C U. C. p. AULMNI JOURNAL 



71 



ing engine, the modern analogue of the 

 crude mortar and pestle used by the 

 Arabs for the separation of the vege- 

 table fibers that was the basis of primitive 

 paper. 



In the primary processes of separating 

 the pulp or cellulose from the wood, the 

 pharmacist will perceive no analogy with 

 any operation known to his art. On the 

 contrary he will observe methods em- 

 ployed and results obtained as astound- 

 ing by their destructive wastefulness as 

 by total opposition to galenical methods 

 in the extraction of valuable plant con- 

 stituents. It is in the intermediate and 

 later stages of papermaking. in the com- 

 bining of the ''furnish," as the assembled 

 ingredients of the formula for a given 

 paper are conveniently termed, and in the 

 testing of papers, that he will note 

 familiar combinations and reactions and 

 perhaps find scope for the exercise of 

 his galenical skill and the application of 

 his chemical knowledge. 



Having connected papermaking proc- 

 esses with pharmaceutical operations by 

 analogy and contrast I will turn to the 

 ancient history of papermaking and in- 

 vite your attention to some pictures from 

 the General Exposition of the Swiss 

 Paper and Pulp Manufacturers held at 

 Berne in 1914. These are reduced re- 

 productions of a frieze showing the de- 

 velopment of papermaking through the 

 ages, and will form a convenient text for 

 my discourse. 



The first picture, date 5000 B. C, shows 

 a group of Egyptians collecting the 

 papyrus plant somewhere on the banks 

 of the Nile, Pliny was the first chronicler 

 of papermaking. In his Natural History 

 he gives a minute description of the 



manufacture of papyrus sheets. The 

 name papyrus is derived from an 

 Egyptian word Pa-p-yor, signifying the 

 thing or product of the river. The 

 papyrus plant is mentioned in the Bible; 

 the "ark of bulrushes" (Exodus ii:3) in 

 which Moses was laid being a small 

 papyrus boat like the vessels of bulrushes 

 referred to in Isaiah xviii :2. 



According to Pliny, the papyrus sheet 

 was made by pasting together strips of the 

 pith of the stem. The strips were laid 

 side by side perpendicularly, in length 

 and number sufficient to form a sheet of 

 the desired size. Upon these another 

 layer of strips were laid horizontally and 

 interwoven, the whole being moistened 

 with some adhesive material of wdiich 

 Nile water was one of the ingredients. 

 Pressure was then applied to the result- 

 ing sheet, and after drying on a board in 

 the sun, the sheet was glazed by rubbing 

 with a smooth shell or bone. For most 

 nonliterary documents (letters, accounts, 

 receipts, etc.), a single sheet, measuring 

 eight by fifteen inches was sufficient ; for 

 longer texts, especially literary ones, the 

 necessary sheets were made into a roll 

 by pasting them together end to end. 

 Rolls have been found measuring as 

 much as sixty feet and even 135 feet. 



In the reproduction of the frieze from 

 the Berne Exposition a picture is shown 

 of the Greeks making parchment from 

 the skins of animals. Parchment was 

 used for writing as early as 250 B. C., 

 and its use was continued long after the 

 invention of paper. Of its origin, the 

 storv is told that Eumenes, king of 

 Pergamus. started to collect a library that 

 should vie with that of Alexandria, in 

 doing this, he aroused the jealousy of 

 the Ptolemies who prohibited the expor- 



