The Press.
London, England, 1855-09-22 00:00:00

NEW MATERIALS FOR PAPER.

THE proceedings of the annual meeting of the
British Association have been actively progressing
during the week, a multiplicity of papers being daily
read and discussions thereon held in the different
sections. Among other interesting communications
was the following upon the new material for paper,
read on Monday in zoological and botanical section
by the Chevalier Claussen :

Referring to the want of material experienced by paper-
makers, M. Claussen said that what they desiderated was
a cheap substitute for rags, with a strong fibre, easily
bleached, and of which an unlimited supply may be ob-
tained. Paper-makers regard rags containing fifty per
cent. of vegetable fibre, mixed with wool or silk, as use-
less; but, by boiling these rags in caustic alkali, the
animal fibre is dissolved, and the vegetable fibre is avail-
able fur the manufacture of white paper pulp. Sunn, or
jute, the inner bark of corchorus indices, produced a paper
pulp of inferior quality, bleached with difficulty. Agave,
phormiurn tenar, and banana or plantain fibre (Manilla
hemp) are not only expensive, but it is nearly impossible
to bleach them. The banana leaves contain forty per
cent. of fibre. Flax would be suitable to replace rags in
paper, but the high price and scarcity of it, caused partly
by the war, and partly by the injudicious way in which it
is cultivated, prevents that. Six tons of flax straw are re
quired to produce one ton of flax fibre, and by the present
mode of treatment all the woody part, or stems, are lost.
By the Chevalier's process the bulk of the flax straw is
lessened by partial cleaning before rotting, whereby about
fifty to sixty per cent. of shoves, a valuable cattle food, are
saved, and the cost of the fibre reduced. The flax pulp
thus produces nearly from twelve to fifteen per cent. of
paper pulp. Hemp produces twenty-five per cent. of paper
pulp. Nettles produce twenty-five per cent. of a very
beautiful and easily-bleached fibre. Palm leaves contain
thirty to forty per cent. fibre, but are not easily bleached.
The Bromeliacee contain from twenty-five to forty per cent.
fibre. Bonapartia juncoides contain thirty-five per cent. of
the most beautiful vegetable fibre known, which could be
used for all kinds of manufactures in which flax, cotton,
silk, or wool are employed. This plant exists in very large
quantities in Australia, and it is most desirable that some
of our large manufacturers would import a quantity of it.
The plant wants no other preparation than cutting, drying,
and compressing like hay. The bleaching and finishing of
it may be done here. Ferns, equisetum, the inner bark of
the lime tree, althea, stalks of beans, peas, hops. buck
wheat, potatoes, heather, broom, and many other plants
contain ten to fifteen and twenty per cent. of fibre, but in
most of them there are obvious difficulties preventing their
economical use. The straws of the cereals cannot be
manufactured into paper pulp, unless cut before they are
ripe, as the joints or knots of the stalks are so hardened by
ripening as to resist bleaching agents. Many grasses con-
tain from thirty to fifty per cent. of fibre, not very strong,
but easily bleached. Ground reeds and canes contain
about an equal amount. The wood of the con Vere gives a
large proportion of fibre suitable for paper pulp ; but the
cost of preparing would be about three times that of pre-
paring rags. As none of these (said M. Claussen) would
entirely satisfy on all points the wants of the paper-makers,
I continued my researches, and at last remembered the
papyrus (the plant of which the Indents made their paper),
which I examined, and found to contain about forty per
cent. of strong fibre, excellent for paper, and very easily
bleached. The only point which was not entirely
satisfactory was relative to the supply of it. I directed,
therefore, my attention to plants growing in this country,
and found, to my great satisfaction, that the common
rushes ( juncus elfustu, and others) contain forty per cent.
of fibre, quite equal, if not superior, to the papyrus fibre,
and a perfect substitute for rags in the manufacture of
paper, and that one ton of rushes contains more fibre than
two tons of flax straw.

THE KING or THE NETHERLANDS has conferred
the Order of the Netherlands Lion on the Rev. Dr.
Gehle, minister of the Dutch Reformed Church,
Austin-friars, and chaplain to the Netherlands
Embassy. The rev. gentleman has for more than a
quarter of a century been resident in London, and is
connected with several literary, religious, and
benevolent institutions, as well in this country as in
Holland.

Mr. P. W. MARTYN, a son of one of the candidates
for West Kent., has announced his intention of soli-
citing the suffrages of the electors of Rochester
whenever a vacancy may occur. He states that he
is prepared to give a general support to her Majesty's
present Government, that he shall have mach plea-
sure in supporting good measures for parliamentary
reform, as well as such a reform in the distribution
of the revenues of the Church as the principles of
justice require.
A Punuc DINNER of the coach proprietors of
Great Britain came off on Thursday at the Crown
and Sceptre, Greenwich, at which a testimonial of
1,000 guineas was presented to Mr. J. E. Bradfield,
in consideration of the services rendered by him in
procuring a reduction of the duty on stage carriages.
Upwards of 100 of the most respectable and exten-
sive coach proprietors in the kingdom were present.
ON Wednesday the ceremony of turning the first
sod of the projected railway from Killarney to Tralee
was performed by the Lord Lieutenant in the pre-
sence of a large concourse of gentlemen and of the
people of the surrounding district, Lord Castleroese
having presented his Excellency with the land for
the purpose in the name of his father, the Earl of
Emma&