Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-10-19
PAPER MAKING LORE.
EeYPTiANswsRE FIRST TO DISCOVER
 THE GREAT ART.

From Verbal Message Bearers to Inserip-
 tions Upon Stones and Then Upon Metals.
 Making Egyptian Faper-The Ingenuity
 of the Chinese.
 In all ages people have been compelled to communicate with each other. At very early period of the worlds existence some material on which to inscribe any information which they wished toconvey to others was found necessary. Verbal messages, though often employed by an- cient nations as a means of communica- tion, were not always possible to use Secrets had often to be transmitted, and it was q severe trial of Q hearers fidelity to intrust him with private affairs Many tales are related in history and in legends of trusty messengers who yield ed up their lives rather than make known the secret, which no torture could drag from their lips. Still failures were not uncommon, and human ingenuity set to work to invent some material on which to inscribe signs which could be understood at 0 distance.
 As people grew more civilized. q de- mand arose for some material on which records and histories might be written | and handed down to posterity. Stones were probably the earliest form of writ ing material. Even at the present day in many parts of the world stones are found bearing inscriptions. It would seem that among the earlier races of mankind any record of great importance was generally engraved upon stone, as | being the moro likely to be permanent. | The same feeling may be traced in the present generation. the inscriptions on | tombs, foundation stones of public build ings and monuments.
 Stones not being convenient for the transmission of long messages, though admirably adapted for receiving inscrip- tions intended to outlast dynasties, Oth- CT materials were tried Lead, brass and bricks were all found to resemble stone too much in its property of not being portable. Lead was found to be the best, as it could be beaten out into thin sheets and written upon with iron or steel instruments. Its weight, however, was against it Tablets of wood, wax and ivory. skins of fishes. intestines of serpcnts, were all employed as substi- tutes and were found to combine the requirements of portability. durability | and facility of receiving writing.
 The bark of trees when once tried was found to be superior to most of the other materials and it was employed largely till tho introduction of paper. There arc but few kinds of plants or trees which have not been used in the manufacture of buoks and paper. and the various terms employed by the classic authors denote the several parts which were written on. such as bibles. codex, libcr. tabula and others
 Of paper proper itself. it is perhaps needless to remind our readers that the name is derived from the papyrus, a reed growing on the banks of the Nile. Though Egypt is generally supposed to be the source whence came the idea of making paper. evidence is not wanting in favor of the theory that the Chinese were acquainted with the art at very early period. The Chinese process is
 moro ingenious than that of the ancient Egyptians, being more of n manufac- turc, properly speaking. than the other.
 The Egyptian paper made from the , papyrus was made by laying thin plates of tissue, taken from the middle of the paper rush, side by side, but clOso to- . Cethcr. on n hard, smooth table. Other | pieces WcIc tnell dSEOes NAlc AAEst a' right angles The whole was moistcned
 with the water of the Nile, which was
 supposed to have some aGglutinating
 property Cthough this probably resided
 in the plant itself. and pressure was
 then applied for q certain number ot hours Thus n sheet of paper was formed which required no other finish
 ing than rubbing and polishing with q smooth stone or with \ solid glass hem isphcre and drying in tho sun.
 This simple process was rather prep , aration of n natural paper than a manu , facturc. The process adopted by tho , Chinese comes, as already remarked, r more lcgitimately under that head
 The small branches of n tree resem bling a mulberry tree arc cut by then
 in lengths of about feet and boiled il
 an alkaline lye for the sake of looscninG , the inner rind of bark. which is thei
 peeled off and dried for use. When [ sufficient quantity of bark has been thu
 laid up, it is again softened in water ? for throo or four days, and the oute . parts art. scraped of as useless. Tho res , is boiled in clear lye, which is kep
 strongly agitated all the time until tn bark has become tender and separates , into distinct iibers. It is then placed II a pan or sieve and washed in n runnin; stream. being at the same time worke' with the hands until it becomes a deli I cate and soft pulp.
 n For the finer sorts of paper the. pull receives second washing in a liner bag. It is then spread out on q smootl [, table and beaten with q wooden malle = until it is extremely fine. So far tn z manufacture is very much like what i
 carried on by the paper makers of tn
 present day. they having the advantag
 of better materials than the bark O I trees, and machinery now performs al 5 the laborious washing and pulping proc f esses. The ingenuity of the Chinese il
 inventing so complicated n process o far superior to that of the Egyptians - II Paper Makers Journal
 Did Her Best
 This is the message the telegraph mes
 senger handed to him:
 Come down as soon as you can. l am dyinl