PAPER. 



mills, two engines exactly similar are 

 used, but one set to act finer than the 

 other ; the rags are first worked in the 

 coarse one, and afterwards in the fine 

 one ; but some mills have but one engine, 

 and alter it to cut fine by the screws, h h. 



The paper proper for writing should 

 be without knots, without any parts of the 

 stuff not triturated, without folds, and 

 without wrinkles, of a supple texture, its 

 grain uniform and regular, softened in the 

 exchange, and not destroyed by smooth- 

 ing. The ground of this paper must be 

 extremely white, or shaded with a very 

 light blue', which adds to its natural splen- 

 dor. It is of great importance that it be 

 fully and equally sized, otherwise the 

 writing cannot be well finished, and the 

 turnings of the letters will be very imper- 

 fect. The paper used for drawing-, or 

 for coloured maps, is in some mills made 

 from one kind of white stuff, either fine 

 or middling ; in others, from a mixture of 

 three or four kinds of stuff of different 

 colours. The Dutch were not long ago 

 almost wholly in possession of this manu- 

 facture. The same qualities are neces- 

 sary in this paper as in that tor writing. 

 The grain, however, must be a little more 

 raised, although softened by the ex- 

 change ; for, without this grain, the pen- 

 cil would leave with difficulty the traces 

 of the objects. Great care is also neces- 

 sary in the sizing of this paper, that the 

 drawing be neatly performed, and also 

 that the sinking of the ink or colours in- 

 to the irregularities of the stuff be pre- 

 vented. 



The British and Dutch have had the 

 greatest success in manufacturing paste- 

 board, which they make either from a 

 single mass of stuff on the form, or from 

 a collection of several sheets pasted to- 

 gether. In both cases, the sheets of 

 pasteboard are made of stuff not rotted, 

 and triturated with rollers, furnished with 

 blades of well tempered steel. By the 

 operation of the exchange, and smooth- 

 ing continued for a long time, the British 

 and Dutch obtain solid :tnd smooth stuffs, 

 which neither break under the folds of 

 cloth nor adhere to them. The stuffs 

 not putrified have another advantage in 

 this species of pasteboard, namely, that 

 of resisting the action of heat, which they 

 experience between the folds of cloth, 

 without wasting or tarnishing, and of con- 

 sequence, they may be used for a long 

 time. In England they have at least 

 equalled any other nation in the manufac- 

 ture of this paper; and even in Scotland 

 rhey have arrived at such a degree of per- 



fection in this art, that great part of what 

 they manufacture is sent into England. It 

 requires to be made of a soft and equal 

 stuff, without folds or wrinkles, of a natu- 

 ral whiteness, and wilh a shade of blue. 

 It must be sized less strongly than writing 

 paper, but sufficiently well to give neat- 

 ness to the characters. The paper, thus 

 properly prepared, yields easily to the 

 printu.g press, and i.ikes a sufficient quan- 

 tity of ink. The stuff must be without 

 grease, and wrought with that degree of 

 slowness as to make it spread equally 

 over the form, and take a neat and regu. 

 lar grain ; without this, the characters 

 will not be equally marked in every part 

 of the page ; and the smallest quantity of 

 grease renders the sizing unequal and 

 imperfect. Some artists, with considera- 

 ble success, both to meliorate the grain, 

 and to reduce the inequalities of the sur- 

 face, have submi'ted this paper to the ex- 

 change. And it is proper to add, that a 

 moderate degree of exchanging and press- 

 ing may be of great service after the 

 sheets are printed, to destroy the hollow 

 places occasioned by the press, and the 

 relievo of the letters. Engraving requires 

 a paper of the same qualities with the last 

 mentioned, with respect to the stuff, 

 winch must be pure, without knots, and 

 equally reduced ; the grain uniform, and 

 the sheets without folds or wrinkles. To 

 preserve the grain, it is necessary that it 

 be dried slowly in the lowest place of the 

 dryjng house." If it is submitted to the 

 exchange, the effects of it must be mo- 

 derated with the greatest care, and the 

 action of the two first presses must be 

 equally distributed over the whole mass, 

 otherwise the inequality of the moisture 

 at the middle and sides will expose it to 

 wrinkles in the drying. The sizing of 

 this paper must also be moderate These 

 circumstances are necessary to make it 

 receive with neatness all the soft and de- 

 licate touches of the plate. The soft and 

 yielding paper of Auvergne possesses all 

 those advantages; and accordingly, a 

 great quantity of this, and of printing pa- 

 per, were formerly imported into Britain 

 and Holland from France, where they 

 still continue to rot the materials from 

 which they make engraving paper. 



The wire-wove frame is peculiarly 

 adapted to this kind of paper. Paper for 

 cards must be manufactured from a pret- 

 ty firm stuff, in order to take that degree 

 of smoothness which makes the cards 

 glide easily over one another in using. 

 For this reason the card-makers reject 

 every kind of paper which is soft and 



