USEFUL ARTS 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Paper and its many Uses. The Egyptian Papyrus. India Paper. China and 

 its Manufactories. Materials of which Paper is made. Annual Consump- 

 tion of Material. The " Water Mark." Nature's Papers. Wasps and 

 Hornets. The common Wasp, and the various Materials of its Nest. 

 Utilisation of Material. Papier-mache. Printing. Nature-printing. 

 Method and Results of the Process. Use of the Electrotype. " Facing " the 

 Copper Plates with hard Metal. The Coal Mine and its Nature-printing. 

 Stippling, its Use and Abuse. The Line and the Dot. Modification of the 

 Dot. Flower-petals. The Pelargonium. Plaster Castings. Stereotyping 

 and Electrotyping. Modern Method of taking Plaster Casts. The Principle 

 of Corrugation. Flower-pot Covers. Iron Buildings. The Polistes and its 

 Corrugated Dwellings, 



AKT. 



WE will now touch lightly on the subject of Art. 

 In the present day one of the most indispensable 

 accessories to art is Paper. 



It is a curious fact that we have no records as to the time 

 when paper was first invented. The Egyptian papyrus we do 

 not consider, as it was not paper in our sense of the word, 

 although we have retained the name. 



Paper is a vegetable fibre carefully disintegrated, made into 

 a pulp with water, and then dried in thin sheets. As is the 

 case with many arts, China seems to have taken the lead in 

 paper manufacture, and we are even now indebted to that 

 country for the "India Paper" on which the finest proofs of 

 engravings are taken. This paper is made from the inner bark 

 of the bamboo. " Rice Paper," so called, is not paper at all, 

 but only a kind of pith cut spirally, and flattened by pressure. 



There is scarcely any vegetable fibre of which paper cannot 

 be made, and various plants have been suggested for this 

 purpose, such as the stinging-nettle, cabbage-stalks, hop-bines> 





