A two-page article on examining flax fiber under a microscope with polarized light. It explains how cross lines, striations and displacements appear in the fiber wall, and how chemical or mechanical processing increases them. It introduces the term 'parcels' for the small sections into which a fiber divides, and notes that the same formation was seen in hemp and Apocynum sibiricum fibers. Five micrographs illustrate the text.

A 1929 article from The Melliand in which A. P. Sakostschikoff reports microscopic studies of the cellular structure of bast fibers. Flax, hemp, kendyr, ramie, jute and kenaf were examined in ordinary and polarized light after treatment with chromic acid, NaOH and HCl, and all show cellules enclosed in an outer epidermis with 'displacements'. The author compares elementary fiber lengths and links the short fibers and incrusting materials of jute and kenaf to their poor durability. Seven micrographs illustrate the fibers and cellules.