72 MisceUaneotis, 



the paper market. Besides, as rags are likely to fall in price, 

 owing to tbe extensive supply resulting from this new element, the 

 world of writers and readers would seem to have a brighter future 

 before it than the boldest fancy would have imagined a short time 

 ago. This is not the first time that paper has been manufactured 

 from the blade of Indian Corn ; but, strange to say, the art was 

 lost, and required to be discovered anew. As early as the seven- 

 teenth century, an Indian corn paper manufactory was in full 

 operation in the town of Rievi, in Italy, and enjoyed a world-wide 

 reputation at the time ; but with the death of its proprietor the 

 secret seemed to have lapsed into oblivion. Attempts subsequently 

 made to continue the manufacture were baffled by the difficulty 

 of removing the flint and resinous and glutinous matter contained 

 in the blade. The recovery of the process has at last been aff"ected 

 and is due to the cleverness of one Her Moritz Diamant, a Jewish 

 writing-master in Austria, and a trial of his method on a grand 

 scale, which was made at the Imperial manufactory at Schlogel- 

 muhle, near Glognitz (Lower Austria), has completely demon- 

 strated the certainty of the invention. Although the machinery, 

 arranged as it was for the manufacture of rag-paper, could not of 

 course fully answer the requirements of Her Diamant, the results 

 of the essay were wonderfully favourable. The article produced 

 was of a purity of texture and whiteness of colour that left nothing 

 to be desired ; and this is all the more valuable from the difficulty 

 usually experienced in the removal of impurities from rags. The 

 proprietor of the invention is Count Carl Octavio Zu Lippe Weis- 

 senfeld, and several experiments give the following results : — 



'1. It is not only possible to produce every variety of paper 

 frem the blades of Indian corn, but the product is equal and in, 

 some respects even superior, to the article manufactured from 

 rags. 



' 2. The paper requires very little size to render it fit for writing 

 purposes, as the pulp naturally contains a large proportion of that 

 necessary ingredient, which can at the same time be easily elimi- 

 nated if desirable. 



' 3. The bleaching is efi'ected by an extraordinary rapid and 

 facile process, and, indeed, for the common light-coloured packing 

 paper the process becomes entirely unnecessary. 



' 4. The Indian corn paper possesses greater strength and te- 

 nacity than rag paper, without the drawback of brittleness so con- 

 spicuous in the common straw products. 



