The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-11-11

WEDNESDAY MORNING. NOVEMBER IL. 1858.
Load Peneals.

Ii will surprise @ great many persons to learn
that there 10 not particle of lead in their favor
lite Fsber, Eagle and other called lead pencils.
The material known as black lead. graphite or
plumbago 10 almost wholly composed of carbon.
II probably owes its misnomer to the fact that
previous to the employment of graphite for max.
ing pencils, common lead was used, and this
within the present century. For long time the
best graphite was obtained, not In very large
quantities, where il was discovered in 1864. early
in the reign Of Queen Elizabeth. and pencils much
like those still in general use, were produced the
year following. As the supply OF the graphite
known in Cumberland, while 10 the mine, by the
title of vad) was not large, the British govern.
ment, from the first, took great pains to prevent
the expectation of the article, and even TO limit
its home sale to q supply just sufficient to meet
the estimated demand.
Graphite is found in various parts Of Europe.
and even In North America, but Of very inferior
quality. The Cumberland mines were worked
only few weeks in each year, yet the yield OF
wad was estimated at f40 900 year. While the
graphite lasted, England had monopoly In sup
plying the best pencils to the world. Year after
year. for century past. the graphite deposit In
Cumberland became "smsll by degrees and beau.
tifulIy less" The result was that graphite pow
der had to be compressed into q solid cake from
which pencils could be supplied. A French va
Ration, said to be an improvement, was to mix
the powdered and purified graphite with clay,
which 10 largely done still.
Nearly one hundred and dfty years ago the pen
Gil manufacture commenced IN England. and, I'm
proved in France, was transplanted to the village
of Stein, near Nuremberg, in Bavaria; and little
more than century since Casper Faber there be-
gan to make the pencils which continue to be
made by his descendants, and bear the family
name throughout the world. The present John
Lothair Faber, greatgraudson Of Casper, has been
head of the firm since 1889. and is not only very
wealthy, but has recently been ennobled by the
King Of Bavaria. One of his brothers Is asso.
ciated with him at Stein, in the processes Of
manufacture; the youngest OF the three; Eoer'
| World, at New York. Stein is literally town OF
| pencil factories, of which Baron Faber Is the
ruler, taking care of the health, government
education, industry. thrift and amusement OF the
| inhabitants, and always living 10 their midst.
| Il may be asked, how do the Fabers make lead
| pencils without the lannon's graphite from Cum
| befland? II appears that twenty years ago. John
Peter Albert, Frenchman, resident in Asistie
Siberia, having heard of the gold discoveries II
| California. began to examine the sandy beds O.
various rivers flowing into the Arctic ocean. Ht
found samples of pure graphite, evidently
| brought considerable distance by the force o.
the stream, in one of the mountain gorges neal
Irkurtsk, and pursuing his discovery, tracked
back to branch of the Sslan Mountain range
| on the summit of Mount Batougal, 276 miles ives
of the town Of Irkurtsk, near the Chinese from
tiei, in the midst Of the rocky desert, and foun'
pure graphite.
exhaustless deposit of graphite equal to the hes
ever taken from Cumberland. Besides decorating
and rewardiDg bin. the Russian government
changed the name of Mount Batougol to that o
Mount Albert. Nearly every crowned head il
Europe has honored him. With the consent o
the Russian government Albert now supplies Fa
ber's house exclusively with graphite from tn
mines in Asiatic Siberia. Pencils of this materia
were first made by Baron Faber in 1861. and wer
not introduced into the American market unit
1865, from which time artists and others perceive
| nd cd ad fhair eunpri0risv. If the WOfl
were to endure thousand years more, there
sufficient graphite in Mount Albert to supply il
population with good black lead pencils.-[l Indus
trial American.