the river. As the swollen waters had
occasional access to this heap, fermentation, and
the decomposition of a portion of the plant,
had taken place; and, in time, the influence
of natural chemistry had so separated the
filaments of the flax-fibre, as to give the mass a
cotton-like appearance. Some of it having
been washed by the river, had been arrested
by the overhanging branches.

The process thus casually observed in a very
imperfect state, Clausson afterwards imitated
by the aid of chemistry; and he can now
supply the factories of Lancashire with a
home-grown substance, capable of being worked
up with certain portions of cotton, silk, or
wool, with the machinery already in use for
those manufactures. And herein lies the
great value of the discovery. From the
peculiar structure of the flax-fibre, and the
consequent nature of the machinery to work
it up, it now costs tenpence per pound in
the manufacture; whereas cotton is made up
for threepence per pound. It is obvious,
therefore, that by preparing flax, so as to
be capable of being worked upon the ordinary
machinery at the same cost as cotton, the
process must be one of great value. Next in
importance to this, is the greater yield of
marketable fibre from a given quantity of straw,
than by the old mode of steeping and
preparing.

We will now examine the new process;
which we witnessed a short time since,
at the Chevalier's model establishment at
Stepney. An old poorhouse has been
converted into a factory; oakum-picking has
been supplanted by the magic transformation
of chemistry; iron soup-boilers are now busy
with mysterious mixtures, producing results
which, when the old fabric was built, would
have consigned every man and woman
concerned to the stake at Smithfield, for sorcerers
and witches.

The flax plant is composed of three
distinct parts, the wood, the fibre, and the gum-
resin, which causes the fibres to adhere
together. To remove the wood is the first
object; and this, under the old system, was
performed by a machine little better than a
flail. Here commences the first improvement.
At the Stepney factory we saw a small
apparatus at work, which costing a mere trifle,
removed the wood from the fibre with
astonishing rapidity and cleanliness. It is
proposed that growers should employ this machine
on their farms; by which means they reduce
the bulk by one-half, and at the same time
retain the portion most useful for manure.
In this state it will be brought to market for
sale to the manufacturers, who will then have
to free it, in the first instance, from the gum-
resin. Under the old system, this was effected
by steeping the flax in cold water, a process
which occupied from four to six weeks, and
frequently caused much discoloration of the
fibres. The Chevalier's mode consists in
boiling the material in a weak alkaline
solution for about four hours, after which it is
washed first in a slightly acidified liquor, and
then in plain water. It is then dried and in
a fit state for the various processes of scutching,
heckling, &c., necessary to render it fit
for the linen manufacture. In order to
" cottonise" the flax, according to the Clausson's
patent, the fibres are taken from the washing
vats direct to a series of other vats, ranged
side by side; and it is in these that the magic
of chemistry is so brought to bear as to transmute
a heavy mass of dark, harsh straw, in
the course of some minutes, to a light, silky,
snow-white wool.

In the first of these vats is a weak solution
of carbonate of soda: here the previously boiled
and washed fibres are steeped for about fifteen
minutes, during which time they become
completely saturated with the soda liquid. To
explain the chemical action which follows, it
is necessary to point out the structure of the
flax fibre. These fibres, minute though they
be, are cellular, composed of a number of
smaller cylinders, united closely at their side.
It is the separation of these finer fibres, and
the consequent addition to the length and
surface of the whole mass, that has now to be
accomplished; a process that may well be
likened to hair-splitting. These cellular fibres
being thoroughly saturated with the soda in
most minute quantities, are removed from the
first vat, and placed in vat number two,
containing water slightly acidulated with one
part in five hundred of sulphuric acid. The
change which now takes place is
instantaneous. A rapid frothing and ebullition of
the liquor may be observed, and the heavy
mass of flax which, in the first liquor, sank
far below the surface, is now seen floating
lightly on the face of the water: it is no longer
flax—it is British Cotton. And how has this
happened ? The acid in this liquor, finding
its way into the little cylinders already
saturated with the soda, immediately effects a
chemical change; the sulphuric acid
combines with the alkali, and forms sulphate of
soda, giving out the carbonic acid gas from
the carbonate of soda, which, seeking its liberation,
expands and bursts open the cellular
tubes. The cottonised flax is next placed in
a weak solution of soda, in order to free
it from any remaining acid; and thence
transferred to the bleaching vat, which
contains a mixture of solution of chloride of lime
and sulphate of magnesia. Here it remains
during two hours, at the end of which time
it wears a perfectly snow-white appearance.
The process is then completed by washing,
first in a weak acid liquor, and afterwards in
pure water. It then only remains to dry the
flax-cotton, in order to fit it for the after
processes, preparatory to spinning. The same
method as has been here described can be
made available for converting the refuse tow
from the flax establishments into a fine white
article, admirably adapted for paper-making,
and at a less price than he pays for linen