PAPER MAKING. 333 



proof that it has been well triturated ; and the parts of the ragi 

 which have ocnped the ro!K rs also appear. 



After tliis operation the workman takes one of the forms, fur- 

 nished with its Crime, by the middle of the short sides; and fixing 

 the frame round the wire cloth with his thumbs, he plunges it ob- 

 liquely four or five inches into the Tat, beginning by the long side, 

 which is nearest to him. After the immersion he raises it to a level : 

 by these movements he fetches up on the form a sufficient quantity 

 of stuff; and as soon as the form is raised, the water escapes 

 through the wire cloth, and the superfluity of the stuff over the 

 sides of the frame. The fibrous parts of the stuff arrange them- 

 selves regularly on the wire cloth of the form, not only in propor- 

 tion as the water escapes, but also as the workman favours this 

 effect by gently shaking the form. Afterwards, having placed the 

 form on a piece of board, the workman takes off the frame or 

 deckle, and glides this form towards the coucher ; who, having 

 previously laid his felt, places it with his left hand in an inclined 

 situation, on a plank fixed on the edge of the vat, and full of holes. 

 During this operation the workman applies his frame, and begins 

 a second sheet. The coucher seizes this instant, takes M'ith his left 

 hand the form, now sufficiently dry, and, having laid the sheet of 

 paper upon the felt, returns the form by gliding it along the trepan 

 of the vat. 



They proceed in this manner, laying alternately a sheet and a 

 felt, till they have made six quires of paper, which is called a post: 

 and this they do with such swiftness, that, in many sorts of paper, 

 two men make upwards of twenty posts in a day. When the last 

 sheet of the post is covered with the Jast felt, the workmen about 

 the vat unite together, and submit the whole heap to the action of 

 the press. They begin at first to press it with a middling lever, and 

 afterwards with a lever about fifteen feet in length. After this 

 operation, another person separates the sheets of paper from the 

 felts, laying them in a heap ; and several of these heaps collected 

 together are again put under the press. 



The stuff which forms a sheet of paper is received, as we have 

 already said, on a form made of wire cloth, which is more or less 

 fine in proportion to the stuff, and surrounded with a wooden 

 frame, and supported in the middle by many cross bars of wood. 

 In consequence of this construction, it is easy to perceive, that the 

 sheet of paper will take and preserve the impressions of all the 



