Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1862-11-07
THE INVENTOR OF FLAxlCoTTON A LU.
NATIC.

Inv INSANITY VI OHeFdlleT CldusSen,
the inventor of fax cotton, has already
been announced, but the London .Specta.
tor thus sketches the sad story of his
life:
There is, or was until recently, hand
some man confined in lunatic asy-
lum at Camberwell. He used to sit
mournfully for days and weeks in cor.
ner of his lone room, little given to talk
and less to physical exercise Now and
then, however, he broke out in a sudden
blaze of excitement, repeating incoherent
sentences, in which only the words &" fax
cotton " was distinctly audible. The un-
happy mans name was Chevalier Claus
sen. BY birth a Dane and man of
high scientific education, he gave himself
up early to the study of practical chem
istry, particularly those branches connec-
ted with the manufacture of textile fa-
brics. After years of labor and many
experiments he came to the conclusion
that the fiber of fax, if rightly manipula-
ted, is superior to cotton for all purposes
in which the latter is employed, and
therefore ought to supersede it, as we'll
on this account as being an indigenous
plant, for the supply of which Europe
might be independent of serf or slave.
Claussen's experiments were we'll re-
ceived in his own country, and his king
gave him the title of chevalier, but, un-
ortunately, little other substantial en-
couragements. The inventor then went
to France, married young French lady,
was presented at Court and received the
Order of the Legion of Honor but again
got little else but promises of future re-
ward for the years of labor devoted to
one great object he had on hand. Some
what weary of his work, and sorely
pressed by poverty, Chevalier Claussen
next came to this country, arriving just
in time for the International Exhibition
of 1851. He displayed in the Hyde Park
Palace some beautiful articles made of fax
cotton, and set all the world in raptures
about the new invention, the more SO as
he freely explained the secret Of the pro-
cess for converting fax straw into a ma
terial equal in all, and superior in some,
respects to the cotton fabric.
The Manipulation was simple enough,
according to Claussen's showing The flax
cut into small pieces by machinery, was
left for short time to the combined ac-
ton of alkaline solvents and of carbon
ated alkalies and acids, which converted
the fiber into q material very similar to
cotton, and fit even, to some extent, to be
spun with cotton machinery. The Eng
lish manufacturers to whom the process
was explained were delighted ; neverthe-
less, they refused with many thanks the
chevalier's offer to work his invention.
1t was found that the fax cotton could
not be proftably spun without making
various alterations in the existing ma
chinery and to this the Lancashire mill
owners objected saying; "Why should
we trouble ourselves about the new raw
material as long as we get cotton in abun-
| dance?"
With something of prophetic vein NJ {.
Claussen demonstrated, arguing that the
supply was not all to be depended upor,
and that besides, it would be better and
cheaper in the long run to make European
hands feed European mills, by the aid of
, perfected steam agencies than to leave
the task to the rude manual labor of un-
6 willing bondmcn. 1t was the voice of the
, preacher in the desert: Lancashire lls-
E tened not and when Hyde Park Show
was over Chevalier Claussen and his in
! vention were no more thought of than the
man who discovered the compass. Sore
ly troubled in mind, and with abject pov
erty staring him in the face, Clausscn
then pursued his pilgrimage, crossing the
Atlantic to America. What happened to
him in the great western republic is not
3 accurately known; but it is presumed
that some cute natives laid hold Of the
young man from the old country, squeez-
; ing his brains and then throwing him
D overheard. 1t was rumored tnat Uhcva-
t lier Claussen had got a"partner," and,
a. I a.