The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1878-01-18
Paper and its Substitutes.
THE PAPER MAKERS OF ASTIQUITY-
HISTORY OF THE UTILIZATION
OF VEGETABLE MATTER.


OF VEGETABLE MATTER.
The first invention of paper manu-
iacturett from vegetable pulp is lost il
she midst OF antiquity. Ii appears &
have been first introduced into EurOp
fiOn the East through the Arabian
and Persians. The use of paper, &C
cording to the modern application o
the word, had become common il
China al an extremely remote period
GibbOn tells us in a note, that thi:
manufacture was introduced from CL
ma into Samaracand G5l b. c., and
thence spread over Europe. The Chi
nese are said 10 have so great a variety
ofpaper that each province possesses
it's own peculiar make. Tie sort
commonly known as silk paper is fab.
ricated from the inner bark Of the
BAN boo, OF mulberry tree
The rice paper, so called, is prepared
from the inner portion of the stems OF
hardy leguminous plant that grows
plentifully about the lakes near Cal
cutta, ard also in the Island of For
mosa, whence the Chinese import it in
large quantities. rhe stems of the
Tlant being cut into the proper lengths
for the sheet, the pith is cut spirally
into thin slice, then fattened, pressed
and dried. The Arabians appear first
to have introduced the manufacture of
paper into Spain. On the oldest speci-
nen extant of this Spanish manufacture
q treaty OF peace between tue King Of
Aragon and neighborng potentate,
n. ID. liT6, is transcribed A manu-
script exists in England, however,
written upon cotton paper, bearing
date A. ID. 1919 but this paper was,
no doubt, imported from the East
Paper at this early period was of ex-
ceedinsly inferior quality, being coarse
brown, spongy and liable to speedy
decay. So much was this the case that
in a. ID. l24l the Emperor Frederic
the Second of Germany issued an order
declaring null all documents written
ON this material, and fixing a term of
years within which they were to be
transferred to parchment. Paper had
hitherto been manufactured of raw
cotton, hemp, or other vegetable fible;
but it now came to light that rags
having already undergone the process,
not only of manufacture but of wear,
was better adapted to the purpose,
being mole easily reducible to fine
pulp.
We have, therefore, specimens OF
paper made from rags as early as the
fourteenth century, the oldest extant
being letter from Joinvile to Louis
the Tenth Of France, dated A ID. 1915.
The continued imperiection of this
manufacture still necessitated the tran
scriptiOn of all important documents
on parchment or vellum. The parch-
ment was, as Of old, cut into bands.
joined endwise, so as to form rolls.
some of the Judicial acts requiring rolls
twenty feet in length Nor was this
plan discontinued till the 18th century.
when the colex, written on both sides,
became general. 1t must not he con-
cluded that ancient law parchments
were always lengthy affairs, however.
there being contracts Of sales dating A
ID. 1882 and 1852 only two inches long
by five wide, and q will written in A
ID. 1855 two inches by three and a
half. The principle of paper making
has been the same from time inmeme-
rial, the only change being the material
used and the machinery employed
The fibrOus substance is cut and
bruised in water until it becomes a fine
soft pulp. This is taken up in thin
layer upon frame of fine wire cloth
that allows the moisture 20 pass
through, when the pulp speedily coag-
ulate into sheet of paper. The sheets
are first pressed between felt, which
being removed, the paper is again sub
jeCted TO powerful pressure and dried.
1T is in this state biDulOus, like blo,-
ting paper; but the sheets are now
dipped in size, and again pressed and
drIe,'.
For printing paper, however, the
size is added to the pulp in the engine.
Some idea may be formed of the i'm
provement effected bv machinery in
this manufacture when it is stated that
whereas by the hand process the paper
took more than three months to com
plete, the rags may now be put into
the mill one day, and the paper is
ready for delivery the next. Scarcely
atibroTs vegetable substance exists that
may not be turned to use in this man
uf; cture. Jacob Christopher Schatfer,
of Ratisbon, in 1868. wrote n work OH
experimei IS in making paper from
other materials than rags, which is
printed on sixty varieties of paper,
made from as many different SUBJ
stances. A ld in 1856. the Marquis de
Filette published in London a small
book printed on paper male from
marsh nallow; at the ends are leaves
of paper manufactured at Bruges from
twenty different plants, such as nettles,
hops, reeds, etc. But these, as well as
straw. can only be considered as sub
stitutes to supply the deficiency of
rags, not as i'll any way supcrseding
that material
A 4