I894-J NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 33 



paper trade until later, when, to my surprise, we found high- 

 class paper manufacturers, both in this country and in Great 

 Britain, who water-mark their products as '' Pure linen stock," 

 "Royal Irish linen," "Pure parchment, one hundred per cent 

 chemical fibre," and other high-sounding names, employed ad- 

 mixtures of cotton and various woods, more particularly spruce, 

 some varieties of poplar, fir, white pine, etc., as may be seen by 

 slides Nos. 4-6 and several which are not numbered (Plate 39,. 

 Figs, 4 and 6). 



Having made this discovery, and now being upon our guard, 

 in order to ascertain what was published upon this topic we 

 looked up some of the literature upon the proper means of de- 

 tecting admixtures in paper. 



We could find but little that was very definite or of much 

 value in the English or American works, but found much in 

 German concerning investigations in progress, although these 

 investigations were usually conducted by intricate and tedious 

 processes. 



The work in this line performed and in progress in the German 

 Kais. Konigl. Versuchstation at Berlin appears to be the most 

 valuable that came to our notice. Of these I have made a few 

 extracts, which I will give further on if time permits. 



The various modern processes in pulping a variety of the vege- 

 table fibres, and the admirable texture and finish given to many 

 of the finer manufactured papers, make it very difficult to get a 

 qualitative, much more a proper quantitative, analysis of these 

 products. 



It might be well at this stage to submit a brief outline of the 

 general manner in which paper is manufactured, in order to have 

 you comprehend why it is so difficult to distinguish, in this pro- 

 gressive age, the superior all-linen stock from the cheaper mix- 

 tures of cotton, woods, etc. At the head of the list stands the 

 ancient papyrus, of which the first was probably made in Egypt 

 from a species of reed belonging to the family of Cyperacese, or 

 sedges. A fine paper was also early made from the inner layers 

 of the cuticle of the mulberry and other trees, laid side by side, 

 and a second layer being placed at right angles; all were wet 

 ted, pressed together and dried in the sun, beaten smooth with a 

 mallet, and polished with a piece of ivory or shell. 



