SCIENCE, INVENTION, DISCOVERY. 



3.39 



States was John Watson, who commenced 

 painting portraits in New Jersey, 1715. Ben- 

 jamin West was the first native American 

 artist ; born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 

 1708. John Singleton Copley, born in Boston, 

 1738, began his first important work in 1760. 

 Other noted American painters, belonging to 

 the early period, were Charles W. Peale, Gil- 

 bert Charles Stuart, John Trumbull, William 

 Dunlap, and E. G. Malbone. Latterly Amer- 

 ican artists have been greatly influenced by 

 the French schools. 



Paper Hangings. The invention of 

 hangings of paper to take the place of other 

 more costly hangings, has been attributed to a 

 manufacturer of paper hangings named Breit- 

 kopf, of Leipsic. That kind known as velvet 

 paper is said to have been invented by Jerome 

 Lanyer, an Englishman, who received a patent 

 for it in 1634, although the invention has also 

 been claimed for Francois, a Frenchman, who 

 is asserted to have introduced it at Rouen, in 

 1620. 



Paper, History of. It is generally con- 

 ceded that the Egyptians were the first manu- 

 factures of paper, which they made from papy- 

 rus, a species of reed. In former times this 

 plant grew in abundance on the banks of the 

 Nile, but it is now said to have disappeared 

 from Egypt. It was called by the Egyptians 

 "papu"; by the Greeks "papyrus"; our 

 word paper is a later derivative. Herodotus 

 named it " byblus," whence came the Greek 

 " biblion " (book) and our word Bible. The 

 ancient Mexicans used a kind of paper pre- 

 pared from the maguey plant that grows on 

 tablelands and closely resembles the Egyp- 

 tian papyrus. This paper took ink and color 

 well, as is attested by specimens which have 

 been preserved. The credit of being first to 

 form from fiber the web which constitutes 

 modern paper belongs to the Chinese, and the 

 art was known to them as early as the com- 

 mencement of the Christian era. In the sev- 

 enth century the Arabians learned the art of 

 making it from cotton from the Chinese, and 

 the first manufactory was established at Sa- 

 marcand, about A. D. 706. From thence it 

 was taken into Spain, where under the Moors 

 paper was made, it is thought, of hemp and 

 flax as well as cotton. Just when linen rags 

 were first used in the composition of paper is 

 uncertain ; but the best evidence is offered by 

 the Arabian physician Abdollatiph, who writes, 

 in an account of his visit to Egypt in the year 

 1200, " that the cloth found in the catacombs 

 and used to envelop mummies was made into 

 garments or sold to the scribes to make paper 

 for shopkeepers "; and as there is no doubt 

 that these mummy cloths were linen, it proves 



the use of this material to be of considerable 

 antiquity. Of the xiseof linen rags in Europe, 

 the earliest proof is the celebrated document 

 i found by Ichwandner in the monastery of Goss, 

 in Upper Styria, which purports to be a man- 

 ! date of Frederick II., Emperor of the Romans, 

 | and is dated 1242. It is written on paper 

 which has been proved to have been made of 

 linen. The practice of making a distinctive 

 watermark on paper was also of very early 

 date, as manuscripts as old as the thirteenth 

 century bear it. There is, however, no really 

 satisfactory information respecting the exact 

 time or place of the introduction of paper 

 making into Europe. By some it is supposed 

 that Spain was the first to receive the art, and 

 that thence it spread to France and Holland, 

 and subsequently to England ; but it is quite 

 certain that England was a long time behind 

 the other countries. As proof of this we find 

 that the first patent for paper making was taken 

 out in 1665, by one Charles Hildeyerd, but it 

 was for ' ' the way and art of making blew 

 paper used by sugar-bakers and others." Ten 

 years later, 1675, a patent was taken out by 

 Eustace Barneby for ' ' the art and skill of 

 making all sorts of white paper for the use of 

 writing and printing, being a new manufacture, 

 and never practiced in any way in any of our 

 kingdome or dominions. " Paper is now made 

 out of cotton and linen rags, waste paper, straw, 

 esparto grass, wood, cane, jute, and manilla. 



Papier-Mache has been in use for more 

 than a century in Europe, and it is thought 

 probable that it was first suggested by some of 

 the beautiful productions of Sinde and other 

 parts of India, where it is employed in making 

 boxes, trays, etc., as well as in China. Its 

 first application, as far as is known, was to the 

 manufacture of snuff boxes by a German 

 named Martin in 1740, who learned it of a 

 Frenchman named Lefevre. The cheaper arti- 

 cles of papier-mache' are made of paper reduced 

 to a pulp with water and glue, and pressed in 

 oiled molds. Better ai'ticles are produced by 

 pasting together sheets of paper, and when a 

 proper degree of thickness is attained it is 

 pressed into the shape desired. When moist, 

 this substance may be made to take any form, 

 and whe.i dry may be planed into any shape. 

 A brilliant surface can be had by polishing 

 with rotten stone and oil. Papier-mache" is 

 much used to make architectural ornaments, 

 both for exterior, and interior decorations. 

 The sheets of paper, placed in layers with glue, 

 are pressed into metal molds for some hours ; 

 then they are removed, and a composition of 

 paper pulp, mixed quite thin with resin and 

 glue, is poured in, and the paper impressions 

 are again put in and subjected to powerful 



