Flake

“ Flaking was produced by direct percussion, with occasional secondary edge trimming by pressure. Initial flake scars on point faces are irregular; basal thinning was accomplished by multi-directional flaking. ”

“ In the same beds in which the drift-type implements are found, flakes, either struck off in the formation of such tools, or especially flaked off from a core in a particular manner, indicating that they were themselves intended for use as tools, are found in considerable numbers. No more useful tool could have been used during the stone age than the plain, untouched flint flake, which, from the sharpness of the edge, is capable of being used for a variety of purposes. ”

“ The flake of flint on which I have operated has been placed against a stop on a flat piece of wood, and when necessary to raise the edge of the flake I have placed a small blocking piece, also of wood, underneath it, and then by pressure of the arrow-flaker upon the edge of the flake, have detached successive splinters until I have reduced it into form. If the tool consists of a rather square-ended flake, one corner may rest upon the table of wood, and the pressure be given by a rocking action, bringing the other corner down upon the flake. ”

“ The varieties of tools which have been made out of flakes are too numerous to particularize. Simple flakes, flat or triangular in section, varying in length from nine or ten inches to one inch, are the most abundant of all stone implements, and are to be found in every quarter of the globe. Here they are generally made of flint and are rarely ground. ”

“ We have had flakes weighing all the way from a few ounces to a couple of hundred pounds. When the first pieces flaked off, the workmen were badly frightened, and all stampeded. As I told you before, they are a very superstitious lot. After a while, the reports became so frequent and the fall of stones so dangerous, that we had to do something to protect the men. ”

“ In his 'Prehistoric Times,' Lord Avebury points out, on p. 329, with regard to flint flakes, that "those which have lain in siliceous or chalky sands are more or less polished, and have a beautiful glassiness of surface, very unlike that of a newly broken flint. ”

“ Flint flakes are found in great abundance in Ireland, especially in Ulster, where the raw material occurs in the chalk. At Toome Bridge, on the shores of Lough Neagh, many thousands have been found, and they occur in abundance in the valley of the Bann, [111] and in slightly raised beaches along the shores of Belfast Lough. They are rarely more than 4 or 5 inches in length; and symmetrical, flat, parallel flakes are extremely rare. Many pointed flakes have been slightly trimmed [112] at the butt-end, and converted into a sort of lance-head without further preparation. ”

“ The abundance of large masses of flint near Pressigny—some as much as two or three feet across—has, however, rendered the workmen rather prodigal of their materials. The skill which has been brought to bear in the manufacture of these long flakes is marvellous, as the utmost precision is required in giving the blow by which they are produced. Generally speaking, the projecting ridge left at the butt-end of the nucleus between the depressions, whence two of the short flakes have been struck off in chipping it square, has been selected as the point of impact. ”

“ Music is strangely allied to the past. Every era has its strain. It awakens and colors my memories.
The first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger hope than ever. The first silvery warblings heard over the bare and dank fields, as if the last flakes of winter tinkled as they fell. What, then, are histories, chronologies, and all written revelations? Flakes of warm sunlight fall on the congealed fields. The brooks and rills sing carols and glees for the spring. The marsh-hawk already seeks the first stirring life that awakes. ”

“ THE FLAX
The flax was in full bloom; it had pretty little blue flowers as delicate as the wings of a moth, or even more so. The sun shone, and the showers watered it, so that it became very beautiful.
“People say that I look exceedingly well,” said the flax, “and that I am so fine and long, that I shall make an excellent piece of linen. How fortunate I am! it makes me so happy; it is such a pleasant thing to know that something can be made of me. How the sunshine cheers me, and how sweet and refreshing is the rain! no one in the world can feel happier than I do.” ”

“ P. Even these stings are made useful to man. The poor people in some countries use them instead of blisters, when they are sick. Those leaves which do not sting are used by some for food, and from the stalk others get a stringy bark, which answers the purpose of flax. Thus you see that even the despised nettle is not made in vain ”

“ The atmosphere of the flax mills, in which the children of these virtuous and tender parents work, is so loaded with dust and fibre from the raw material, that it is exceptionally unpleasant to stand even 10 minutes in the spinning rooms: for you are unable to do so without the most painful sensation, owing to the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, and mouth, being immediately filled by the clouds of flax dust from which there is no escape. ”

“ For the steeping or raiting of flax, soft water is absolutely necessary; in hard water the flax may be immersed for months, till its texture be injured, and still the ligneous matter will not be decomposed, and the fibres properly separated. ”

“ Fritz.—How is flax prepared, father, and what is meant by steeping it?
Father.—Steeping flax, or hemp, is exposing it in the open air, by spreading it on the ground to receive the rain, the wind, and the dew, in order in a certain degree to liquefy the plant; by this means the ligneous or cortical parts of the flax are separated with more ease from the fibrous; a kind of vegetable glue that binds them is dissolved, and it can then be perfectly cleaned with great facility, and the parts selected which are fit for spinning. ”

“ We decided that Flamingo Marsh would be the best spot for the operation of steeping or `retting' the flax, and next morning we set out thither; the cart drawn by the ass, and laden with the bundles, between which sat Franz and Knips, while the rest of us followed with spades and hatchets.
I described to my boys as we went along the process of retting, and explained to them how steeping the flax leaves destroys the useless membrane, while the strong fibres remain. ”

“ The nature of scalding then, is this: the hot water coming upon the body, separates immediately the scarf skin from the real skin, thereby opens the lymphatic vessels, so that they discharge their lymph under the cuticula, and thence arise blisters. But withal, the heat of the water irritating the nerves, they are excited to contract and constrict the delicate vessels, and hinder the circulation; thence ensues the fiery colour and inflammation, and create acrimonious tendencies. Thence we learn, that a relaxation of the solids is to be relaxed, and the humours to be rectified. ”

“ Chemists tell us that most combustible things, both in the animal and vegetable world, have carbon for their basis—so has the skin; and, if it be exposed to the heat, it becomes, like them, spotted or charred. The iron and oxygen in the blood also assist to produce this effect. Thus we have the cause of freckles. Those who, like Richard Cœur de Lion, and Mary [133] Queen of Scots, have red hair (which is caused by a red-colored oil, more strongly impregnated with iron than others) , are most liable to freckles. ”

“ Dear Sir—Every farmer is acquainted with the method of raising flax, and also of rotting it; or, as it is generally called, water and dew retting, and the method of separating the boon, or woody matter, from the harle, or useful fibre. Flax has deservedly the character of being one of the most impoverishing crops, in the present method of treating it: it makes no return, either as animal food, or as manure, to the land ”

“ A single day too long often injures the flax not a little. We may judge that the retting is sufficient when the harl separates easily from the boon by the fingers, when the boon breaks across without bending, and when several stalks knotted together sink to the bottom upon being thrown into the water. For this completion, a shorter or longer time is required according to the quality of the flax, the temperature, &c., so that the term may vary from five to fourteen days. ”

“ Again, the substance which is formed by the liquefaction of new and tender flesh when air is present, if inflated and encased in liquid so as to form bubbles, which separately are invisible owing to their small size, but when collected are of a bulk which is visible, and have a white colour arising out of the generation of foam—all this decomposition of tender flesh when intermingled with air is termed by us white phlegm. ”

“ Description—The resin occurs in globular tears 1⁄2 an inch to 1 inch in diameter, but much more commonly in the form of large compact masses, containing fragments of wood and bark. The resin is brittle, breaking with a clean, glassy fracture; in thin pieces it is transparent and appears of a greenish brown hue. The powder when fresh is grey, but becomes green by exposure to light and air. It has a slight balsamic odour and but little taste, yet leaves an irritating sensation in the throat. ”

“ One day some men came with sharp reap hooks. They took the flax by the head and cut it off at the roots. This was very painful, you may be sure.
Then the flax was laid in water and was nearly drowned. After that it was put on a fire and nearly roasted. All this was frightful. But the flax only said, "One cannot be happy always. By having bad times as well as good, we become wise." ”

“ The warmth and the brightness of the blaze, the redness, the pleasant taste, and the aromatic odor of the strawberry, exist in these bodies merely as the power to produce such sensations in us by stimulation of the skin, the eye, the palate, and the nose. If we remove the perceptions of them, they disappear as such, and their causes alone remain—the bulk, figure, number, texture, and motion of the insensible particles. ”

“ Even the smallest details give him delight through something beautiful, or perfect, or characteristic in them—the blue fields of waving flax, the yellow gorse which covers the hills, even tangled thickets, or single trees, or springs, which seem to him like wonders of nature. ”

“ To dress Flax to look like Silk.—Take one part lime and between two or three parts of wood ashes; pour over them a due proportion of water to make a strong ley, after they have stood together all night, which must be poured off when quite clear. Tie handfuls of flax at both ends, to prevent its entangling, but let the middle of each be spread open, and put it in a kettle, on the bottom of which has been first placed a little straw, with a cloth over it, then put another cloth over the flax, and so continue covering each layer of flax with a cloth, till the kettle is nearly full. ”

“ Then followed a struggle no flea can describe—sighs of blissful and ravishing sensations escape his open slobbering lips, he pushes, he bends forward, his eyes turn up, his mouth opens, and, unable to prevent the rapid completion of his lustful pleasures, the strong man gasps out his soul, and with it a torrent of seminal fluid, which thrown well forward squirts into the womb of his own child. ”

“ And isn’t it wonderful that not a man, but a butterfly, first thought of spinning the flax? People call it ‘flax-spinner,’ for with its own silk and the leaves of the plant it weaves little sheets and blankets for its young ones. And so cunning it is that when flax began to be cultivated, it completely adapted itself to the new conditions, so that the young ones should be hatched before the flax was harvested. And now, look at the medicinal herbs! Look at the large poppy, for instance, fiery red it is, like fever and insanity! ”

“ Other passages, referring to the use of flax for weaving in [Pg 380] Palestine, are Levit. xiii. 47, 48. 52. 59, where linen garments are four times mentioned in opposition to woollen.
Proverbs xxi. 13. The virtuous woman, so admirably described in this chapter, “seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.” (See Part First, Chapter I. p. 13.) . This proves, that flax was still an important article of cultivation in Palestine.
In 1 Chron. iv. 21. there is an allusion to a great establishment for dressing the fine flax, called Butz, or Byssus. ”

“ The bark is nearly black externally, with deep clefts; the liber is made up of an abundance of white, needle- shaped cells, which are readily detached and act as cowage, in producing painful irritation, when brought into contact with the skin. ”

“ The term “flax,” which we still keep, from the Anglo-Saxon tongue, for the plant itself and its raw material, and the Celtic “linen,” for the same vegetable produce when spun and woven into cloth, are words for things akin in our present language, which, as in many such like instances, show the footprints of those races that, one after another, have trod this land.
To the valley of the Nile must we go if we wish to learn the earliest history of the finest flaxen textiles. ”

“ Faces display random flaking. Secondary flaking of short, broad nature appears, followed by fine retouch, as from pressure flaking, along the edges. The basal thinning is usually short, broad and shallow, but in rare examples it may extend approximately the length of the hafting area. ”

“ The inner surface is of a bright buff and has a highly foliaceous structure. On making a transverse section three distinct layers may be observed—firstly the suberous coat exhibiting a large brown parenchyme interwoven with small bands of corky tissue,—secondly a dark cellular layer, and then the foliaceous liber. The dry bark is inodorous and has a slightly astringent bitter taste. ”

“ The operation of heckling is simple in principle, although it requires much experience to acquire dexterity. The operative seizes a flock of flax by the middle with the right hand, throws it upon the points of the coarse heckle, and draws it towards him, while he holds the left hand upon the other side of the heckle, in order to spread the flax, and to prevent it from sinking too deeply among the teeth. From time to time the short fibres or tow sticking to the teeth are removed. Whenever one half of the length of the strake of flax is heckled, it is turned round to heckle the other half. ”