1857.] Hev, J. Barlow, on Woody Fibre. 409 



WEEKLY EVENING MEETING, 



Friday, April 3. 



The Duke op Northumberland, K.G. F.R.S* President, 

 in the Chair. 



Rev. J. Barlow, M.A. F.R.S. Vice-President & Sec. R.I. 

 On some Modifications of Woody Fibre and their Applications. 



After all the soluble parts of a plant, its gum, its sugar, its ex- 

 tractive matter, and its aromatic oil, as well as its starch and gluten, 

 have been separated, the residue is a substance to which the names 

 of " lignine," " cellulose," " sclerogen,'* have been given. Of this 

 substance vegetable fibre may be regarded as a natural modification. 

 Having adverted to this fact, Mr. Barlow noticed the distinctive 

 physical properties of fibre — its strength, its flexibility, its readiness 

 (though to a certain extent elastic) to take a permanent set or bend. 

 He adverted to an ingenious application which has been made of 

 these qualities, while the fibres yet remain part of the wood in 

 which they were formed. By powerful pressure, and the use of 

 metallic bands during the process to support the wood, Mr. Blan- 

 chard,* of New York, succeeded in giving permanent curvature to 

 beams and planks without injury to the fibre. The invention 

 received the first class medal at the Paris Exhibition of 1855, and 

 it is now adopted by the Timber-Bending Company. Specimens 

 of wood, thus bent,! were exhibited ; and it was shown that the fibres 

 evinced no tendency to straighten, unless exposed to the joint 

 influence of heat and moisture. 



But the principal subject of Mr. Barlow*s discourse being the 

 Parchment-paper invented and patented by Mr. W. E. Gaine, C.E., 

 and about to be introduced into commerce by Messrs. Thos. De la 

 Rue and Co., he confined his remarks principally to the physical 

 and chemical properties of vegetable fibre when converted into 

 paper. A sheet of unsized paper is the result of the same forces 

 which produce the sand flagstones which pave our streets — the forces 

 which cause particles, when brought together under water, to 



♦ Rapports du Jury International (de I'Exposition de Paris 1855), VoL L 

 p. 273. 



