The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-22 00:00:00

THE PROPOSED SUBSTITUTE FOR

COTTON.

On Saturday afternoon the following official report was
published from the committee of inquiry respecting the
proposed substitute for cotton :
" A meeting was held in the rooms of the Chamber of
Commerce, Manchester, on Saturday, Sept. 20, at the re-
quest of Mr. Harben, the discoverer of anew. fibre. Mr. H.
Ashworth, president of the Chamber, in the chair. The
following gentlemen were present :—Messrs. T. Bazley,
M.P., R. R. Jackson, J. Leese, H. Mason, J. Burton, jun.,
H. J. Leppoc, H. Nicholls, S. Hollins, and M. Ross.
"Mr. Harben, on being introduced, stated that he was
not an inventor, but a discoverer, He then, first, showed
fibres on pap3r—a few threads only ; second, small speci-
mens in the gray state, as picked by hand, with a small
specimen dyed; third, dried specimens of the plant, exhi-
biting the natural and fibrous state.. The discoverer stated
in confidence the name of the plant which furnished the
fibres exhibited, and then exhibited specimens of the plant
in its natural state. Mr. Harben suggested that the un-
employed should at once be occupied in collecting the mate-
rial. He stated in reply to an inquiry, that he had not gone
into particular calculations of expense ; nor had he made
any experiments as to the mode of rendering the fibre avail,
able for cotton-spinning machinery, his wish being that,
on recommendation of the committee, chymists, spinners,
and others may further investigate the properties, with a
view to public good.

" Mr. Harben then retired, when, after deliberation, the
following resolution was adopted :
" Moved by Mr. BAZLEY, M.P.; seconded by Mr. MAL-
coLm Ross—

" That this committee has heard with much interest the
statement of Mr. Harben, and have examined the samples
and specimens of plants and fibres submitted. This com-
mittee not having been asked for any decision on the merits
of this discovery, do not express any opinion in its favour or
otherwise, and Mr. Harben having expressed his wish, with-
out reference to any pecuniary advantage to himself, that
the discovery should be given to the world with a view to
chemists, manufacturers, and machinists seeking out the
best mode of making it available for the general interests of
the trade, this committee acknowledges the disinterested
conduct and candour with which Mr. Harben has commu-
nicated his discovery and views.'
" The resolution having been read fo Mr. Harben, that
gentleman, with the view to giving full effect to his inten-
tion, desires now to state, for the information of the public,
that his discovery is the applicability of the fibres of the
marine plant known as Zostera Marina, or common grass
wrack, for manufacturing or other purposes."
The plant in question is one so common on the sea coast
that it is difficult to account for its having been overlooked
unless by reason of extreme familiarity with its appearance,
lulling perception to sleep. The following paragraph re-
specting it occurs in a popular work published by Messrs.
Routledge, "Common Objects of the Sea Shore," by the
Rev. J. G. Wood, M.A. :

" A plant has been mentioned which does not belong to
the seaweeds, although from its residence at the bottom of
the sea it is often thought to be of that family ; this is the
Zostere Manna, for a drawing of which see plate J., fig. 2,
a true flowering plant, growing with a real root at the bot-
tom of the sea. Its entire character is so com?letely terres-
trial, that it can at once be distinguished from the alga."
(Chap. IV.)
This plant, under the name of Alva, is largely used by
upholsterers as a material for bed-stuffing. It has also been
applied with success to the manufacture of paper, for which
purpose a large trade in it has sprung up from the Medi-
terranean. This important fact has gone far to encourage
sanguine anticipations of the results to be obtained from
the experiments now to be instituted. The circumstances
under which this familiar plant has been "discovered," so
as suddenly to become an object of national solicitude, are
both singular and instructive. The gentleman to whom we
owe the discovery is Mr. Henry Harben, of Oxford
Villa, Haverstock-hill. He was taking a sea-side holi-
day a few weeks back, when his attention was attracted
to the scarcity of material suitable for paper-making, and
while wa' king with his children along the shore, and seeing
the quantity of seaweed lying idle and waste, it occurred to
him to try what could be done with it towards supplying
the want he had been thinking about. He made certain
experiments with different kinds of seaweed, such as blad-
der wrack, notched wrack, &c., and found that they pro-
duced a small quantity of fibre. But on coming to examine
the grass wrack he found it to contain fibre to an extent that
surprised him. He immediately collected a quantity, and,
separating the filament, submitted it to a powerful micro-
scope. It was then only that the resemblance of what he
saw to cotton first suggested the idea that here was some-
thing which might turn out useful as a substitute for that
material. He at once made experiments, which satisfied him
of the value of the discovery, and his conviction of its im-
portance was so strong as to induce him to note down on
the spot the time and place—"Dovercourt, near Harwich,
Aug. 6, 1862." He submitted the material to Mr. J. H.
Wrigley, in Liverpool, who, on being acquainted with Mr.
Harben's intention to make a present of his discovery to the
public, kindly fell in with his views. 41r. Wrigley did not
press to handle the material or test its strength; but, before
he gave the report as to which some objections have been
made, the material was seen by another cotton-broker in
Liverpool, who confirmed Mr. Wrigley's opinion. Mr.
Harben has been offered large sums of money by persons
who proposed to work the material by private undertaking.
Many manufacturers also gave him most generous offers of
pecuniary assistance in working it himself; and in one in-
fluential quarter it was most strongly represented to him
that, by reserving at any rate a small royalty, he might
realise a fund for charitable purposes which would itself be
an immortal memorial of his disinterestedness. But to all
these propositions Mr. Harben returned the same answer,
that the adoption of any one of them might entail at least
six months' secrecy and delay while thousands of people
were starving. He preferred to make the matter known

at once, that the worth of the material might be tested
universally and immediately, and declares himself most
thankful that he has been enabled to keep to his first in-
tention, in fervent hope of the blessings that may flow from
it. With respect to immediate supply of the material, Mr.
Harben suggests that the unemployed operatives and their
children might at once be transported to different points on
all the coasts of the United Kingdom, and be housed in
temporary huts similar to those of navvies, to find remune-
rative employment during the winter in collecting the plant.
To insure a future supply, -he proposes that its cultivation
in the estuaries of rivers, the lowlands of Lincolnshire and
Norfolk, and the low sandy shores all round England,
Scotland, and Ireland, should be protected by an Act of
Parliament similar to that now in operation for the protec-
tion of oyster-beds. He believed that in the Mediterranean
and other seas the material is to ba had in great abundance.
One of the facilities to be expected is that the plant, like
common grass, after being cut will grow up again, and
yield two crops in the year.

Whatever may be the results of the experiments, it is all
but impossible not to sympathise with Mr. Harben in the
sanguine hopes he entertains of the many advantages which
may flow from his discovery, He is so sanguine himself, of
of its value that he believes, from its strength, elasticity,
and silky texture, it will be more likely to supersede than
substitute the use of cotton.