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

HISTORY OF THE UTILIZATION
or VEGETABLE MATTER.
The first Invention of paper manu-
facturcd from vegetable pulp is lost III
yhe midst of antiquity. 1t appears tC
have been first introduced into Europe
from the East through the Arab bians
and Persians. The use of paper, ac-
corrling to the modern application OF
the word, had become common IN
China al an extremely remote period.
Gibbon tells US in a note, that this
manufacture was introduced from Cn =
ma into Samaracand 65l b. G and
thence spread over Europe. The Chi
nese are said TO have so great variety
of paper that each province possesses
its own peculiar make. The sort
commonly known as silk paper is fab
ricated from the inner bark OF the
bamboo, Oh mulberry tree.
The rice paper, SO called, is prepared
from the inner portion of the stems OF
a 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 The stems Of the
Plant being cut into the proper lengths
for the sheet, the pith is cut spirally
into thin slice, then flattened, pressed
and dried. The Arabians appear first
to have introduced the manufacture of
paper into Spain. On the oldest speci-
men extant of this Spanish manufacture
q treaty of peace between the King Of
Aragon and neighboring potentate,
A. ID. 11I6, is transcribed. A manu-
script exists in England, however,
written upon cotton paper, bearing
date A. ID. 1049; 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. D. lZiI 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 more easily reducible to fine
pulp.
We have, therefore, specimens OF
paper made from rags as early as the
fourteenth century, the oldest extant
being a letter from Joinville to Louis
the Tenth Of France, dated A. d. 1915.
The continued imperfection 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 coiex, written on both sides,
became general 1t must not be 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 will written in A.
ID. 1855 two inches by three and q
bali. The principle of paper making
has been the same from time immemo-
rial. the only change being the material
used and the machinery employed.
The fibrous substance is cut and
bruised in water until it becomes fine
soft pulp. This is taken up in a thin
layer upon frame of fine wire cloth
that allows the moisture 20 pass
through, when the pulp speedily coag-
ulate into a sheet of paper. The sheets
are first pressed between felt, which
being removed, the paper is again sub
jected 10 apowerful pressure and dried.
1t is in this state bipulous, like blos-
ting paper; but the sheets are now
dipped in size, and again pressed and
drles.
For printing paper, however, the
size is added to the pulp in the engine.
Some idea NAV be formed of the inn.
provement effected by machinery in
this manufacture when it is stated that
whereas bv the hand process the paper
took more than three months to COM
piete, the rags may now be put into
the mill one day, and the paper is
ready for delivery the next. Scarcely
afibrors vegetable substance exists that
may not be turned to use i'm this man
ufs cture. Jacob Christopher Schaffer,
of Ratisbon, in 1T65. wrote a work on
experiments in making paper from
other materials than rags, which is
printed on sixty varieties of paper,
mo
stances. nd in 1886 the Marquis de
Vilette published in London a small
book printed on paper male from
marsh mallow at the ends are leaves
of paper manufactured at Bruges from
twenty different plants, such as rettles,
hops, reeds, etc. But these, ss we'll as
straw. can only be considered as SUBJ
stitutes to supply the deficiency of
rags, not az in any way superseding
that material