PAPER

Paper. PAPER is a word derived from the Greek πάπυρος, papyrus, the name applied to the celebrated Egyptian plant which was so much used by the ancients in all kinds of writing. It is unnecessary to describe the different expedients which men have, in every age and country, employed for giving permanence to their ideas, and handing them down to posterity. When the art of writing was once discovered, stones, bricks, leather, stuccoed cloth, potsherd, leaves of trees, the outer and inner bark, plates of lead, wood, wax, and ivory, were all employed. Among the curious miscellaneous relics of ancient Egypt which have come down to us, are fragments of pottery inscribed with various documents, as soldiers' furloughs, orders of admission, memoranda, accounts, &c. In the progress of society men have tried other more permanent devices for this purpose, and have successively invented the Egyptian paper, paper made of cotton, paper manufactured from the bark of trees, and in our times paper prepared from old rags.

The only kinds of paper which merit particular attention are,—first, the Egyptian; secondly, that made from cotton; thirdly, paper made from the interior bark of trees; fourthly, Chinese paper; fifthly, Japanese paper; sixthly, paper made from asbestos; and, lastly, paper prepared from linen and cotton rags.

Egyptian paper. Egyptian paper, so called from its having been used by the ancient Egyptians, was made from a species of reed called papyrus, which grew on the banks of the Nile. The ancient botanists placed the papyrus amongst the gramineous plants, or dog-grass. Ignorant of the particular kind to which it belonged, they were contented to specify it under the name of papyrus, of which there were two kinds, namely, that of Egypt, and that of Sicily. The papyrus (Papyrus Niloticus; Papyrus Aegyptiacus; Papyrus antiquorum; Papyrus antiquorum Niloticus) is of the order Triandria Digynia, and is one of the many varieties of the genus Cyperus. The stem is naked, and reaches a height of ten and even fifteen feet. It is surmounted by a plume of leaves and flowers. Besides its well-known seat in Egypt, the papyrus, in several varieties, has been observed in Syria, Sicily, Calabria, India, and Madagascar. The name papyrus was probably but the Greek transcript of the native name of the plant, babeer; but the same plant was also known to the Greeks under several other names, as βιβλος, βιβλος, and, more rarely, δαρος, from the chief seat of its cultivation, the delta of the Nile. Considerable uncertainty has prevailed, nevertheless, among modern botanists, as to the exact identification of the plant formerly used in Egypt for the manufacture of paper. Many have supposed that some alteration of the soil of Egypt, or in the system of cultivating the plant, may have induced such modifications of its appearance as to render it difficult of recognition; and it has even been suggested that it may have disappeared altogether in the long series of ages, and the many social and political revolutions through which Egypt has passed since the classic times.

Whatever doubts may have formerly existed on this point are now at an end. Bruce not only saw the papyrus growing both in Egypt and Abyssinia, but actually made paper of it, in the same manner as that in which it was made by the ancients. He tells us, likewise, that, so far from any part of it being useless, the papyrus is at this day used in Abyssinia for making boats; a piece of the acacia tree being put into the bottom to serve as a keel. That the boats of ancient Egypt were made of a species of papyrus, probably of the very same construction described by Bruce, we know from the testimony of Pliny, who informs us that the plants were first sewed together, and then

gathered up at stem and stern, and tied fast to the keel: Conseritur bibula Memphisis eymba papyro. It is not by any means clear, however, that the plant which Bruce found in use for the manufacture of boats is the same which he made into paper; and perhaps, indeed, a good deal of the difficulty among modern botanists has arisen from their not observing that more than one variety of the Cyperus appears to have been turned to different uses by the Egyptians; to some of which uses—as the making of baskets, mats, sandals, sails, and even punts or boats—the Cyperus used in paper-making appears but little suited, or rather, in which it could not be so profitably employed. Now, Sir Gardner Wilkinson mentions two varieties which are still common in Egypt—the Cyperus dives and the Cyperus papyrus. The former, which is even yet cultivated for many of the uses specified above, he thinks to have been that used by the ancients for boats and for all the other coarse manufactures. The Cyperus papyrus (the Papyrus hieraticus of Strabo, and the berd of modern Egypt) was reserved chiefly for the manufacture of paper.

Another question has arisen among modern botanists, whether the papyrus of Sicily is the same with that of Egypt, and whether the Romans used the former plant for the purpose of paper-making, or for any other of the uses of the Egyptian papyrus. The Sicilian plant is called in Italy papero, or pipero. A careful examination of it was made by the celebrated naturalist, Cesalpino, for the purpose of resolving this question. His opinion was, that the two plants, although bearing a strong resemblance to each other, were in reality different. The papyrus of Sicily, says he, which is there commonly called pipero, has a longer and thicker stem than the plant cyperus. It rises sometimes to the height of four cubits; the angles are obtuse, and the stem at the base is surrounded with leaves growing from the root; and there are no leaves on the stem, even when the plant is at its greatest perfection, but it carries at the top a large plume, which resembles a great tuft of dishevelled hairs. This is composed of a great number of triangular pedicels, in the form of reeds, at the extremity of which are placed the flowers, between two small leaves of a reddish colour like the cyperus. The roots are woody, about the thickness of reeds, jointed, and throw out a great number of branches, which extend themselves in an oblique direction. These are scented somewhat like the cyperus, but their colour is a lighter brown. From the lower part issue many small fibres, and from the higher a number of stems shoot up, which, in proportion as they are tender, contain a sweet juice.

An interesting description of the Sicilian plant, accompanied by elaborate drawings, was written by Doctor Domenico Cirillo, and published at the celebrated Bodoni press at Parma, in which the habitat, form, and characteristics of the Sicilian plant are minutely described, and contrasted with those of the Egyptian papyrus, as detailed by Pliny, Prosper Alpini, Bauhin, and others. Cirillo's own conclusion from the comparison is, that the Sicilian is exceedingly like (similitudinem) the Egyptian plant, as described by Theophrastus and Pliny. (Domenici Cyrilli, Medicinæ Doctoris, Cyperus Papyrus, folio, Parma, 1796, p. x.)

The accuracy of this judgment was impugned by some of the botanists of the last century. But later researches have tended to confirm the authority of the older naturalist. It is certain that the ancients themselves recognised the same character of resemblance between two varieties of the plant which they regarded as distinct. Theophrastus (Histor. Plantarum, iv. 8.) distinguishes the sari (σάρι) and the papyrus (πάπυρος); observing that, although

Paper. they have a decided character of resemblance, they differ in this, that the papyrus sends forth thick and tall stems, which being divided into slender plates, are fit for the fabrication of paper, whilst the sari has small stems, considerably shorter, and altogether useless for any kind of paper.

The papyrus, therefore, which anciently served to make paper, must not be confounded with the papyrus of Sicily, which is also found in Calabria. According to Strabo, the former was not to be found anywhere except in Egypt and in India. The greater part of botanists have believed that the Sicilian plant is the same with the sari of Theophrastus; but others have alleged that the papyrus of Egypt and the sari were the same plant in two different stages of its existence, or considered with respect to the greater or less height; which, according to them, might depend upon the qualities of the soil, the difference of the climate, or other accidental causes. In proof of this, it is maintained, that there is an essential difference between the papyrus growing in the waters and the same plant growing on the banks of rivers and in marshes. The first of these has thick and tall stems, and a plume in the form of a tuft of hair, very long and slender, and without any seed. The second differs from the first in all these particulars; it has a shorter and more slender stem, its plume is loaded with flowers, and consequently it produces seed. In whatever way we consider these facts, it is sufficient for us to know, that the difference between the papyrus and the sari neither depends on climate, nor soil, nor situation. The plants, whose difference depended on these circumstances, both grew in Egypt, and were both employed in the manufacture of paper. We should add, nevertheless, that, whatever may be the specific differences between the Egyptian and the Sicilian papyrus, the latter may also, absolutely speaking, be converted into paper. Cavaliere Landolina Nava of Syracuse, and others, have actually made paper of it, and sheets of the paper are still offered to travellers as specimens of the manufacture; but they are decidedly inferior in every respect to the ancient Egyptian fabric. (Wilkinson's Egyptians iii. 148.) Indeed, not only for the manufacture of paper according to the ancient plan, but in every other industrial point of view, the Sicilian plant appears to be entirely inferior to the kindred one of Egypt.

The Cyperus papyrus of the ancients was chiefly cultivated in Lower Egypt, especially in the Sebennitic Nome; and the right of growing and selling it was one of the government monopolies. The date of the origin of the manufacture of paper from this plant has been the subject of much discussion. Pliny, on the authority of Varro, states, that it was unknown in Egypt till the time of Alexander the Great; but there is no doubt that this is a grievous error; and, although it is impossible to fix the precise time at which the use of the papyrus began, modern antiquarians have clearly shown that it dates back as far as the most remote Pharaonic period, to which period many extant papyri are believed to belong. Perhaps, however, the authority of Pliny may at least show that the use of papyrus, especially outside of Egypt, as an article of commerce, became more general after the conquest of Alexander; and on this point Pliny is confirmed by other ancient authors, especially Herodotus (v. 58, ii. 100), Athenæus (xiv. 614), and Theophrastus (Historia Plantarum, iv. 8, 4).

The manufacture of the papyrus is minutely described by Pliny (xiii. 23); and, although his account contains some obvious inaccuracies, and has been strangely misunderstood by the commentators in one important point, it is on the whole very interesting. He tells us that "paper is made from the papyrus by splitting it with a needle into very thin leaves, due care being taken that they be as broad as possible." Some of the commentators, and even of the eminent Egyptian antiquarians (among the rest, Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, iii. 148), understand this to mean that

Paper. "the interior of the stalks of the plant, after the rind had been removed, was cut into thin slices in the direction of their length, and these being laid on a flat board in succession, similar slices were placed over them at right angles." Another equally eminent Egyptian scholar, Seyffarth (Beiträge zur Kenntniss des alten Egyptens, ii. 201), supposes that it was the stem of the papyrus which was cut into slices. The true explanation of the process, however, is that given by Becker (in his Charikles, ii. 220), and indeed follows naturally from the words of Pliny. Neither the pith of the plant, nor the entire stem, if cut into slices, would have furnished a suitable material. But under the coarse exterior rind of the plant lie a number of successive layers of the inner cuticle (phyllore), about twenty in number. These several integuments, instead of being sliced, were separated from each other by the point of a needle, and the portions so removed are the "thin leaves" of which Pliny speaks. The best and finest phyllore were those which lay nearest to the centre of the plant, the quality of the others declining as they receded from it. The outer rind or bark was only used for making ropes, and especially for ropes which were to be submerged in water, for which they possessed a remarkable power of resistance. The leaves thus separated were rendered adhesive, not as Pliny states, by the muddy Nile water (which he erroneously supposes to have had certain glutinous qualities), but by the use of a paste made of very fine flour, and mixed with size or glue (for the preparation of which Pliny also furnishes a prescription, ch. 26), and then placed upon a flat board or table, slightly inclined. The leaves were placed down lengthwise, as long as the papyrus would admit of,—forming, as it were, the woof of the fabric,—and their jagged edges were duly cut off at both ends; a second layer of leaves, which may be called the warp, was then laid down transversely upon these at right angles, in the same way, in fact, says Pliny, "that hurdles are made." The leaves were then pressed close, dried in the sun, beaten smooth with a mallet, and polished with ivory, or some similar substance; after which they were all united to each other, the best sheets being always taken first, and the inferior ones afterwards. The sheets were rolled for use upon a cylinder (scapus). The breadth (or depth) of the roll of course was limited by the length of the strips of the papyrus; its length could be indefinitely extended; but Pliny says that they never placed more than twenty sheets on the roll.

The frail specimens of Egyptian paper which have come down to us have created the impression that the ancient papyrus must, like the modern rice-paper, have had the grave defect of exceeding brittleness. But it may be doubted whether this impression is well founded; and very possibly a great deal of this apparent defect of the ancient papyri is rather to be ascribed to the excessive dryness of the climate in which these rolls have been preserved for so many ages, than to their own inherent brittleness. Sir Gardner Wilkinson states, that the best English drawing-paper, after a few years in Egypt, becomes too brittle to fold up without breaking; and that on the contrary, when the papyrus is gradually exposed to steam or to the damp of this climate, it acquires a considerable degree of pliability. He himself mentions one ancient papyrus of Memphis, still extant, which is as pliable as common paper.

The finest quality of the Egyptian paper, that made of the inner leaves, was called Hieratica. It was made, as the name implies, by or for the priests, and was not suffered to be sold, lest it should be desecrated by profane writings. But it is curious that, although some writers have denied the existence of palimpsest papyri (see PALIMPSEST), there was a regular trade at Alexandria in Hieratic papyri which had been already written upon, for the purpose of their being washed and re-prepared for a second use. It was only, or at least principally, in this way that, during the time of the Re-

public and in the early days of the Empire, the best papyrus could be obtained in Rome. In later times the manufacture was much improved, and especially after the paper began to be manufactured in Rome. In the reign of Augustus, a very fine quality was produced, which was called Augusta, in honour of that emperor. The second quality was called Liviana, from his wife Livia, the name Hieratica being degraded to the third quality. A still coarser quality was called Amphitheatrica, probably from its being made near the amphitheatre of Alexandria; but this kind of paper eventually became a very important article of commerce, from its being used as the basis of a much finer quality, which was manufactured at Rome by a new process. The inventor of this process, who gave his name to the paper (Fanniana), was a grammarian of Rome—Q. Remmius Fannius Palæmon—who is supposed to have been Quintilian's preceptor. His process is not described in detail, but it consisted in carefully inserting finer slips into the coarse paper, and probably re-laying or re-adjusting the slips into a closer and smoother fabric. A fifth variety of paper was the Saitica, so-called from the city of that name in Lower Egypt, where it was manufactured in large quantities. A sixth kind, Taniotic, called from a place in the vicinity of Alexandria, was made entirely from the coarse exterior layers of the plant, and was sold by weight and not by quality; and a further kind, used only as wrapping-paper, and called Emporetica (from ἔμπορος, a merchant), was so coarse as to be quite unfit for writing upon.

The breadth of the paper, which, as we saw, was limited by the length of the strips of the papyrus, was an important element in the value of the different qualities. The Augustan paper, according to Pliny, was thirteen fingers in breadth, the Hieratic, eleven; the Fannian, ten; the Amphitheatrica, nine; the Saitic, still narrower; and the Emporetica, only six fingers broad. Pliny adds that the Emperor Claudius made a great improvement in the quality of paper, as to smoothness, colour, and strength. The Augustan paper had been so fine as not to resist sufficiently the action of the sharp point of the pen; and even when it escaped being torn or perforated, the writing, from the extreme thinness of the paper, could be read from the opposite side of the page. To obviate these inconveniences, a sheet of coarser paper was taken as a groundwork, "over which was laid a wool, as it were, formed of leaves of the first quality." In consequence of these improvements, the Claudian paper (for so this paper was called) came to be preferred to all others, though the Augustan was still used in Pliny's time for all the purposes of correspondence.

Papyrus paper formed an important branch of the commerce of Egypt, which continued to increase towards the end of the Roman republic, and became still more extensive under Augustus. The demand from foreign nations was often so great as to cause a scarcity at Rome; and, in the reign of Tiberius, a tumult occurred amongst the people in consequence of this scarcity. In a letter of the Emperor Hadrian, the preparing of papyrus is mentioned as one of the principal occupations at Alexandria. "In this rich and opulent city," says the emperor, "nobody is seen idle. Some are employed in the manufacture of cloth, some in that of writing paper." During the time of the Antonines, this commerce continued to flourish; and Apuleius says that he wrote upon the paper of Egypt with a reed of the Nile prepared at Memphis.

Towards the end of the third century, the demand for papyrus became so great, that when the tyrant Firmus conquered Egypt, he boasted that he had seized as much paper and size as would support his whole army. St. Jerome informs us that it was much in use in the fifth century, when he flourished. The duty on its importation had become excessive towards the end of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth century; and on its being abolished by Theodoric,

the Gothic king of Italy, Cassiodorus congratulated the whole world on the cessation of an impost on a merchandise which was so essentially necessary to mankind.

Down to what period papyrus continued to be used, and still more to what date its manufacture continued, it is very hard to determine. Montfaucon and Mabillon mention several fragments written on this paper in the sixth century. One of these was a charter of the Emperor Justinian, entitled Charta Plenaria Securitatis. In 1698, Montfaucon saw, in the library of Giulio Giustiniani, three or four fragments of Egyptian paper of the same antiquity; and Mabillon mentions a manuscript of the Jewish antiquities of Josephus translated into Latin, which seems to have been written in the same century, and which was preserved in the Ambrosian Library at Milan; but he had not himself seen the manuscripts. The same antiquary mentions his having seen in the library of St. Martin of Tours the remains of an old Greek manuscript of Egyptian paper, which appeared to him to be of the seventh century. He also believes that the copy of St. Mark's gospel preserved in the Register-house of Venice is written upon the same paper; that it is the most ancient of any of the evangelical manuscripts; and that it may be supposed to have been written, at the latest, in the fourth century. According to the same antiquary, the Egyptian paper was used in France, Italy, and other European countries, both for books of learning and for public records; and there still remain, he adds, a great number of these in the archives of the church at St. Denis, at Corbey, in the Abbey de Grasse, and in other convents. That it was also used by the Syrians, Arabians, and other Orientals, is clear from the circumstance that papyri in these languages are still extant. Silvestre, in his Palæographie Universelle, gives specimens of more than one.

It is probable that the invention of paper made of cotton, of which we shall afterwards treat, insensibly destroyed the reputation and manufacture of the Egyptian paper; but it is still a question at what particular period the fabrication of the latter totally ceased. Eustathius, the learned commentator on Homer (Ad. Hom. Odys. xxi., p. 1913), assures us that in his time it was no longer in use; but Mabillon maintains that many of the papal bulls were written on papyrus in the eleventh century. Count Maffei, however (Histor. Diplomat. lib. ii.; Biblioth. Ital. tom. ii., p. 251), is decidedly of opinion that Egyptian paper was not in use in the fifth century. He considers all records written upon this paper, and dated subsequently to this period, as not authentic; and the papal bulls mentioned by Mabillon, as well as the copy of St. Mark's gospel, were, according to him, written upon paper manufactured from cotton. On the contrary, Pauly (Real. Encyclopædie der Klassischen Wissenschaft, v. 1156) states that a copy of St. Augustine's Letters, which Montfaucon saw in the library of St. Germain des Près, partly of papyrus, partly of parchment, is not earlier than the sixth century. To reconcile in some measure these contradictory accounts, it may be observed, that on some particular occasions, and by some particular persons, the Egyptian paper might have been employed for several hundred years after it ceased to be in general use.

Before we pass from the ancient manufacture of the papyrus paper, we may observe, that the plant has been proposed as one of the most promising of the vegetable materials for the manufacture of paper by the modern process. Chevalier Claussen in a paper on "Plants which can furnish Fibre for Paper Pulp," appears to place it higher in the scale, both as regards the percentage of fibre and the facility of bleaching, than most of the substances hitherto experimented upon. He found it to contain 40 per cent. of strong fibre, excellent for paper, and very easily bleached. He appears to think, however, that the common indigenous rush (Juncus effusus and other varieties) will supply an

Paper. equally, if not more, available pulp for paper-manufacture.

Paper made from cotton. It is generally supposed that the invention of the paper called Charta bombycina supplanted the Egyptian paper in Greece. This paper is incomparably more lasting, and better calculated for all the purposes of writing. It is not precisely known at what period this art, which supposes a great variety of previous experiments, was first reduced to practice. The application of cotton to the purposes of paper-making requires as much labour and ingenuity as the use of linen rags; and for this reason, if we would determine the precise time when paper was made from cotton, we should also be able to fix the invention of the art of paper-making as it is presently practised in Europe. Montfaucon proves, by incontestable authorities, that paper made from cotton was in use in 1100. This paper in the Greek language is called χαρτι βομβικος, or βαμβικος; for although βομβικ is the Greek word for silk, yet in those times it was applied, as well as βαμβαξ, to cotton; and hence the Italians call cotton bambaccio.

The most ancient manuscript of this paper which Montfaucon saw with a date, was that in the French king's library, written in the year 1050; but as the manuscripts without date are infinitely more numerous than those which are dated, and as some conjecture can be formed concerning them from the manner of the writing, the same antiquary believes that some of these were written in the tenth century. The researches of the same learned person serve to show that this paper was discovered towards the end of the ninth or beginning of the tenth century; for before the twelfth century it was commonly used throughout the eastern empire, and even in Sicily. Roger, King of Sicily, says, in a diploma written in 1145, that he had renewed on parchment a charter which had been written upon cotton paper in the year 1100, and another which was dated in the year 1112. About the same time the Empress Irene, in the statutes for regulating some religious houses at Constantinople, states that she had left three copies of these statutes, two on parchment, and one on cotton paper. From that period paper of this sort became still more in use throughout all the eastern empire; and innumerable Greek manuscripts are found written upon it, in all the great libraries.

This discovery happened at a time when there seems to have been a great scarcity of parchment; for it was about the same period that the Greeks erased the writings of Polylinus, Diodorus of Sicily, and many valuable ancient authors, for the sake of the parchment. It was the invention of this cotton paper which destroyed the manufacture of the Egyptian article; for, if we may believe Eustathius, who wrote towards the end of the twelfth century, the latter had gone into disuse but a little before his time. We may easily believe, however, that this new invention, although of great advantage to mankind, was only introduced by degrees.

Paper from the bark of trees. Paper of the interior bark of trees was made from the white pellicle or inner coat which is found in many trees between the bark and the wood. The trees commonly in use were the maple, the plane-tree, the elm, the beech, the mulberry, and most commonly the linden-tree. The ancients wrote upon this inner coat after they had separated it from the bark, and beaten and dried it. Mabillon and Montfaucon speak frequently of manuscripts and diplomas written upon paper made from bark; and positively distinguish it from the Egyptian paper, because it was thicker, and composed of parts less adhesive.

There are many palm trees in India and America to which botanists have given the name papyraceous, because the natives have written with bodkins either on the leaves or on the bark. Such is the American palm, called tal by the Indians; and also the guajaraba of New Spain. Every palm, the bark of which is smooth, and the leaves large and thick, may be used for this purpose.

The art of making paper from vegetable matter reduced to pulp was known in China long before it was practised in Europe; and the Chinese have carried it to a high degree of perfection. The fine paper of China is much softer paper, and smoother than that of Europe; and these qualities are admirably adapted to the pencil, which the Chinese use in writing. Several kinds of their paper discover the greatest art and ingenuity, and are applied with much advantage to many purposes. These are capable of receiving the impression of types; and Chinese paper is celebrated for affording the most clear and delicate proof-impressions from copperplates.

The different sorts of paper vary in China according to the materials of which they are composed, and the various modes of manufacturing these materials. Every province has its peculiar paper. That of Sechuen is made of linen rags, as in Europe; that of Fo-kien, of young bamboo; that of the northern provinces, of the interior bark of the mulberry; that of the province of Kiang-nan, of the skin which is found in the webs of the silk-worm; and in the province of Houquang, the tree chu or ko-chu furnishes the materials of which paper is made.

The method of fabricating paper from the bark of different trees is nearly the same with that which is followed in the bamboo. To give an idea, therefore, of the manner of manufacturing the interior barks of the mulberry, the elm, and the cotton tree, it will be sufficient to confine our observations to the bamboo.

The bamboo is a kind of cane or hollow reed, divided by knots, but larger, more elastic, and more durable, than any other reed. The whole substance of the bamboo, composed of filaments, and a great abundance of fibrous materials, are employed in this operation. The shoots of one or two years, nearly as thick as a man's leg, are preferred. They strip the leaves from the stem, cut them into pieces of four or five feet in length, make them into parcels, and put them into water to macerate. As soon as they are softened, which generally happens in five days, they are washed in pure water, put into a dry ditch, and covered for some days with lime watered for the purpose of slackening. They are then washed carefully a second time, and every one of the pieces is cut into filaments, which are exposed to the rays of the sun to dry and to bleach. After this they are boiled in large kettles, and then reduced to pulp in mortars of wood, by means of a hammer with a long handle, which the workman moves with his foot.

The pulp being so far prepared, some shoots of a plant named koteng are taken, and being steeped in water four or five days, are reduced to an unctuous or glutinous substance; and when the workmen proceed to make the paper, this is mixed with the pulp in certain fixed quantities, because upon this mixture depends the quality of the paper. When the extract from the koteng is mixed with pulp of the bamboo, the whole mixture is beaten together in mortars till it become a thick and viscous liquor; when it is poured into large tubs or reservoirs, so exactly framed as that no part of the liquor can escape. After this the workmen plunge their forms into the liquor, and take out what is sufficient for a sheet of paper, which, when formed and consolidated, is at once dried and detached from the mould, by being held a moment or two against a heated hollow wall, the two fronts of which are smooth and extremely white. At the extremity of this wall is placed a stove, the pipes of which are carried in a circular manner throughout the whole empty space. The sheets of paper are laid on the surface, to which they adhere till a soft brush is applied to them; and after they become dry, it is easy to distinguish the side which received impressions from the brush from that which adhered to the wall. By means of this stove the Chinese dry their paper as fast as they make it; but it is only in cold seasons, or in certain provinces, that they find this expedient necessary.

The Chinese paper must be dipped in a solution of alum before it can take either ink or colour. They call this operation faner, from the Chinese word fan, which signifies alum. The manner of preparing this solution is extremely simple. Six ounces of isinglass cut very small are put into boiling water, and constantly stirred, that it may dissolve equally. When the isinglass is wholly dissolved in the water, twelve ounces of calcined alum are thrown in, and also stirred till it is completely dissolved and mixed with the isinglass. This composition is afterwards poured into a large deep basin, at the mouth of which there is a little round piece of wood; and the extremity of every sheet of paper is then fixed in another piece of wood, with a slit made to receive it. By means of this apparatus the sheet of paper is plunged into the composition of alum and isinglass; and when it has been fully penetrated by the mixture, it is drawn out, and made to glide over a little round piece of wood. The long piece of wood which holds the sheet by one end, and keeps it from tearing, is afterwards suspended with it on a wall till it becomes sufficiently dry.

The Chinese give to the paper intended for different purposes different colours; but we shall confine our observations to the silver colour, which they impart to some kinds. They take two scruples of paste made of cow's hide, one scruple of alum, and a pint of water, and boil the whole on a slow fire till the water be evaporated. The sheets of paper are then stretched on a smooth table, and covered over with two or three layers of this paste. They afterwards take a certain quantity of talc, washed and boiled in water, with a proportion of one third of alum. The whole is then dried, reduced to a powder, passed through a sieve, boiled a second time in water, dried in the sun, and again passed through the sieve. This powder is then spread equally over the sheets of paper, prepared as above mentioned; and these are afterwards dried slowly in the shade. The sheets of paper, covered in this manner with talc, are laid upon a table, and rubbed with a little cotton, which fixes a certain quantity of talc in the paper, and carries off the surplus to be used on another occasion. By means of this composition the Chinese draw all manner of figures on their paper.

The paper made from the bamboo is sufficiently white, soft, and closely united, without the least inequality on the surface to interrupt the motion of the pencil, or to occasion the rising of the materials which compose it. But every kind of paper made from the bamboo or the bark of trees is more liable to crack than that made in Europe; besides, it is more susceptible of moisture, and is sooner destroyed with dust and worms. To obviate this last inconvenience, people are obliged frequently to beat their books in China, and to expose them to the sun. It may be observed, however, that the Chinese paper, employed for various purposes in Europe, has been preserved for a long time without receiving damage either from moisture or from insects.

According to Kämpfer, the bark of the Morus papifera sativa, or true paper-tree, is chiefly employed for making paper in Japan. Every year, after the fall of the leaves, which happens in the tenth month, corresponding to our December, the Japanese cut the young shoots of this tree into pieces of about three feet, and collect them into parcels, which they boil in water containing a certain quantity of ashes. If the wood be dry, they take care to steep it twenty-three hours in water before it is boiled. The parcels are kept in a close copper till the bark at the extremity of the shoots is separated from the stem about half an inch; they are then cooled, and the bark alone is fit for making paper. They begin by a preparation, which consists of cleaning the bark, and separating the good from what is bad. For this purpose they steep it in water

three or four hours; and as soon as it is softened they scrape off with a knife whatever is blackish or green, and at the same time separate the strong bark of a year's growth from the slender kind which cover the young shoots. The first of these gives the whitest and best paper. If there be any of the bark of more than a year's growth, it is laid aside for the coarsest kind.

After the bark has been culled and cleaned in this manner, it is boiled in a clear ley till the matter is of such consistency, that, being gently touched with the finger, it draws off in the form of hairs, or like a collection of fibres. During the time of boiling it is constantly stirred with a strong reed, and the waste by evaporation is supplied from time to time with additional quantities of the clear ley. To make this ley, they put two pieces of wood across the mouth of a tub, and cover them with straw, upon which is laid a bed of ashes a little moistened; and when boiling water is poured on the ashes, the salts contained in them are carried down to the tub. This is what is called a clear ley. After the bark is in the condition which we have just stated, it is washed with great care; for on this washing depends in a great measure the quality of the paper. It is put into a kind of sieve through which the water can flow freely; and great care is taken to turn it with the hand till it be sufficiently diluted, and reduced to soft and tender fibres. For the finest paper a second washing is requisite, and a piece of cloth is used instead of a sieve.

When the bark is washed, it is laid upon a strong and smooth table, and beaten with a kind of baton of hard wood till it is reduced to a proper consistency. Indeed it becomes so soft that it resembles paper steeped in water. The bark prepared in this manner is put into a narrow tub, with a glutinous extract from rice and the root oreni, which is very viscous. These three substances are mixed together, and stirred with the reed till they form a liquor of uniform consistency. The composition is then poured into vats similar to those used for filling the forms or moulds in our paper-mills.

As soon as the sheets are made and detached from the form, they are laid in a heap upon a table covered with a double mat. A small chip of cane is placed between every sheet, and this jutting out serves to distinguish the sheets, and afterwards to raise them. Every one of the heaps is covered with a plate or thin board of the exact size of the paper. In proportion as the paper dries, or is able to bear it without danger of being compressed into one mass, they lay on additional weights. This pressure, being intended to carry off any unnecessary moisture, is continued during twenty-four hours, when the sheets are, by means of the little pieces of reed, suspended to long plants in the open air, till they are completely dried.

The extract from rice is made in an unvarnished earthen pot, which is at first agitated gently, and then more briskly; new water is next poured in, and the whole is filtered through a linen cloth. The finishing of the process is determined by the viscosity of the substance. The infusion of the root oreni is prepared in this manner:—The root, peeled and cut into small pieces, is infused in water for one night, during which time it communicates a viscosity sufficient for the purpose to which it is applied.

The Japanese paper is of such prodigious strength, that the materials of which it is composed might be manufactured into ropes. There is sold at Serige, the capital city of the province of that name, a kind of paper which is fit for bed-hangings and wearing apparel, and so much resembles stuffs of wool and silk that it is often taken for them. There are four trees used in Japan for the manufacture of paper:—1. The true paper-tree, called in the Japanese language kaadsi, and characterized by Kämpfer as papyrus fructu mori celsae, sive morus sativa foliis urticae mortuae cortice papifera; 2. The false paper-tree, called by the

Paper. Japanese katsi or kadsire, and by Kœmpfer papyrus procumbens lactescens folio longo lanceata cortice chartaceo; 3. The plant which the Japanese call oreni, and which is named by Kœmpfer malva radice viscosa flore ephemero magno paniculo; 4. The futokadsura, named by Kœmpfer frutex viscosus procumbens folio telephii vulgaris emulo fructu racemoso. The description of these trees, as given by Kœmpfer, may be of service in leading botanists to discover the European plants and shrubs adapted, like the Japanese, for the fabrication of paper.

Before concluding this part of the subject, it may be proper to give an idea of the attempts which have been made to increase the original materials of paper in Europe. A slight attention to the Chinese process in reducing the bamboo to a paste, by a careful and ingenious analysis, and to the method employed by the Japanese in separating the principal fibres of the bark of the mulberry, will show the absurdity not only of taking plants without any kind of choice, but of giving them no preparation, except that of pounding them with mallets. With a proper selection and right treatment, it appears probable that many of the European plants might be used with great advantage in fabricating several kinds of paper. It is evident that the materials used by the Chinese require less labour and preparation than the stuff of linen rags. The sheets of the Chinese paper are easily detached from the form; they are laid in heaps, without the interposition of pieces of woollen cloth; the superfluous water is immediately discharged; and they require not, as in Europe, the vigorous action of presses to unite the parts more closely together.

Paper made from asbestos. Asbestos is a fibrous substance of little strength, and the threads of which are easily broken. This substance has the peculiar property of supporting the action of fire without receiving any damage; and hence pieces of cloth and garters made of it are incombustible. From the knowledge of this property, paper has been made of asbestos. The manner of fabricating this paper is described in the Philosophical Transactions (No. 166). A certain quantity of asbestos is pounded in a stone mortar till it be reduced to a substance like cotton. All the parts of earth or stone remaining in the asbestos are then taken off by means of a fine sieve, and it is formed into sheets of paper by an ordinary paper-mill. Mixing it with water reduces it to stuff; but as it is heavier than that made from linen rags, it requires to be continually stirred when it is taken up with the frames. The only excellence of this paper is, that the writing disappears when cast into the fire. But as it is of a slender consistency, and easily torn, it is rather an object of curiosity than of use.

Paper made from rags. This paper is manufactured throughout all Europe, in the East Indies, and in America, from linen and cotton rags collected in the cities and in the country. Paper made of linen rags was utterly unknown to the ancients. The libri lintei mentioned by Livy (i. lib. iv.), Pliny (lib. xiii. c. xi.), and other Roman writers, are demonstrated by Guilandin, in his Commentary on Pliny, to have been written on pieces of linen cloth, or canvas prepared in the manner of painters. But it is not sufficient to be certain that paper made from linen is a modern invention; it is necessary to know by what nation, and at what period, it was discovered. Polydore Virgil (De Inventoribus Rerum, c. ii. c. viii.) confesses his ignorance of this circumstance. Scaliger, without any kind of proof, gives the credit of the invention to the Germans; and Maffei claims it for the Italians. Other writers ascribe this honour to some Greek refugees at Basil, to whom the manner of making paper from cotton in their own country had suggested the idea. Duhalde

is persuaded that Europe derived this invention from the Chinese, who, in several provinces, make paper of rags nearly in the same manner as we now do. But this invention was practised by the Europeans before they had any communication with China, and before the taking of Constantinople, at which time the Greek refugees were supposed to have retired to Basil. The precise date of this discovery in Europe is not exactly known. Mabillon believes that it took place in the twelfth century, and cites a passage of Pierre de Clugny, born in the year 1100, to prove it. The books which we read every day, says De Clugny, in his treatise against the Jews, are written on sheep's and calves' skins, or on oriental plants, or, finally, ex raris veterum pannorum. If these last words signify paper such as we use, there were books of it in the twelfth century. But this citation is the more to be suspected, as Montfaucon himself, after the minutest search in France and Italy, could find no book on this paper anterior to the death of St. Louis, in the year 1270.

The epoch of this invention was not approximately determined till 1762, when M. Mierman proposed a reward to the person who could procure the most ancient manuscript written on this kind of paper. The collection of all the memoirs sent to him, along with the manuscripts, was published at the Hague in 1767; and it appeared that this paper had been used in Europe before the year 1300.

In 1782 the Abbate Andrez published a work, entitled Dell' Origine, Progressi, e Stato attuale d'ogni Letteratura, in which he speaks of the discovery of many kinds of paper, and particularly of that made of rags. The same person maintains, that paper made from silk was very anciently fabricated in China, and in the eastern parts of Asia; and that the art of making this paper was brought from China to Persia about the year 652, and to Mecca in 706. The Arabs substituted cotton, the commodity of their own country, instead of silk, or rather of bamboo. This cotton paper was carried into Africa and Spain by the Arabs. The Spaniards, from the quantity of linen to be found in the kingdom of Valencia, seem first to have adopted the idea of using linen rags; and hence the most ancient paper of this kind is that of Valencia and Catalonia. From Spain it passed into France, as may be gathered from a letter of Joinville to St. Louis about the year 1260, and it is discovered to have been made in Germany in 1312. The first paper-mill in England was erected at Dartford by a German named Spielman in 1588, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. In consequence of paper made from cotton being imported from the Levant, paper made from linen was introduced much later into Italy than into France, Germany, and England.¹

This manufacture owes, in a great degree, the prodigious Art of advancement which it has attained in Great Britain during the last thirty years, to the ingenious and successful application of machinery. Many of its formerly tedious and uncertain processes are thereby greatly simplified and abridged, a remarkable instance of which is the improvement of cylinder-drying. The drying process used formerly to be effected mainly by the agency of the atmosphere; but, since the paper-machine was perfected, the paper is now made to pass in the web, as it is formed, over the surface of a certain number of metal cylinders heated internally by steam, and is dried off in less than two minutes, whereas it was formerly, and especially during winter, kept for weeks or months in a damp state, or exposed to severe frost, to its certain and great damage.

The manufacture naturally divides itself into that which is carried on in hand-mills, where the formation of the sheet, as formerly, is still performed by manual labour;

¹ See the work of Abbate Andrez, printed at Parma, 1782, in 8vo; and Mierman's Collection, published at the Hague.

Paper. and that which is carried on by machine-mills, where the paper is formed upon the machine wire-cloth in one continuous web. To give a distinct view of the subject, it will be necessary to describe all the important parts of the operation in their order, most of which are common to both modes of manufacture.

Materials. The materials principally used in Great Britain are old linen and cotton rags, which are collected in great quantity at home. A large quantity of rags, chiefly linen, is annually imported from the different countries whence the exportation is not prohibited,—viz, Germany, Italy, Sicily, and Hungary. For many years past a very abundant supply of material, formerly considered as totally worthless, has been obtained from the cotton factories in Manchester and its neighbourhood. We allude to the cotton waste and sweepings of the cotton-mills, which, by being devilled, that is, cleaned by a machine used in the cotton manufacture called a devil or skreening machine, and afterwards boiled in alkaline solution, and bleached, are capable of being converted into very tolerable printing paper.

The selection of the rags, if it should not have been performed before they are brought to the paper-mill, is there performed by women sorting them into their various qualities, which facilitates the work of the rag-cutters, whose business it also is to sort the rags into their different kinds as they cut them. The rags are then assigned, in bags or bales of from two to five hundredweights each, to the women in the rag-house. These women stand at small tables of about 3 feet square, the upper surface being composed of iron wire cloth, the meshes of which are about one-fourth of an inch square, whilst underneath there is a drawer. A knife or short scythe is firmly fixed in the centre of the table, in nearly a vertical position, and the woman is placed so as to have the back of it standing next her, and with a large wooden box divided into several compartments upon the floor, on her right hand. She then opens and examines the seams and patches of the rags, and removes the dirt, as well as any other noxious substances, such as pins, needles, buttons, silk, and worsted pieces, &c., that may be attached, which would be hurtful to the machinery, as well as to the quality of the paper. She cuts the rags by drawing them to her across the edge of the scythe, into pieces not exceeding 4 inches square, which are sorted and thrown into the boxes above referred to, according to their different qualities. A great deal of the dirt, sand, &c., passes through the wire-cloth into the drawer of the table, which is opened and cleaned out at convenience.

The rags, after being thus cut and sorted, are again carefully examined by women called overlookers or overhauers, who have the charge of seeing that the work is properly performed, and that none of the noxious substances above referred to are allowed to remain in the rags. Much of the beauty and cleanness of the paper, when finished, depend upon the attention bestowed on this department; for any dirty or noxious substances, when once comminuted by the trituration of the stuff into an endless number of small particles scattered over the surface of the paper, are of course wholly fixed and irremediable.

Several machines have been invented for the purpose of cutting rags, and thereby abridging the labour and expense. By means of rollers they are carried round a large cylindrical drum, on which knives, placed diagonally, revolve with considerable velocity and power, and cut the rags into small diamond-shaped pieces. But such machines have hitherto been found of comparatively little service, as of course they cannot perform the work of selection, or the removal of the impurities from the material, which can only be done by careful and close examination at the time of cutting the rags, and with the advantage of using the sharp knife to cut or scrape off the injurious portion. These rag-cutting machines, moreover, have been apt to cut the rags into very

unequal sizes, leaving one portion much too large, and another portion much too reduced, for the due trituration of them afterwards. Paper.

After the rags have been cut and carefully examined, they are inclosed in a cylinder called a duster, the whole periphery of which is composed of iron-wire cloth; it measures about 4½ feet in diameter, and is about 5 feet in length; and a part of the circumference opens on hinges to admit the rags, from one to two hundredweights of which are generally inclosed at a time, and remain in motion for half an hour or an hour. On the axis in the interior of the cylinder there are a number of spokes, each about 1 foot long, fixed transversely, which pass through the rags when they are in rapid motion, and toss them about so as to make them part the more readily with the dust, sand, and dirt, which may still adhere to them. For the coarser and dirtier descriptions of rags this machine is used with good effect before they are cut, and renders the operation of cutting the rags less accompanied with dust, &c., and therefore less unpleasant and unwholesome to those engaged in it. A great recent improvement which we have to notice is that of the duster or willow, as it is termed, being now open at both ends. These willows are of a much larger size than formerly, and are placed on a slope. The rags, in order to be freed from dust and dirt, are placed upon a revolving travelling felt, from which they are dropt into one end of the willow referred to, and, after being carried partially round it for some time, are dropt out at the lower end of the willow upon another travelling felt, whence they are conveyed away for use, or for being stored up, upon another travelling felt.

The women engaged in the rag-house cut on an average about three quarters of a hundredweight of home rags (that is, rags collected in Scotland and England) in the day of ten working hours, and about one hundredweight and a half of foreign rags in the same time. This arises from the latter being of a much heavier and stronger substance, generally speaking, than the former. Their wages amount to from 10d. to 1s. per day on an average. The nature of their employment, though it subjects them to the inhalation of dust and fibrous matter floating through the air, does not seem at all to injure their health, nor to warrant the adoption of what medical men have sometimes volunteered to recommend, that of breathing through sponges placed over their nose and mouth, to prevent injury to their chests and lungs.

The next process is that of boiling the rags in an alkaline ley, which is rendered proportionally strong, according to the lowness of the quality of the rags and the quantity of the colouring matter to be discharged. In some mills large open-mouthed coppers, with fire under them, are used for this purpose; in others, where there is a full command of steam, the rags are boiled in large square iron boxes, capable of containing ten or twelve hundredweights at a time. Part of the lid is made to move on hinges, or with a rope and pulley and balance-weight, for the purpose of the rags being placed in and taken out of the vessel; and before the steam is allowed to pass into the chest, the lid is secured by being screwed tightly down, and the joints of it formed by oakum to prevent the blowing of the steam. The steam passes through an upright iron pipe of about an inch and a half in diameter, through the centre of the lid down to the bottom of the chest, whence it diverges through a number of pipes or radii towards the sides of the chest. There is a false bottom, also of iron, which is in moveable pieces, about 6 inches above the real bottom; it is perforated by a number of small holes, to allow the boiling ley to pass constantly through the mass. (A sketch of a chest of this description will be found under the article BLEACHING.)

The boiling process, however, having been unequally and imperfectly performed, from the want of agitation through-

Paper. out the mass of material in the vessel, revolving boilers of a cylindrical shape have been introduced, made of strong wrought-iron. Patents for these have been taken out by Messrs Donkin and Fourdrinier, both of London, and by Mr Robertson, near Edinburgh, by which the rags are much more completely boiled, and with considerable economy in the amount of alkali used, and in the labour employed.

The quantity of alkaline matter varies from four to ten pounds of carbonate of soda to each hundredweight of rags, according to their quality, with about one-third part additional of quicklime, to render the ley caustic. The boiling is carried on upon an average for about eight hours, after which the rags are cooled as gradually as possible, since the process of cooling, if rapidly carried on, tends to fix some of the black colouring matter again in the rags. Some makers use only lime in the boiling process, whereas others use pot and pearl ashes to a considerable extent; but we believe that a ley composed of soda and a portion of quicklime is most commonly employed.

The rags, after being thoroughly cooled, to which a gentle flow of cold spring-water let into the boiler materially contributes, are laid aside in large wooden chests for use, or at once conveyed in boxes on wheels into the engine-house, there to be reduced to pulp. As this is one of the most important processes, and requires the whole power of the mill, we shall explain it, with reference to fig. 1. Figs. 1 and 2

represent a plan and elevation of a paper-mill for four engines, E.E. W is the water-wheel, on which there are

segments, S, of cast iron, which work into a main pinion P. This pinion is fixed on the same lying-shaft on which the spur or fly-wheels F are also hung. The motion is thus brought up to the proper speed, it being necessary that the pinions p, p, p, of the engines, and the engine-cylinders c, c, should perform about 150 revolutions per minute.

The engines, which are to be understood as large troughs of an elliptical form, with a division d, d, running nearly

the length that intervenes between the foci of these imaginary ellipses, consist of two sorts, according to the purposes to which they are applied, viz., washing and beating engines,—the former being designed for washing and rubbing out the rags, and the latter for shortening or beating down the fibres, after the washing and bleaching processes have been performed.

These engines used to be made of strong wood, and lined inside with lead or copper; but for many years past they have been very successfully cast in iron, all in one piece, including the partition or mid-feather, as it is termed, although, from their awkward shape, it may be easily conceived to be rather a difficult matter to insure a good casting of such a mass. They measure about 10 feet in length, 4½ feet in width, and about 2½ feet in depth, being dimensions sufficient to contain about 112 or 120 lbs. of rags, but they are frequently capable of containing 2 cwts. From the rapid motion and weight of the machinery, and great friction necessary to triturate the stuff, it is evident that the solid fixing of the engines is a matter of extreme importance. It is usual, therefore, to build, from a solid foundation, a substantial mass of ashler-work (fig. 3, A A), of the size of each engine, for it to rest upon.

The cylinders in the engines, technically called the rolls, and by the revolution of which the rags are ground into pulp, are formed in general of solid wood. Elm is most generally used for this purpose. They are commonly about 2 feet in diameter, and 2 feet in length. Round the circum-

ference are firmly fixed bars of steel parallel to the axis or spindle, in bunches of two together in the washing-engine, and three in the beating-engine, generally about eighteen or nineteen several bunches, and making therefore in all about thirty-eight bars in the washing-engine cylinder, and fifty-four or fifty-seven in that of the beating-engine. These steel bars are sunk and wedged into the periphery of the cylinder, and are, moreover, firmly fastened by means of hoops which are fitted into a groove in the ends of the cylinder, and, passing through the bars at a place cut out in them for that purpose, secure them firmly in their place.

Under the cylinder is what is called a plate (see fig. 3); that is, a number of steel bars, which lie fixed in a place provided in the trough b for them. They are accurately fitted, so as to form a segment of the same circle as the cylinder itself. The number of bars varies according to the kind of work performed at the mill; but in white-paper mills, in the washing-engines the plate has generally from twelve to eighteen bars, and in the beaters from twenty to twenty-four. The breadth of the plate is almost universally the same everywhere, namely, from 5½ to 6 inches. A plate 6 inches broad is found to require quite as much power, from the increased friction, as can in general be spared.

The thickness of the bars in the washing-engine plate is generally from about three-eighths to half an inch; and in the beating-engine from about three-sixteenths to one-fourth of an inch. In the latter they are made up with wooden or copper dividers, so as to afford the necessary thickness; in all, of five and a-half or six inches. The thickness of

the cylinder and plate-bars ought to be about the same proportion to each other; they are bevelled or tapered off about an inch or an inch and a-half from the edge, like a wedge; and those in the washing-engine being intended for opening and rubbing out the cloth and duly washing it, it is the opinion of the writer of this article that they ought not to be under the thickness of one-eighth of an inch, nor in the beaters under that of a shilling at the edge, after being ground—otherwise, by the too rapid conversion into pulp, the strength of the fibre would be materially injured.

The rags having now been boiled and brought into the engine-house, the engineer fills the engine or trough about half-full of water, till the bars of the cylinder, which project fully an inch from the wood, get hold of the water, and begin to turn it round. He then begins to put the rags into the engine, and spreads them with his hand. It will be seen from fig. 2 that the spindle s, which goes through the cylinder, is supported in its bearing upon an iron lever, called a lighter, l. A screw h is attached to it, and by moving that screw, the cylinder can be raised about three inches above, or depressed so as to come into contact with the bars of the plate.

Behind the cylinder it will be found that there is a rise (fig. 4, r) in the trough, which, on the side next the cylinder, forms a segment of a circle similar to that of the cylinder, and within an inch or two from it, and then descends by a rapid declivity to the natural bottom. This rise is called by the workmen the backfall, from the rags falling down upon it. The cylinder is always, when the mill is at work, inclosed in a wooden cover (fig. 5). The cover of the washing-engine used to have four slits or grooves cut down through the top of it, two on each side of the cylinder. The two slits w next the cylinder were made for a board of wood, which could be put in or removed at pleasure, being guided by grooves in the inside of the cover. The other two slits c contained two frames of very fine copper wire-cloth, having about 4900 holes in every square inch. These wire-cloth frames were generally fixed, being only taken out when any repairs were requisite.

The washing process was formerly carried on by the rags or pulp being driven violently by the roller or cylinder in its rapid revolutions upon the wire-cloth frames referred to; but as this was found to be attended with a great waste of fibre, this plan has been very generally abandoned, and the dirty water now passes through the periphery of hollow cylinders covered with fine wire-cloth, which revolve slowly in the pulp, and which water is raised by inverted buckets inside of the cylinder, and conveyed away by a tube in the centre of the axis.

The rags being now filled into the engine, the cylinder, by means of elevating the screw (fig. 3, h) is raised as high as it will go, as there is thereby room for a greater quantity of water being carried round with the dirty rags. In the bottom of the trough (fig. 1) there is a false bottom f, which is punctured through by a number of small holes, and which communicates with a cock. This cock, when kept fully open for the first twenty or thirty minutes, has the effect, in consequence of the pressure of water and suction, of carrying off a great deal of dirty water, as well as sand and loose particles from the rags, which have escaped former cleaning operations.

When the engine has been once filled with rags and water, of which there must be a large supply constantly flowing, the cylinder, by its projecting bars, working like the paddles of a steam-boat, draws them in. It then throws them up to the top of the "backfall" formerly alluded to, and the rags or pulp descend the declivity. By this means a regular progressive motion of the stuff is produced, which comes again and again under the action of the cylinder bars and plate. The cylinder is gradually depressed as the washing goes on, till it comes as nearly as possible in contact with the plate when at its lowest point. The plates are not placed directly in line with the bars of the cylinder, but lie at an angle of about five degrees. This prevents the one from being locked against the other, should the cylinder, from any cause, be too much depressed; and it is moreover necessary that they should be in that position, to promote the reducing of the rags to pulp, on somewhat of the same principle with the cutting process, performed by a pair of scissors—the one blade forming an angle with the other.

To make good paper, a great deal depends upon the state of the engines, bars, and plates. If these be not in proper working order, well fitted together, and adapted for the description of material worked, it is impossible that any subsequent care can remedy the mischief done in the engine-house. It is much to be regretted that the great demand which has prevailed for paper for many years past has induced manufacturers generally to sacrifice quality to quantity, by hurrying the process, which impairs the strength of the fibre, and injures the texture of the paper.

If the bars and plates of the washing-engines are kept so sharp as to cut the rags, nothing can be conceived more injurious. Every paper-maker knows that the stuff is rendered mellow and soft by being rubbed out by blunt bars and plates. The longer the time occupied by this operation the more water will the stuff incorporated with it hold when it is worked into paper, and the less easily will the water drain off from it, which is always a sign of strong paper. Stuff, on the other hand, which has been quickly prepared by sharp tackle, never has the water properly beaten up with it; but the fibres, having been cut down, as it were, are held in suspension in the water merely, and the paper made from such stuff is always weak, flimsy, and perishable.

An abundant supply of fine water is very essential to produce paper of fine quality. When the rags are first begun to be washed, the engine consumes about a hog-head per minute for the first half-hour; but this quantity is soon diminished by the rags being opened up into pulp, and thereby taking up more room for themselves in the engine, till, towards the conclusion of the washing process, the water which passes through the washing-cylinders does not amount probably to one-twentieth part of that quantity.

In reducing the rags to half-stuff, about three or four hours have been hitherto considered as necessary for fine papers; but, from the desire to produce a large quantity, it is the practice of most machine-mills now to do this in half the time, to the great injury of the fabric. The power required to keep each of the cylinders moving the stuff, when pretty near to the plate, is equal to about seven horses.

The rags having undergone the process of being washed and broken in—that is, rubbed into half-prepared pulp, the engineer shuts off the supply of washing water, and then, by means of an iron hook two feet and a half long, which he inserts into the cavity of a conical brass valve, fitted into a pipe at the bottom of the trough or engine, raises that valve, and the half stuff then flows through a pipe of about six inches diameter, into the bleaching-house, situated in the under story, where it is received into a draining-chest of pretty large size, and suffered to part with the water, which flows through a number of very small holes

Paper. bored in the wood. As soon as the stuff is emptied, the washing-engine is again filled with rags as before.

The bleaching process is carried on in some mills by the rags being subjected in close chambers to the action of chlorine, which is produced in leaden retorts, from sulphuric acid, sea-salt, and the black oxide of manganese, and for an account of preparing which, we refer to the article BLEACHING. In a great many mills, however, where this mode was long carried on, it has been entirely abandoned, and the practice of steeping the rags in a solution of chloride of lime has been very generally substituted. The advantage, in the latter process, consists in the stuff not being so much injured in the fabric as if exposed to the chlorine itself; and although the whitening effect may not be produced so speedily or completely as if done by the action of the gas, yet, by giving the steeping process plenty of time, that is nearly compensated for, and there is much less waste in the latter than in the former process.

The bleaching-house for steeping consists of a long apartment, regulated in extent by the number of chests necessary for the carrying out of the works. A passage of three or four feet wide goes down the middle, and on each side are arranged stone chests, about three feet deep, and containing about fifty-seven cubic feet. In each there is a false bottom, which has been made of many different materials—viz., lead, copper, zinc, wood, stone, slate, &c., none of which is so effective as could be wished in resisting the action of the chlorine, and which therefore require frequent renovation. The false bottom is pierced through with a number of very small holes; and under the false bottom there is a small pipe, into which a valve is fitted, and attached by a wire reaching up to the top of each chest, by pulling which the liquid is allowed to escape at pleasure into a large tank extending under the whole of the chests. In this tank is sunk a pipe, with a pump, for the sake of raising the liquor. Although this solution be now very weak, yet it is much better for the purpose than pure water.

The half-stuff having come down from the washing-engine into the draining-chest, which is situated about three feet higher than the level of the stone bleaching chests, and being now freed by drainage of a great part of the water with which it descended from the engine, a part of one of the sides of the draining-chest, being a kind of door on hinges, is opened, and the stuff is promptly raked into an iron square box lined with wood or metal, which moves on a railroad fixed along the passage above referred to, and is carried to each of the chests in succession, as they are ready to receive the stuff. About one hundredweight of rags is laid in each chest, and receives upon an average from six to eight pounds of Tennant's strong saturated chloride of lime, according to the quality of the rags, in solution with about twelve gallons of water; and the chest is then nearly filled up with the weak liquor pumped from the tank. Great care is necessary to keep the stuff frequently stirred, otherwise the whitening throughout would not go on regularly. A great saving of time and labour is derived by the process of stirring being performed in what is called a "poaching-engine;" that is, a trough or engine with a cylinder in it, being provided to contain the rags after being broken in, into which the necessary quantity of the chloride of lime is introduced, and the contents thoroughly agitated by the action of the cylinder, as above described in the case of the washing-engine. It is always found that, from the effect of the air and light, the upper stratum of the stuff in the chests becomes white, whilst what is under is for some time but little affected.

The stuff is allowed to remain in the steep for twenty-four hours before the liquor is allowed to drain off, and of course there must be as many chests as there are hundredweights of stuff prepared in the twenty-four hours. But it is found not to have reached its maximum of whiteness even

in twenty-four hours, for the stuff which has been set to steep on Saturday, is always found on the Monday mornings to be of a somewhat purer white than on any other day.

After the time for steeping has expired, the stuff is again lifted into the iron box formerly mentioned, which, being full of stuff, is moved on the railway till it is placed on a moving sole of a Bramah hydraulic press, which is situated in a convenient part of the passage; and the water being injected by pumps moved by the machinery of the mill into the piston of about ten inches diameter, causes by its great pressure the iron sole, with the wet bleached stuff upon it, to rise against a wooden "ram," as it is called, of the exact size of the box containing the stuff. What remains of the chloride in solution, as the ram enters into the box, is thus gradually pressed out, and flows into the tank formerly mentioned as situated under the chests. The ram enters into the box about one-half of its whole depth, and it will be seen by the annexed table what space is occupied by a hundredweight of the material in its raw and manufactured state at different stages of the process.

The object of pressing out the liquid weak chloride of lime is to lighten the labour of raising the stuff to the higher story of the engine-house again, and also to render the process of washing it out the more easy; for it is most essential that none of the bleaching matter should be left in it.

This washing is performed in precisely the same way as that of the rags, and goes on for about an hour, after which, in the same engine, the pure water being shut off, the pulp is reduced considerably in length of fibre in the same engine with blunt tackle, which tends to soften the stuff, and make it mellow. The engine which is specially set apart to wash out the remains of the chlorine, and to soften the stuff, is sometimes called the intermediate engine; the stuff being now half way between rags and paper, and called half-stuff.

The stuff is then let down to the beating-engine by lifting a valve in the pipe, and it is then beaten down by tackle considerably sharper than that in the washing-engines. The stuff is here, as it were, combed out into fibres of perhaps one-twentieth of an inch in length, and this operation for fine paper ought to take from four to five hours; and, from the friction between the cylinder bars and those of the plate, the stuff ought to become moderately warm. It is now in a condition to be made into paper; and, by a valve being lifted, it flows out of the beating-engine by a pipe which conducts it to a large stone or wooden reservoir, called a chest, in the vat-house or machine-house.

The apparatus for the formation of the paper in single Making sheets at a time by the hand consists of— paper by the hand.

1. A chest for receiving the prepared stuff, and which, if there be enough of fall in the situation, it is extremely desirable to have situated about three feet higher than the vat, in order that the stuff may flow from the chest to the vat gradually as it is worked into paper, otherwise it must be lifted by a lad at intervals by means of a copper pan.

2. The vat, which is a stone vessel about six feet square, and about four deep. It is agitated by a hog or little wheel about twelve inches in diameter, which revolves through the whole length of it, to keep the stuff constantly stirred; for the fibrous particles, being heavier than water, would otherwise sink.

3. The moulds or frames, of which a pair is required, so that when the vatman is dipping the one into the stuff, the couchor may be placing the sheet on a layer of felts, of which from four to eight quires, according to the size of the paper, form a post,—that is, the whole quantity which is brought under the press at one time. The vatman stands at one side of the vat, and the couchor at the far corner of the side, on the vatman's left hand, and facing him; and between them is a narrow ledge of wood, on which the mould is sent from the vatman to the couchor. The vatman always holds in his hand a frame of wood called a deckle, which is about an inch broad, and is made to fit exactly all round the edge of the mould, for the purpose of forming a clean and not a ragged edge to the sheet: it is this which is called the water-edge, and which is so easily distinguishable from any species of edge that can be otherwise produced, as to have been generally adopted in paper used for banknotes. This description of paper is, in consequence, generally made on moulds of the size of the note, that it may possess the water edge, for the purpose of rendering forgery more difficult.

The moulds are made of brass wires or wire-cloth fixed upon a wooden frame, which is generally made of mahogany. A number of wooden ribs are fixed across the frame, placed at intervals of about one inch from each other, for the wires or wire-cloth to rest on. When wires only are used, these are laid longitudinally along the frame and across the wooden ribs, and interlaced with a wire somewhat thicker than the wires running lengthways, which is placed on the top of each rib. Paper made on such moulds is called laid, in contradistinction to what is made off the roven wire-cloth, and which is therefore called roven paper.

When the vatman dips the mould into the vat with the deckle upon it, he takes up a quantity of the pulp, which has been previously mixed with a great deal of water, and well agitated by the hog; he then throws off a great portion of the stuff and water over the edge of the mould farthest from him, and bringing the mould to a horizontal position, shakes it to and from him, which connects the fibres together so as to form one uniform fabric, and shakes out the water. To attain this method perfectly requires a long apprenticeship, simple as it may seem. As soon as the pulp is no longer in a liquid state on the mould, the workman raises the deckle with his fore-fingers and thumbs from off the mould, and with his remaining fingers shoves the mould along the ledge before referred to to the couchor, who is ready to receive it, and who places it in an inclined position upon a small wooden curved stay, on which it reposes for a few seconds, that the water may be further drained from the newly-formed sheet. The couchor is in the meantime pitching a felt or piece of blanketing upon a wooden plank of the proper size, and then takes the mould and presses the face of it upon the felt, which receives and takes off the sheet of paper from the mould, still in a very wet state. The mould being now freed of the sheet formed upon it, is pushed back along a wooden bridge, as it is called, which is joined to the ledge, and is placed at right angles to it. The bridge crosses the vat in front of the vatman, and the mould lies on it ready to be used by him, whilst the other mould is employed by the couchor. The process is continued till all the felts, being placed above each other with a sheet between each, are employed, which takes about half an hour. A heavy plank is then placed on the top of the post, as this quantity is called, and the whole is drawn in on a railroad, or rollers, under a press which is contiguous, and where the water is squeezed out, either by means of a screw, or by a Bramah hydraulic press. The paper, when it comes out of this press, is so coherent as to admit of being handled, and the sheets are accordingly laid to-

gether in a pack by themselves, the felts being placed on a wooden deal between the person who takes off the sheets from the felts, called the layman, and the couchor, who immediately, with the aid of the vatman, begins a new post. The water-mark is produced by wires in the shape of the letter or design being raised upon the surface of the mould.

After a number of packs have been made, they are put into another press, where they are made to sweat by pressure; that is, just to part with a small quantity of water, which comes from them in single drops. If the pressing be carried on too quickly or too long, the paper would be damaged by the sheets adhering to each other, and peeling or tearing when attempted afterwards to be separated.

The paper is then parted sheet by sheet, so as to be enabled to undergo another pressure before it goes to the loft to be dried. In fine writing paper, it is the practice to part the paper twice over, pressing between each parting. This is to make the sheets lose the marks of the felts, and to get the paper as dry as possible before it goes to the loft.

The lofts consist of a number of spaces filled with tribbles, that is, hair ropes fixed into spars of wood, the ends of which are made to slide up and down the upright posts of wood, one of which is fixed at the corner of each space. The paper is hung up in spurs, as they are called, of five or six sheets thick, upon the ropes, by the help of a wooden cross, shaped somewhat like the letter T. The workman holds this cross at the lower part of it, and the top of the cross must be as long as the width of the sheet. The dry-worker then, with his left fore-finger and thumb, pinches the corner of the hard-pressed pack, which has undergone one, two, or, if fine writing paper, three hard-pressings since it left the felts. He then partially raises by that corner the spur of five or six sheets, and with the cross gently catches the paper, which he slips over the hair-line, and leaves it there suspended. The pack is placed on a table which moves on small wheels, and against which the workman stands, and which he can push or draw with ease to any part of the loft that he pleases. When the tribble lines are all full, he pushes up the sides or spars upwards along the upright posts, which are bored all the way up for small pins of wood that support the tribbles. About eight or nine tribbles fill a room, as it is called,—that is, each space. The sides of the lofts are boarded with spars of wood placed vertically, about four inches wide and four separate. Inside of these are shutters made exactly similar, but fixed on wheels which move in a groove, so as to shut in the loft entirely or partially, or leave it open, according to the state of the weather. Many lofts have, in addition, woollen curtains within the shutters, which, with the addition of the heat derived from steam carried round the loft in pipes, are most serviceable for drying, when the state of the weather renders it impracticable to dry by the air. When the weather is favourable, the paper, before being sized, may be dried in twenty-four hours. After being sized, it ought not to be dried in less than three or four days, as by too rapid drying the size has a great tendency to fly from the paper; and therefore, when hung up after undergoing this process, the shutters are, in general, immediately closed upon it, so as to make the drying as gradual as possible.

The paper up to this point is quite bibulous, and therefore unfit to bear the ink. It is therefore transferred, when dry, to the sizing-house. The size is made from the refuse of tan-yards, called serolls, consisting of the parings of skins, pates, ears, &c.; which materials range in price, according to quality, from about L.40 to L.70 per ton when thoroughly dried. The serolls, as these pieces are called, are, after being made as clean as possible, immersed in water, which ought not to exceed in temperature

Paper. 130 degrees, being sufficient to dissolve the gelatine, otherwise the gelatine is of a darker or browner colour. The gelatine is then gradually and carefully strained off through straw, branches of trees, charcoal, &c., and lastly, through fine flannel bags. An addition of alum, to the amount of about one-fourth of the weight of the scrolls, is then made. The size is run into chests or casks for use, where it soon congeals. When run off, it is much too strong to size any description of paper with. When the sizing operation is to proceed, therefore, it is mixed up and diluted with water, in a small boiler, and heated with steam. From the boiler it is made to flow in a spout into a tub of about five feet square, which is also heated with steam introduced under a false bottom, it being very essential to use it always very hot. An additional quantity of alum is also made use of, which is placed in the spout, and is gradually dissolved as the size flows down in contact with it. The workman stands close to the tub, and dips the paper in handfuls, containing about six quires on an average, with a wrapper at top and bottom, which he soaks thoroughly, turning it backwards and forwards, so that every portion becomes completely penetrated with the size. It is also allowed to remain some minutes soaking in the tub, being held by wooden pincers suspended by a balance-weight. He then carefully lifts them out one by one, and places them in a press, adding to the heap till the press is full. The surplus size flows, and is then, by a moderate pressure, squeezed out of the paper, the edges of which are next rinsed by hot water, before the pressure is taken off, to prevent them from adhering together; and with the same view the heaps of paper, when taken out of the press, are enveloped with woollen cloths, so as to exclude the cold air. Moreover, to prevent the paper from sticking when it is strongly sized, it is separated or parted sheet by sheet, after which it is pressed moderately, so as to make the spurs slightly adhere together. It is better to keep the sized paper forty-eight hours before hanging it up to dry, and then the more gradual the drying the better. Another mode of sizing, which tends to save both labour and wrappers, is by means of a machine or wooden table about two feet from the floor, above which are placed two spars of wood parallel to each other, supported from the table. The spurs of paper are placed vertically on the table, that is, their long edge resting on the table and across it; and between each spar a thin slip of wood is introduced, which is attached to the spurs of wood by means of hooks and eyes. The slips of wood are then pressed somewhat tightly together, so that the whole mass is easily raised, by a pulley fixed overhead, to a small carriage, by which the paper, when raised from the table, and thus suspended in the air, can be wheeled right over the tub, into which it is let down to receive the size. This tub is divided into two compartments by a wooden sole affixed to a screw, which lies horizontally; and is worked by some wheels, so as to press the paper. The paper, when let down into the other portion of the tub, has the frame and slips hooked away from it as soon as it is gently pressed by the screw, so as to keep it from falling down. The hot size is then allowed to flow in amongst the paper, on which, when thoroughly soaked with size, the screw is made to work, and to press it. A board which has been pressed down against the paper is now fastened to a board of similar construction by means of strong iron clamps, and the screw is worked back again, leaving the paper still under pressure. A strong false bottom of wood, on which the paper rests, is now raised by means of a rack and pinion, and with it the paper and the heavy planks

confining it, above the liquid size; and whenever the pressure is removed, it is at once set aside as sized. The size left in the tub is then pumped back to the boiler to be again heated.

There cannot be a stronger evidence of the necessity for the stuff being well prepared, in order to obtain a sound paper, than the process of sizing. If the stuff has been slowly prepared by trituration, so as to hold a good deal of water, it will also hold and keep the size in a manner corresponding thereto; whereas a quickly prepared stuff, which has been cut rather than rubbed out, however strong the size that may be employed, can scarcely be got to keep it. It is also very injurious should any of the chlorine or chloride of lime be left in the paper unwashed out, as the glutinous matter is thereby decomposed, and rendered of no avail.

After the paper has again been thoroughly dried, it is taken to the salle or finishing-house, where it is pressed very often, in order to take out the marks of the lines, and to improve the surface generally.¹ The hot-pressing is carried on by means of smooth paper boards which have been glazed by passing through metal rollers. The paper is placed alternately between these, and heat is communicated by hot iron plates being laid upon these at intervals of about six quires. These plates are heated in an iron box, into which a supply of steam is sent, and where they do not generally require to be more than five or ten minutes. These plates, by means of pressure, communicate a good deal of heat throughout the paper, after it has been all brought under the action of the hydraulic press.

In consequence, however, of the general use of steel pens, and perhaps to some extent of the fashion of the day, it is necessary to finish fine letter-papers now with a much higher gloss, and various methods have been adopted for this purpose. One of these methods consists in using, instead of the hot-pressing smooth glazed boards, copper plates made very smooth, on which the sheets of paper are laid, a copper plate and a sheet of paper alternately. These, when filled with about one quire of paper, are passed between a pair of iron rollers, where the pressure is equal to twenty or thirty tons, and which are driven by the machinery of the mill. By moving a clutch, a small wheel is thrown in and out of gear at pleasure, so that the workman can instantaneously reverse the motion of these rollers, and they can be made either to take the copper plates away, or to return them again towards him after they have passed through, so as to sustain the pressure twice over. Another workman attends on the other side of the rollers to return the copper plates. It requires three women to be attending to fill and empty each set of copper plates, one filling in the rough, another taking out the smooth paper, and the third lifting off the copper plates in succession, and placing them on the sheets of paper as these are laid down. When the paper has had three or four pressures, it is pretty smooth, and is then denominated rolled or hot-pressed; but if it be passed more frequently through the rollers, it acquires a higher surface, and is then called glazed. Each set of three women can in this manner fill in about twenty reams of paper in one day. The work is laborious, from the quickness with which it is done; and, from the sharp edges and corners of the copper plates, and of the paper itself, the women are very liable to have their fingers cut, so that this department of work is not very popular, and in some manufactories it has acquired the name of the tread-mill.

Another mode of giving a higher surface to paper is

¹ A very laborious operation, and one injurious to the paper, used to be performed in the salle—that of picking out the knots and lumps in the paper by means of small knives. The paper could not fail to be injured by this system of scraping, and the ink was always apt to sink where it had been scraped; but this operation is now rendered almost unnecessary by the invention of the strainer, through which the pulp is strained before it passes into the vat.

by passing it through a calender, or cylinders which have been made of cast-iron, copper, or brass, or one of them, like the ordinary calenders, consisting of a paper bowl. But these, although they be accurately fitted and polished, are all more or less liable to receive marks or indentations from any minute hard substances, or from folds or creases which may be in the paper, and which they give out again, and thus mark the paper.

The paper is now, after being rolled or glazed, told out into quires or half quires, folded, and made up into reams, and is subjected to pressure under hydraulic presses in every stage. It is then tied up in a wrapper, with a label on it, for the protection of the duty, and the label being filled up by the trader and officer respectively, the paper is weighed by the latter, and stamped, so as to denote the amount being charged against the maker.

Hitherto we have considered this manufacture as carried on by the hand. But the hand-mills in different parts of the kingdom are nearly extinct. Excepting for some kinds of drawing-papers, papers for account-books, and some others, all paper is now made by the machine, and we do not believe that the quantity or weight of hand-made paper amounts to one per cent. on the whole quantity manufactured.

The machine which is now used so universally all over the kingdom is the invention of Louis Robert, and was brought to this country by M. Didot of Paris, who came over to England, and, with the assistance of the MM. Fourdrinier, and Donkin the engineer, succeeded in perfecting the invention, and in acquiring a patent right, which was afterwards renewed for a longer period by Parliament, in consequence of the patentee's not having derived sufficient compensation.

The stuff flows out of the chest C (Plate II.) by a pipe furnished with a cock, which is opened more or less wide, according to the thickness of the paper to be made. It falls into the spout, where it meets a large supply of water, which has been in great part passed through the web of pulp before, as will be afterwards explained. It then falls into the vat at the opening of the spout, and is there agitated by the little hog, as it is called.

The strainer S is generally used before the stuff flows into the vat. It consists of a brass rectangular trough 6 feet long, 2 feet wide, 4 inches deep, the bottom being a plate of brass cut into very fine slits or grooves, to suit the length of fibre of the pulp usually put through it. The strainer is driven by means of a light iron or brass shaft which passes above it, and has two small notched wheels, one placed above each end, and working into the frame of the strainer. When the shaft revolves, therefore, it will be seen that at every notch the strainer is raised, and then quickly descends by its own weight, so as to produce a continual jerking motion, making about a hundred and thirty strokes per minute. The stuff is now flowing in, and the bars are placed so close to each other that the fibres must necessarily pass longitudinally, and any knot or extraneous substance larger in diameter than the width of the slit is kept out of the pulp.

After the stuff has been strained and mixed in the vat by the agitator working in it, it is allowed to flow out by a number of holes in the side of the vat on an endless fine wire-cloth, ac, on which the web is formed. This wire-cloth, which must be perfectly level, moves upon a number of small copper rollers, about an inch and a half diameter, and an inch and a half separate. These rollers rest upon a frame, which is left so far free as to be moved laterally by a rod which is attached to a crank, and thus is produced a vibration, more or less quick, according to the nature of the stuff, which causes the water to flow through the wire-cloth, and connects the fibres of the pulp together. A large shallow wooden vessel is placed below the wire-cloth, called the save-all, which receives the water and the flour of

the pulp in large quantity. The water then passes through a spout on the side of the machine, and flows into a box, from whence it is thrown back by stuff pumps into chests CC.

The edges of the paper are formed by pliable deckles, which were formerly made of leather, then of woollen cloth. Belts or deckles, however, composed of alternate layers of linen and caoutchouc, firmly cemented together, are now most generally employed. These belts are half an inch thick, and about sixteen feet long, and are drawn by the pulley upon the shaft g. It will be seen that they move under a solid plate of iron or brass, which is moderately pressed down upon them, but not so much so as to impede their free motion along with the wire-cloth, whilst they fit sufficiently tight to it to prevent any of the stuff from flowing away laterally before the paper is set.

By the time these caoutchouc deckles leave the wire-cloth, the stuff is no longer fluid, though a good deal of water still flows from it. The wire-cloth then passes on with the pulp upon it through the cylinders fc, me, of which the under one is of metal, covered with a jacket, as it is called, of felting or flannel; and the upper one is generally of wood, but hollow, and covered with mahogany about an inch and a half thick; that wood being less apt to shrink or get out of shape than any other; and this roller also has a jacket. A slight pressure is given by these, which are called the wet-press cylinders; and after this stage, the paper pulp is led upon an endless felt, which must proceed exactly at the same speed as the wire-cloth, as, by any irregularity in their motion, the pulp would break. The wire-cloth returns back round the under wet-press cylinders, to receive a new supply of pulp, and is supported by a series of copper tube rollers, which revolve by the friction of it. The wire-cloth is generally about twenty-five feet in length by five feet in width, and has about sixty holes in the lineal, or 3600 in the square, inch.

The web of paper, still in a very wet state, is now carried away by an endless felt, between cast-iron cylinders k, k, where it sustains a severe pressure, and where a great deal of water is squeezed out, after which the paper may be handled. It then passes through a second pair of press cylinders, that the mark of the felt which was impressed on the under surface by the first pressure may be removed; and for this purpose the under surface is now placed next the metal cylinder. The web then passes over the surface of a number of cylinders, heated with steam, and arranged as to number and relative position according to the ideas of the manufacturer or millwright. When the web has passed over about 70 lineal feet of surface heated in this manner, it is dry, and is wound upon a reel, or wooden roller of small diameter, in order to be either sized in the sizing-machine, or, if already sized in the pulp, to be passed through the cutting-machine hereinafter described, as the case may be.

The paper-machine moves at the rate of from twenty-five to sixty or seventy feet per minute. The whole process, therefore, in its transition from liquid pulp at the one end to dry paper at the other, occupies scarcely two minutes. This, in the ordinary state of the weather, could not formerly be done in less than seven or eight days. Supposing, therefore, that the machine makes ten yards lineal of a web per minute, or 600 in the hour, this is equal to a mile in three hours, or four miles per diem of twelve hours. The paper is generally made about fifty-four inches wide. Reckoning that there are 300 machines in Great Britain, and that they work twelve hours each day on an average (many go both day and night), the length of web would altogether be equal to 1200 miles, and the area of what was made would be about 3,000,000 yards daily.

Printing paper, which is now entirely made by the machine, is in general sized in the pulp. White soap, starch, glue, and dissolved rosin, are principally used for this purpose, with the addition of a few pounds of alum. Such of

Paper. these as are used are put through a sieve into the beating-engine. The web, before being dried off, is also in some mills passed through hot size, the surplus of which is pressed out between two cylinders. This tends to strengthen the paper materially; but it is not easy for paper to keep the size if it be dried off hastily on the cylinders; and this is difficult, if not impossible, in the finer descriptions of paper, where the material is not so strong as that for more common kinds, and not so favourable for being thoroughly sized.

The fine bluish tinge which so many writing papers possess used to be derived from a mineral but very expensive blue, namely, the oxide of cobalt, generally called smalts. This article used entirely to be imported from Saxony, Denmark, and Sweden; but it is now almost entirely displaced by the artificial ultramarine, which has been chiefly derived from Nuremberg, Lyons, and more recently from the Prussian Rhenish provinces. The latter blue is much cheaper, and of an equally brilliant azure as that of the smalts; the only disadvantage being, that if the sized paper remain long in the damp state, the beautiful deep blue is apt to pass into a greenish shade by the action of the sulphuric acid in the alum upon the ultramarine.

The finest writing-papers, which are now almost wholly manufactured upon the machine, are sized by being passed in the web through a solution of gelatine and alum, at a temperature of about 100°, and are thereafter, in some mills, and without loss of time, dried off by being carried round a succession of drums or circular frames, on iron rods or wooden spars; there being inside of each drum a fan driven at great speed, and projecting the air (about 80° Fahr.) upon the surface of the paper. This mode of sizing constitutes one of the great improvements introduced within the last twenty years, and was chiefly the invention of the late Mr. Ranson of Ipswich. By the agency of the atmosphere, it formerly required, in favourable circumstances, two or three days for the drying of gelatine-sized paper, when hung upon the hair-lines in the drying-lofts. At present the web of sized paper travels over the surface of the drums, which are usually arranged in pairs. These are generally of the diameter of about 3 feet; and there being for each machine about thirty of them, the paper travels about 300 feet in about ten minutes, when it comes out at the end perfectly dry, and is then passed through the cutting-machine, where it is cut into sheets of the size intended. In many mills in England and Scotland, the operations of forming the web on the wire cloth, drying on the heated cylinders, again wetting it by passing it through the size, pressing out the surplus thereof, drying it by currents of air as above described, and then cutting it into sheets, are performed continuously and in the same apartment.

Excepting in great Britain and Ireland, almost all writing-paper is sized or made capable of bearing ink by means of a vegetable size, consisting generally of a resinous soap, and introduced into the pulp of the beating-engine when nearly ready for being made into paper. In Great Britain and Ireland, as already described, an animal size from gelatine is employed for such papers. The former takes a more glossy surface, and is of a more silky feel, whereas the gelatine-sized paper has more firmness and what is called in the trade more "mettle," which is more in consonance with our natural taste than the softer and more highly polished surface of the foreign papers referred to.

The process of water-marking machine-made paper in the web was, fifteen or twenty years since, considered an impossibility; but is now very effectually and ingeniously accomplished. A very light wire cylinder, of about 6 inches diameter, is placed in framings so as to rest across and upon the wire-cloth of the machine, and to be moved by it. The cylinder is covered with wove wire-cloth, or formed of "laid wires," containing letters or devices similar to those stitched on the wove or laid moulds used in mak-

ing paper by hand. The cylinder being driven by the friction of the advancing wire-cloth, impresses on the pulp, at the place where it has scarcely ceased to be fluid, the devices and letters upon the surface; and as, by means of the vacuum-box, over which the wire-cloth passes immediately thereafter, the water is rapidly drawn from the pulp, the water-mark remains clear and distinct by the pulp being deprived at once of all fluidity, which would cause the pulp partially to run together again, and thus a faint or imperfect water-mark would be produced.

Several machines have been invented for cutting paper. Amongst others, one by MM. Fourdrinier of Staffordshire has been very generally introduced and approved of. As it is capable, however, of cutting five or six thicknesses of paper at once, it is not in general attached to the machine, but is found in some contiguous convenient place. The paper is reeled, as described above, on small rolls of about 6 inches diameter, and these are placed with the spindles lying in grooves in a curved frame, whence they are taken and passed round a drum, and then through some small rollers. After the web is divided longitudinally by circular knives, which are set opposite each other upon shafts on each side of the paper, the progress of it is stopped for an instant by a very ingenious contrivance, when a knife descends, beginning at one side of the web, which is held fast by a heavy weight laid across it, and cuts it across. The web then goes on till it has passed as much paper through as is the requisite size of the sheet, when the knife again descends. The sheets thus cut are carried on by a small felt moved in connection with the rest of the machinery.

The paper-machine is peculiarly suited for making thin papers, which are not easily made by hand without great damage in the couching department, from the difficulty of getting off the sheet whole upon the felt; namely, the thin paper for copying letters, tissue-papers used for putting before prints, &c. A large quantity of remarkably thin paper, also, made from old ropes of a better description than usual, and called pottery tissue, is made for printing the colours on china, &c., which could never have been made by hand. The machine has also been of immense service in producing paper of large sizes of sheets for newspapers, which could not have been worked by hand. It would have been very serious and laborious work for a man to make paper even large enough for a single sheet of the Times newspaper, which measures 2 feet by 3. Indeed, till about 1825, the legislature restricted the size of newspapers to 22 by 32 inches, beyond which they could not be stamped; which restriction was done away with just as soon as it became possible to make by machinery any size of paper that might be desired. But perhaps in no department of paper-making has the advantage of the machine shone so conspicuously as in the paper used for paper-staining, and the consequent great reduction in price of the hangings. Before the application of the machine, the paper used by paper-stainers was of the size of 28 by 23 inches, called elephant. It required, in order to form a piece of 12 lineal yards, that sixteen or eighteen of these sheets should be pasted together, which is now rendered wholly unnecessary by the paper being furnished to the stainers in sheets of 12 yards each in length.

The chief seats of paper manufacture in Great Britain are:—

1. 1. Kent, where it was first established, and where there are a great number of hand-mills for making fine water-marked writing papers. There are also a good many machines for fine writing and printing paper.
2. 2. In Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire, the manufacture of fine printing papers is very extensively carried on, and all made by machinery.
3. 3. In Lancashire and the contiguous counties, it is car-

ried on to a very large extent, the material, as already noticed, being chiefly derived from the refuse of the cotton mills, to which is added a mixture of cotton-bagging, of which there is a large supply, and which tends to strengthen the paper. This description of paper, however, both from the impurities which are inseparable from so very dirty a material as the sweepings of the cotton-mills, and from its soft spongy texture, is very inferior to that which is made out of a sound strong rag.

4. In Scotland the manufacture is carried on to a large and rapidly increasing extent. From the ready communication with London, and other causes, both fine writing papers and others find a ready market there. Independently of the white paper, there is manufactured in all parts of the country a large quantity of brown paper, made from old ropes, sacking, flax waste, &c.

Paper is considerably adulterated with plaster of Paris, sometimes to the amount of 30 per cent., for the purpose of gaining weight. This can easily be detected by burning a portion of a sheet, when the plaster will remain after combustion in an ashy whitish-coloured residuum. Brown paper is also often mixed up with a good deal of ochre or clay, the makers saying that it is for the purpose of giving it a nice brown colour, though it may be doubted whether it be not also with the intention of increasing the weight.

The following table, showing the strength of different kinds of paper, has been prepared from actual experiment. It denotes the number of pounds avoirdupois required to break a strip of paper 2 inches wide, both ends being secured above, and the weights attached to a small wooden roller, resting upon the strip of paper:—

The manufacture of paper has immensely increased in Great Britain and Ireland within the last twenty-five years, consequent upon the penny postage, the repeal of the newspaper stamp and of the restriction of the dimensions of newspapers formerly prescribed by law, and also from the greatly increased amount of our manufactures and exports. This will appear from a comparison of the account of the duty charged twenty-five years ago, and what it has amounted to since.

Up to 1836, all paper, excepting brown paper, made from old ropes, paid a duty of 3d. per lb.; but in that year the duty was assimilated and made 1½d. per lb. for all kinds, including the duty upon millboards and pasteboards, which were till that period respectively charged 3d. and 1¼d. per lb. The amount of paper, and the rate of duty in 1833 were as follows:—

and the amount of duty gross was L.763,104.

If this weight of paper had been charged at the same rate of duty which was imposed in 1836, and has continued ever since, the duty would have amounted to L.406,118 7 6

Add 5 per cent., imposed on all excisable articles in 1841, and ever since.....

20,305 18 4
L.426,424 5 10

Now, the actual duty charged, by the last report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue for 1858, was,—Year ended 31st March 1857, lb. charged, 192,297,399; gross duty, L.1,244,143; 31st March 1858, lb. charged, 187,414,667; gross duty, L.1,244,723; showing the marvellous fact, that the quantity produced is as nearly as possible three times as great in 1858 as it was twenty-five years previously.

The supposed scarcity of the raw material, in consequence of the greatly increased consumption, has given rise to a vast amount of enterprise not always put forth with much wisdom, whereby all kinds of vegetable material have been collected throughout the world, and operated upon with the view of their being used in place of rags. Such materials being often procurable at a very low price, and in unlimited abundance, have been conceived to offer great advantage to the manufacturer; but it has been too frequently overlooked, that the cost of boiling and bleaching such materials is very great, and the waste attending their use is enormous, to say nothing of their unsuitableness in many cases for the purpose. Straw, which is used in several mills in England, and from which a pretty good paper for newspapers is made, costs only about L.2 to L.3 per ton; but we believe the cost of bleaching it will make the amount L.16 or L.18 in all; and when to this is added the fact, that we have reason to believe that not one-half, or even one-third, of the weight of the straw employed is got back in paper, and that the paper is necessarily much more brittle than that from rags, there appears to be no great advantage derived from its use. We allow, however, that as the reduction of straw, or such like materials, into pulp is much more a chemical than a mechanical operation, a great amount of mechanical agency is saved in the triturating process. We have seen many fibrous productions introduced as specimens from tropical countries, and particularly from the East and West Indies, several of which have been manufactured into paper of fine quality. The supply of such materials is stated to be unlimited; and no doubt, as soon as a demand for a new raw material exists, it will, through the enterprise and skill of Englishmen, be speedily forthcoming to any extent that may be desired.

The following statistics of paper-making will show the progress of that manufacture in the chief paper-producing countries besides Great Britain; viz., the United States, France, Belgium, and Germany. Paper-mills existed in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania as early as 1730; but it was not till 1830, when paper-machines began to be constructed in Connecticut and Massachusetts, that a marked advancement took place. The progress up to 1850 was such that in that year the quantity of paper imported did not exceed 2 or 3 per cent. of the amount consumed; and this small per-centage consisted chiefly of fine writing and fancy papers from England and France. Owing to the extensive demand for newspapers and cheap literature, more paper is said to be now consumed in the United States, in proportion to the population, than in any other country, or equal to the consumpt of France and England together. The quality of American paper is generally inferior; but of late years the finer sorts have been also produced by the aid of calenders. In 1850 the mills producing over 8500 worth annually (L.104) were confined to the New England States, and those of New York and Delaware. The number of mills has since increased in the southern and western states; and in 1853 there were 750 mills, with 3000 engines, producing 120,500 tons of paper, valued at L.5,400,000. Of the 180,800 tons of rags required, 10,163 tons were imported (worth L.204,758), about one-fifth of which was from Italy; but the supply from that country is annually decreasing.

A paper-machine was first erected in France in 1815.