THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER. 



The inventions and researches of Guettard and Schaeffer have 

 been the foundation of the move recent and important improve- 

 ments in the production of paper. In the year 1781, Schaeffer 

 published a book containing fifty or sixty different specimens of 

 paper, the result of his own experiments. A copy of this book is 

 in the library of the Smithsonian Institution, and from an examina- 

 tion of its contents, the specimens appear to have been of much 

 value, and were no doubt the product of hard study and investiga- 

 tion. These specimens of paper are made from all the well-known 

 substances of that time which were subject to experiment, and com- 

 prise the various kinds of barks and leaves of trees, the pith of the 

 thistle, mosses, vines, and grasses, and nearly everything possessing 

 fibrous and textile properties, and which seemed a suitable subject 

 from which to produce a paper pulp. 



In the year 1784, an important addition was made in paper mak- 

 ing, by the discovery of chlorine of schule, a substance, as it is well 

 known, possessing great bleaching properties. This gas possessed 

 the power of totally destroying all vegetable colors, and, with lime, 

 it was extensively used for this purpose. 



In 1787, a Mr. GtREAVES obtained a patent in England for pro- 

 ducing paper from the leaves and bark of willow twigs and from 

 various plants ; but this invention did not prove to be superior to 

 Schaeffer's experiments and improvements ; and about this time 

 the works of a French author were printed in London on paper 

 made from the marsh mallow, and also specimens made of the wil- 

 low, reed, nettles, hops, lime, elm and oak, and of the burdock and 

 thistle. It will be seen that this invention was eclipsed by those 

 more important, and of anterior and similar date. 



Several inventions in paper-making were made in England prior 

 to the year 1800. but a few only are deserving of notice. During 

 the year 1787, Samuel Hooper obtained a patent for an invention 

 of paper for printing, which was adopted by the paper manufactur- 

 ers ; and on the 20tli of January, 1790, he was granted another pat- 

 ent for producing it from leather cuttings. These cuttings are the 

 refuse material in the manufacture of leather, and are considered 

 ^ (92) 



