WOODY TISSUES. 
87 
filled up with hard matter, as in the cocoa-nut, their 
interior is occupied with granules of starch, arranged 
in single, double, or treble rows ; these might very 
easily be mistaken for pores, but their true nature is 
detected by the addition of iodine. 
WOODY TISSUES. 
When speaking of the various kinds of woody tissue 
employed in the arts, I mentioned ordinary Flax , China 
Grass , and Hemp , and stated that, from the peculiarly 
hard nature of the outer coating of each fibre of the 
latter, it was rendered very brittle when twisted. I 
then remarked that linen is at all times more difficult to 
work, and to absorb colouring-matter, than cotton, 
which may perhaps, be accounted for by the density or 
toughness of the woody fibre ; I have since learned that 
a process has lately been invented by M. Claussen for 
subdividing the elementary fibres of Flax by boiling and 
steeping, after they have been hackled and bleached in 
the usual manner, and specimens prepared in this way 
are made to imitate not only cotton, but silk and wool. 
In some samples of Flax which have undergone these 
processes, the fibre has been reduced to the fineness and 
suppleness of cotton, in another to the texture of silk, 
and in a third to that of wool. When, however, these 
