524 Transactions. — Miscellaneo us . 



of this paper — namely, to demonstrate that the period we live 

 in may be fitly designated as, par excellence, " the Age of 

 Pulp.' I do not propose, however, at present to attempt a 

 speculation on pulp in the abstract : I shall merely confine 

 myself to an account of a single department of the subject, 

 which is nevertheless a very large and important one — namely, 

 that which relates to the manufactm'e and uses of pulp made 

 from vegetable fibre. 



Although the fibre-pulp industry is, comparatively speaking, 

 still in its infancy, the principle involved in it is by no means 

 a new one. As in the case of many other industries, it existed 

 in an embryonic form long before its enormous capabilities 

 were appreciated. The pulp idea was present when the first 

 .sheet of rag-paper was rudely made by hand many hundred 

 years ago ; it only required time and experience for it to reach 

 its present development. The early stages were fitful and 

 tentative. The now universal millboard was followed by 

 various trivial attempts in paincr-maclie, but the first genuine 

 step forvrard was taken when the pulp in a compressed and 

 moulded form was used in the manufacture of articles hitherto 

 laboriously made by hand. It had taken a long time to blow 

 the spark iuto flame, but once the flame was properly kindled 

 it spread with wildfire rapidity, and, as improved maciiinery 

 multiplied the number of substances available, and enlarged 

 the field of operations, it soon appeared that there was practi- 

 cally no limit to the variety of uses to which the pulp might 

 be put. 



A few instances, taken almost at random from current 

 accounts of some of the more recent applications of the process, 

 will serve to show that no speculation is too wild as to the 

 ultimate destiny of this most plastic of materials. Doors and 

 window-frames, and even entire houses, have been made of it, 

 as well as articles of furniture, vessels of every description, 

 musical instraments, and even stoves and cooking-utensils. It 

 has been used in America for the floor of a skating-rink, for 

 which it has answered better than either timber or asphalte. 

 It has supplied the material for bottles in Austria and Ger- 

 many, and for boats in France. In Eussia it has been suc- 

 cessfully employed in the manufacture of tramway-rails ; and 

 in Hudson, Xew York, is shown one of a set of wheels which 

 travelled 300,000 miles under a Pullman car. From these few 

 instances, which might be n;iultiplied ad infinitum, it will 

 readily appear that there is scarcely a substance for which 

 the pulp is not an eflicient substitute, scarcely a department 

 of manufacture in which it cannot be used with economy and 

 advantage. 



I cannot pretend to give a detailed technical account of 

 the process of manufacture, but I may state briefly that the 



