The record-union., 1896-11-15

ventor of Vienna has found a process
for the manufacture of artificial leather
from red beech and claims that a sole
leather can thus be obtained superior
to animal leather in firmness and dura-
bility.
A pair OF English chemists have dis
covered a way to make waterproof
paint of wood pulp, which is sprayed
over buildings, ships and the like. The
process is simple and inexpensive, and
for painting large surfaces much is ex-
pected of it. Still, again, a Frenchman
has found a way to make paper bags
that are 1mpervious to water, and a
Berlin inventor has produced fire.
proof paper, thin and Of good quality.
For that matter. not long ago a wood
pulp works constructed a stove out of
paper, which answered every purpose
as If 1t had been made of iron 1t was,
however, purely an experiment. Paper
WINDOW paneS were made several years
ago In this country, and these have lat
terly been much improved on in France.
They nave the appearance Of milky
glass and are admirable for greenhouse
use. In the latter country, too, portable
houses are now made of wood pulp,
very successfully, and a good grade of
pulleys as well.
Paper boats and especially paper ca
noes are not at all new, but they have
not come into general use, as it was
expected few years ago that they
would. Paper cuspidors,' however, are
10 be found everywhere, and pals,
flower pots, and similar articles are
now in common use. Paper furniture,
ha
a novelty; SO, too, is imitation porcelain
ware, paper barrels, wagon wheels,
horseshoes and the like, but all Of these
are being made in a small way, and in
dicate possibilities for the future.
The latest advance in the art, that
Of silk making, can now be said to be
successful beyond question or doubt
Artificial silk is being made in consid-
cradle quantities by two English mills,
and by several others in France. There
is really nothing so very wonderful
about it, it is simply doing mechani-
cally what the silk worm does. The lat
ter simply eats up the leaves of the
mulberry tree, digests them, adds GER
tain glue and spins the cellulose-like
stuff thus formed into it's cocoon The
new process similarly takes a suitable
wood pulp, treats it chemically, and
forces this mixture through fine tubes
into running water, where it hardens
and the thread thus formed is caught
up by delicate fingers, dried and spun
into an ordinary silk thread The fab
ric made from this thread is said to be
detectible from real silk only by means
Of the microscope; it is susceptible of
the highest finish, can be dyed in any
colors, is strong and durable, and is
very much cheaper than silk fabrics
made from the product of the silk
worm
Perhaps it would be regarded as a
hoax If I were to say that a fine Ha-
Vana cigar may likewise be made from
ordinary pulp which only an expert
can detect, but 1t Is nevertheless fact;
and the sole reason that the manufac-
ture is not general is that it is not
commercially profitable. Here, too,
is nothing wonderful, since the
source Of a smokers delight Is simply
a mesh Of tasteless vegetable, favored
with certain chemicals. The laboratory
process of the soil may be perfectly
duplicated In the laboratory Of the
chemist, just as the work Of the silk
worms belly may be duplicated by a
machine. 1t is wide and stretching
vista which these facts suggest, and
1t requires no vivid imagination to plot
the borders Of the future Of synthetic
chemistry