150 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



but on a second trial, vain were the maceration and 

 subsequent manipulations, it refused to become a 

 coherent mass, and paper could not be produced 

 without the addition of linen rags. The same mys- 

 terious failure happened with regard to the burdock, 

 another weed bearing a prickly head and a fibrous 

 stalk. The disappointed experimenter endeavoured 

 to discover the reason of so unexpected and vexa- 

 tious a result, which he with much solemnity avers 

 would by some superstitious persons be attributed to 

 the intervention of witchcraft, exercised by some evil- 

 minded persons ; but he gravely disclaims for him- 

 self any belief in such influence. It is matter of 

 surprise that at so late a period any cause should 

 exist to warrant this self-congratulation on being 

 exempt from so gross a popular prejudice. At a 

 subsequent period, M. Schaffer was led to suspect 

 that this want of success might possibly have arisen 

 in consequence of the more mature age of the plants, 

 which rendered them woody and less capable of 

 being formed into a pulp. 



The bark and stalk of bryony the leaves of the 

 typha latifolia, or cat's tail the slender stalks of 

 the climbing clematis the more ligneous twigs of 

 the branching broom the fibrous stem of the up- 

 right lily and the succulent stalks of the lordly river- 

 weed, all were alike successfully brought into a 

 pulpy consistence capable of cohering in thin and 

 smooth surfaces. 



Substances yet more unpromising did this perse- 

 vering experimentalist endeavour to convert to his fa- 

 vourite object. Turf-tree, earth, and coral moss were 

 successfully manufactured into paper. Even cab- 

 bage-stalks, wood-shavings, and sawdust were each 

 in turn placed under process, and specimens of 

 the result are to be seen in the above-mentioned 

 Look. Then the rind of potatoes was acted upon, 



