
pure water. 
In these rivers the flax in bundles, and those placed in 
frames, are sunk in the water, and the changes of decay 
take place, the water is rendered polluted, and the air con- 
taminated with evolved gases. In the neighbourhood of 
flax ponds, most persons must have been affected by the 
disagreeable odours, and on the large scale the air and 
water may be said to be loaded with poison. This is so 
well known that local experience has shown the necessity 
for laws to prevent the streams to be preserved for fish 
from being polluted by the flax waters; and the evidence 
in Ireland, showing the entire destruction of fish by the 
admission of flax steep waters, is also well known. 
