THE SAVINGS OF SCIENCE. 803 



shape of a new black, which is destined to have a variety of impor- 

 tant uses, such as in the manufacture of printing-inks, dark pigments, 

 covering substances, and notably for the manufacture of blacking. 

 Bone-black, from which the latter is chiefly made, costs 9 per ton, 

 and the supply is limited, while this new tannic black can be sold at 

 one third of the price. 



The blood from the slaughter-houses, which used to be wasted, is 

 now collected in Europe, and utilized for manufacturing into blood- 

 albumen, which sells at about Is. a pound. The drainings and the 

 clot go for manure. 



Among the miscellaneous animal substances now utilized, we find 

 many species of fish-skin tanned, such as the so-called porpoise-skin, 

 (Beluga catodon). Alligators and crocodiles, and even snakes, are 

 hunted for their skins, which are tanned, and provide a valuable arti- 

 cle for making slippers, purses, pocket-books, cigar-cases, etc. 



Let us now pass to vegetable substances, and I will first consider 

 the paper manufacture. A recent estimate was published, which set 

 down the paper-mills of the world at 4,000, producing 1,000,000 tons 

 of paper, of which one half was used for printing. 



It is now evident that the future of the paper industry will, in a 

 large degree, depend upon the use of wood, which is already exten- 

 sively employed. For the ordinary varieties of paper, ground wood is 

 used ; but, for the finer sorts, chemically prepared wood-fiber, or cel- 

 lulose, is employed. The practical process for the preparation of cel- 

 lulose was discovered in 1852, and numerous other processes or im- 

 provements have since been invented. It comes into commerce in two 

 forms wood-pulp in sheets or blocks, and ligneous meal or wood 

 flour. In Central Russia, aspen-wood is most extensively employed ; 

 in Sweden and Finland, spruce and fir, which afford the longest 

 fibers ; in Germany, France, and Belgium, mixed woods. The pulp 

 from beech and birch woods has too short a fiber. 



About twenty years ago, some of the American paper manufac- 

 turers used the bamboo largely for making paper. This is no new 

 application, for the Chinese have long employed it for a common de- 

 scription of paper. Good paper is now also made from esparto-grass. 



A good deal of the jute sent from India to the United States con- 

 sists of the dark root, or butt-ends of the fiber, which are cut off when 

 the jute is pressed into bales. These are called " cuttings " in Calcutta, 

 and with us, " rejections " ; they now form a regularly quoted article 

 of export to America, where they are employed in the fabrication of 

 various shoddy-stuffs. In former years these cuttings were thrown 

 away. Megass, the refuse stalk of the sugar-cane, makes excellent 

 paper. The husks of oats, barley, rye, and rice, are also used alone, or 

 combined with other materials. Straw-board, of late years, has been 

 found to be a cheaper material than the old-fashioned " pasteboard," 

 and it has come extensively into use in America for paper-boxes. 



