The Portland daily press., 1871-04-03
THE MAGIC OF SCIENCE.
AnorHrR WONDERFUL DISCOVERY.

The metamorphoses wrought by modern sci
on.e are mere wonderful than the fanciful ones
Of which we read in Ovid The touch of
Midas, turning all things to gold, and the glare
of the Gorgon's eyes. petrfying everything
they looked upon, hardly tax our credulity
when we may see transmutations almost as
strange 10 any modern workshop Ancient
magic was chiefly poetical, while modern magic
is strictly utiltarian. Only few months ago
the world was astonished at the startling dis
covery of our fellOw-ctizen, j. Edwin Sher-
man, of Bucksport, now on visit to England
to exhibit his new process Of converting steei
into iron before the Lords of the British Adj
miraty. Mr.. Sherman pours little powder
into crucibe and the subtle chemicals diffuse
themselves through the moulton iron, Instant
ly converting it into steel of as good quality as
that made by the Bessemer process or the still
more primitive process Of celnentatiOn. The
inventor was formerly blacksmith, and made
the discovery which has already made him i'm
mensely rich by accident
1t was by accident, too, that the remarkable
discovery of which we are about to speak was
maJe-a discovery of which, by singular
chance, we believe it is our privilege to give to
the world its first information through these
columns. Sometime in 1886 Mr.. A. T. Schmidt,
of Plttsburg, Penn, German who in addition
to the ordinary advantages of the celebrated
scientific schools of his native country had
also enjoyed the instruction of Lebig, was
Superintendent and Chemist in large manu-
featuring establishment in his adopted city.
On lighting cigar one day he by chance
dropped the piece of paper OF which he had
made use into pot of chemicals. Afterwards,
by another happy chance, he noticed the effect
produced upon the paper by its accidental
bath Like a true German sauant, as he is, he
made series of careful experiments which re-
suited in his invention Of method of treating
common paper so that it becomes more tenac-
iOus and durable than parchment, gives even
blotting paper a surface that is admirable for
writing and, more wonderful than all, makes
the characters written thereon absolutely in
delible except by the destruction of the ma
terial We do not doubt that many of our
readers remember an article describing the
discovery which appeared in the Press of May
81, 1867. But Mr.. Schmidts studies did not
stop here. During the years that have elapsed
since 1867 he has been at work with all the pa
thence of Teutonic philosopher celebrating
his invention and adapting it to new purposes.
1t is now perfected and has its scope greatly
enlarged, so that, instead of promising merely
to be useful in the preparation of paper for
certain purposes it bids fair completely to rev.
Olutionze several very important branches of
manufacture.
Briefly, the process is this. Take sheets of
any kind of paper, made of straw, rags, manila
| or wood, saturate them with certain chemicals,
there lies Mr.. Schmidt's secret) place them in
contact, one above another, and the work is
mainly done. The vegetable tissue seems to be
transmitted into something more like animal
tissue than like its original SELF Without the ap-
plication of weight or any other mechanical
| pressure the sheets adhere firmly, and the re.
sulting substance is wonderfully adapted to pur-
| poses fOt which its constituent material would
be ludicrously inappropriate. Travellers are
never weary of telling how absurdly the Chi
nese fortify their coasts with paper screens
painted to represent Notifications Mr.. Schmidt
does not recommend his prepared paper for
plating iron-cl7ds or Strengthening the walls
of fortresses, but if the Chinese had enough
of it their Notifications would by no means be
so obviously fitted for mounting Quaker guns
He exhibits piece not more than quarter of
an inch thick, which is hardly indented by bull
lets fired from pistol held within three inches
of the surface. Prepared in this form it may
be used for nearly all the purposes for which
gutta-perch and vulcanized rubber are employ
ed. A comb may be made at small fraction
OF the cost of those made of other material,
which in durability and elegance of finish can
not be exceled. Knife and fork handles, and
thousand other useful aud ornamental arti.
Giles for household use which will readily sue-
gest themselves 10 the reader, may be made of
this singular substance. 1t might be used even
for such parts of railroad cars as are now made
of wood, for it has an elasticity that would
prevent its breaking, and it cannot be made to
take fire at any temperature.
But this is only one of the protean forms
which this wonderful substance may be made
to assume. By little different treatment
with the same chemicals it becomes highly
elastic, and may take the place of leather for
many purposes, even boots and shoes. 1t is
! susceptible of the highest finish and may be
enameled or treated in other respects
like leather. Or it may be used for oil
cloth, and we have before us fine specimen
that seems to combine all the essential quail
ties of that useful article Hose water or gas
pipe capable of sustaining any needful pres
sure may be made from it with great facility.
We have named only few of the almost num-
berless articles which can proftably be manu-
featured from paper subjected to Mr. Schmidt's
| process
When we have said that the time required
for preparing the paper is only few days, and
that for oil cloth and several other purposes
six hours are ample time for its manufacture,
and when it IS stated in addition that it is alb
solutely impervious to and insoluble in water,
that it is incombustible and that it is not acted
upon destructvely by any of those chemical
agents that ordinarily come in contact with the
material which it is calculated to supplant, and
it will be confessed that Mr.. Schmidt has not
only laid the foundation of his own fortunes
but has added to the wealth Of the world sum
that is beyond computation.