.VfATERIALS TO WRITE UPON BEFORE INVEN'l'ION OK PRINTING. 657 



(;f the foiu'teeiith century. Ulmaim Strceiuer had established hhn- 

 self at Uhii. Born in 1328, he died in 1407. He has left memoirs in 

 which he recounts his ainioyanceswith some of his workmen." 



Mentel, a contemporary of Gutenherg (1400-147S), established a 

 paper factory at Strasburg. 



John Tate is the first paper maker in England. After him must 

 l)e mentioned Spielmann, of German origin, jeweler to Queen Eliza- 

 beth. He was created a knight and obtained for a term of ten years 

 the exclusive privilege of collecting all the rags required for his mill.^ 



In the beginning, paper was manufactured in a mold — that is to 

 say, the workmen drew directly from the vat of j^aste a certain quan- 

 tity of it, and, by a particular twist of the hand, he spread it over a 

 frame, whose under side was formed of brass wires (wire cloth) 

 stretched, and pressed against each other, and kept rigid by other 

 metallic threads (cross rods) somewhat stronger, and placed across 

 the first. The whole process of manufacturing paper is too familiar 

 to re(iuire anj'thing further to be said regarding it. 



Until recently the opinion of scholars and of all those who had 

 studied the composition and the manufacture of paper was that the 

 first products of that industrj^ were made from cotton. The name 

 itself under Avhich paper was designated in Latin and (ireek seemed 

 to demonstrate this: Charta bombyeina, cuttunea, damascena, 

 xdeinj's 6opif>dxiyog. 



Numerous dissertations, erudite enough, but all equally inaccurate, 

 attempted to prove the existence of cotton paper.' All the proofs in 

 favor of this method, based solely on the outside and superficial 

 appearance of the paper, and on the texts containing vague defini- 

 tions, vanished as soon as a really scientific analysis and examination 

 of paper was made. Wiesner and Briquet were the first to examine 

 paper with the microscope; the latter has recorded in the Memoires 

 de la Societe des Antiquaries de France (5^ serie. Tome VI'', 1885) 

 i result of a microscopic analysis of 122 specimens of paper from 

 tlie most varied sources, and embracing a period extending from the 

 eleventh to the fifteenth century. 



The followiug is the resume of his conclusions: 



There has never been any cotton paper. 



« Musee ivtrospectif. Class 88, p[). 18-19. 



''Il>i(l., 1). L'2. 



'■ Montfaucon. I Usscrtatinii sui' Ic papyrus, sur Ic pai)ier de coton ot sur 

 celui (lout ou se sort aujounriiui. Mrui. do littC'rat. tircz; dos Uegistfes d(> 

 rAcadruiie royale des luscriidioiis el hclh^s-lcf Ires dejiuis 1718 a 172.^). Paris 

 172!), t. VI. p. ;V.)1.— Watteubacli. Das Sehriftwcsci) iu Mittclaltcr. Leipzig, 

 1871.— Sidcel. Ilistorisclie Zcitsclu-irt, t. XXVII, p. ^42.— Wailly (Nat de). 

 Elements de [Mlrograpliie, etc. 



SM 1904 42 



