VEGETABLE FIBRE AND CELLULOSE 361 



immense. If as someone has suggested the use of paper is a 

 measure of the degree of civilisation in a people, we may lay 

 claim to a high place among the nations on this ground alone. 



1913 IMPORTS 



Paper. Value. 



For Printing and Writing .... 2,343,934 



For Packing and Wrapping 



Packing 2,837,238 



Strawboard 978,334 



Millboard and Wood Pulp Board . 665,977 



Total . 4,481,549 



Paper-making material. Value. 



Linen and Cotton Rags 312,351 



Esparto and other Fibre .... 743,354 



Pulp of Wood (Chemical dry) 



Bleached 221,565 



Unbleached 3,031,677 



Mechanical and other Pulp of Wood, mostly from 



Sweden and Norway .... 1,406,128 



Total . 5,715,075 



The grand total of imported material, namely 12,540,558, 

 therefore approaches the amount manufactured in Britain. 



For all ordinary textile purposes, as we have seen, the natural 

 fibre of vegetable matter, consisting essentially of cellulose, is 

 the basic material. It may be twisted into threads, and the 

 threads woven by the art of the weaver into fabrics of multi- 

 tudinous designs, or the fibre may be beaten by the paper-maker 

 till it is reduced to very tiny fragments which when stirred up 

 with water form a smooth pulp. But the fibre is still there and 

 its structure remains fundamentally unaltered. 



Cellulose may, however, be obtained in the form of continuous 

 threads applicable to all textile purposes in which its natural 

 structure completely disappears. To effect this it must be 

 converted into a soluble substance by the action of some chemical 

 agent, and the product is artificial silk. 



This interesting result belongs practically to the twentieth 

 century, for although processes were invented and patents taken 



