SOCIAL-WASPS. 73 



fibres to a pulp, and then unite tliem by a size or glue, 

 spreading the substance out into a smooth and delicate 

 leaf. This is exactly the process of paper-making. It 

 would seem that the wasp knows, as the modern paper- 

 makers now know, that the fibres of rags, whether linen or 

 cotton, are not the only materials that can be used in the 

 formation of paper ; she employs other vegetable matters, 

 converting them into a proper consistency by her assiduous 

 exertions. In some respects she is more skilful even than 

 our paper-makers, for she takes care to retain her fibres of 

 sufficient length, by which she renders her paper as strong 

 as she requires. Many manufacturers of the present day 

 cut their material into small bits, and thus produce a rotten 

 article. One great distinction between good and bad paper 

 is its toughness ; and this difference is invariably produced 

 by the fibre of which it is composed being long, and there- 

 fore tough ; or short, and therefore friable. 



The wasp has been labouring at her manufacture of 

 paper, from her first creation, with precisely the same 

 instruments and the same materials ; and her success has 

 been unvarying. Her machinery is very simple, and there- 

 fore it is never out of order. She learns nothing, and she 

 forgets nothing. Men, from time to time, lose their excel- 

 lence in particular arts, and they are slow in finding out real 

 improvements. Such improvements are often the effect of 

 accident. Paper is now manufactured very extensively by 

 machinery in all its stages ; and thus, instead of a single 

 sheet being made by hand, a stream of paper is poured out, 

 which would form a roll large enough to extend round the 

 globe, if such a length were desirable. The inventors of 

 this machinery, Messrs. Fourdrinier, it is said, spent the 

 enormous sum of 40,000/. in vain attempts to render the 

 machine capable of determining with precision the width 

 of the roll ; and, at last, accomplished their object, at the 

 suggestion of a bystander, by a strap revolving upon an 

 axis, at a cost of three shillings and sixpence. Such is the 

 difference between the workings of human knowledge 

 and experience, and those of animal instinct. We proceed 

 slowly and in the dark — but our course is not bounded by 



