VIII 



THE MANUFACTURE OF PAPER 



DESPITE the revolutionary changes that have 

 taken place in paper manufacture in recent 

 years, whereby great steam-propelled machines 

 produce all but the very finest grades of paper at an enor- 

 mous rate, it still remains true that Western makers are 

 unable to equal those of the Orient in the production of 

 certain papers. The finest papers of China and Japan 

 cannot be duplicated by Western manufacturers. 

 "Why should they equal us?" asks the Celestial paper- 

 maker, "since they are so new to the business. They 

 have known the art for only a scant millennium, while 

 we have been making paper for more than twice that 

 length of time." 



It is probable that surrounding conditions, rather than 

 the matter of longer experience, account for this ad- 

 vantage of the Oriental paper-makers, although there 

 is no denying them the claim that the art was old in the 

 East before the West became familiar with it. Indeed, 

 the West had never heard of such a substance as paper 

 until a lucky fighting Arab in the eighth century of our 

 era invaded Chinese territories. 



The Arab was not slow in making known his discovery 

 of this valuable substance for book-making. His nation 

 at that time was just becoming a nation of scribes as well 



[159] 



