UTILITY. 
Dried Flax. — Linum. 
“ The matron, at her nightly task 
With pensive labour draws the flaxen thread.” 
Thomson . 
The ingenuity of man has rendered this 
simple plant of the greatest utility, hence the 
emblem. 
The Egyptians appear to have been the in¬ 
ventors of weaving linen cloth. The Athe¬ 
nians, who were an Egyptian colony from 
Sais, followed the custom of tlieir ancestors, 
by applying themselves to raising flax for the 
same purpose; they therefore continued to woi - 
ship Minerva, who was also styled Ergatis, or 
the work-woman, for her excellency in spin¬ 
ning' and weaving ; and who is supposed to 
be no other than the Egyptian Isis ; for the 
