The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-01-18
HISTORY OF PAPER.
Progress from the Days of Papyrus
to the Age of Spruce.


From the Ashland under-Lyne eng
lanO Reporter.
Egypt, China and Japan are the
countries in which the earliest manu-
facture of paper is known to have
been carried on. The Egyptian paper
was made of the plant called papyrus,
kind of grass. According to the in
formation handed down to us, the deli
cate inner fibers were separated from
the blade of the grass, and spread upon
the bile in such a manner that they
overlapped one another. The table was
Sprinkled with water from the Nile,
which had, no doubt, the effect of
moistening the natural gum of the
plant so as to make the fibers adhere
When the first layers of papyrus fiber
was complete, successive layers were
placed upon one another until the pa
per was thick enough. These layers
were then pressed together, and the
sheet of paper was dried in the sun.
The best quality was preserved for
religious uses, and not allowed to be
exported.
The Romans, however, discovered a
process of cleansing this kind of paper
from the marks of writing; and after
this discovery they imported from
Egypt sacred books written on this
material which they used for their
own purposes after the original writ
ing had been erased.
Besides the papyrus ancient paper
was made of the inner bark of trees.
Egyptian paper was in general use in
Europe until the eighth or ninth CEN
fury. 1t then slowly began to give
place to paper manufactured from cot
ton and other materials, which art was
apparently learned by the Arabs in
Asia, and introduced by them into Eu-
rope. This manufacture had apparent
ly spread to Western Asia from China
where it is known to have existed at a
very early period. Paper was made
other as early as the beginning of the
first century, and, according to their
own account, the making of paper from
cotton appears to have been invented
by them about 200 A. D.
The materials that have at various
times and in various places been used
for the making of paper are very nu-
merous. Hemp and linen rags are now
used in one part of China, the inner
bark of the mulberry tree in another,
while the bark of the elm, straw and
bamboo find favor for this purpose else
where.
The japanese show a marked prefer
ence for the mulberry tree, and the pa
per made by them is not to be equaled
anywhere for strength and softness-
qualities which enable it to be used for
many purposes for which here in Eng
land we use leather, such, for instance,
as in the manufacture of purses, ladies'
bags, etc. After the introduction into
Europe of cotton and linen rags as ma
terial for paper-making, the use of 9TH
er vegetable fihers was for many CEN
turtles almost entirely given up-chief-
Iy because rags proved as cheap as they
were suitable.
A method of treating straw so as to
make it capable of being made into
paper was invented as comparatively
recently as the beginning of last GEN.
tury.' Various improvements have
since been effected. and there are now
many mills which turn out nothing
else than paper made mostly from
straw and wood pulp. but the best and
most important feature of these ma
terials is the stiffness they impart to
the paper.
Esparto, or Spanish grass, has been
applied to paper making only within
the last few years. The use of rushes
for this purpose belongs to our coun-
try and dates from 1866. The paper