A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 



" To the solid ground 

 Of Nature trusts the mind which builds /or aye." — Wordsworth. 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 5 , 191S. 



WASTE-PAPER AND PAPER-WASTE. 



The Recovery and Re-manufacture of Waste- 

 paper: A Practical Treatise. By J. Strachan. 

 Pp. vi+158. (Aberdeen: The Albany Press, 

 19 18.) Price J2s. 6d. net. 



ONCE upon a time certain of the peradven- 

 turous amongst the Scandinavian folk, per- 

 ceiving that the countries affected to more in- 

 tensive civilisation demanded much paper and 

 raw material therefor,, saw and seized the oppor- 

 tunity for conversion of the chief but perishable 

 glory of their incomparable landscapes, by way 

 of paper et similia, into the imperishable equi- 

 valent of gold ! > 



Thus it has come about that millions of tons of 

 coniferous wood are now represented by equiva- 

 lent ounces of .the " heavy ' ' yellow metal or 

 values so expressed, and the primary paper- 

 making industry is dependent upon the pine forests 

 of the world. It has also come about that "waste- 

 paper," a byword of the old order, and the con- 

 cern primarily of scavengers, has taken a strong, 

 if secondary, position in the new order of indus- 

 trial values, and of sufficient importance fully to 

 justify the publication of the manual before us. 

 The author, in his short "Introduction," puts the 

 matter to be treated in its exact perspective rela- 

 tive to the primary industry of paper-making, 

 and his treatment of the subject in 150 pages of 

 text is lucid, comprehensive, and designedly 

 "practical." This is as it should be, seeing that 

 the re-manufacture of papers and boards involves 

 no technical or scientific principles outside those 

 of the primary manufacture. At the same time, 

 under the author's treatment the volume is a 

 valuable commentary upon and further elucidation 

 not only of the primary manufacture in relation 

 to principles, but also of the paper trade in rela- 

 tion to the uses and values of its products. 



The latter is the subject-matter of the very 

 ''readable" part i., which deals with the collec- 

 NO. 2549, VOL. I02] 



tion or recovery of old papers, classification, grad- 

 ing, and valuation. Part ii. deals with re-manu- 

 facture "in three sub-sections, (a) mechanical treat- 

 ment, (b) chemical treatment for removal of ink 

 and colour, and (c) "Miscellaneous," which con- 

 cerns the manipulation of waste-paper stock and 

 mill control. 



As stated, these sections involve a technically 

 critical appreciation of the stand»rd mill opera- 

 lions and their quantitative bases — that is, in re- 

 lation to fuel and water consumption and yield — 

 and, therefore, any student of technology might 

 usefully read these as complementary to the study 

 of an ordinary text-book dealing rather with prin- 

 ciples. 



One point we note. While giving full attention 

 to loss of material in working up, and classifying 

 these losses in terms of "loading," "short fibres," 

 "sizing," and ink substances, the author omits to 

 note a rather important factor of loss. It is a 

 general experience conformable with the chem- 

 istry of cellulose and ligno-cellulose that suc- 

 cessive working involves progressive degradation 

 of material, both into water-soluble and alkali- 

 soluble compounds. We should doubt, therefore, 

 whether the percentage figures which the author 

 gives would be found to hold, seeing that 

 this factor of loss is ignored. Generally speak- 

 ing, this invisible loss is one difficult of control, 

 and, even in the best-regulated mills, can only be 

 estimated to a certain degree of approximation. 

 It is, however, a very important factor. 



Lastly, the author deserves a compliment for 

 the trouble he has taken in putting out the book 

 on a representative paper made from old — that 

 is, re-worked — papers, and for setting out the 

 data of its composition and qualities in full tech- 

 nical terms in his appendix to chap. xxv. 



One word in regard to Mr. Hall Caine's pre- 

 face. He considers the British paper-maker " re- 

 ceptive of ideas," and so he is; but conversion of 

 ideas into effective, industrial potentials is, we 

 suggest, quite another order of "idea" — to use 

 his word. We should say that the British 

 paper-makers are quite capable of much bigger 



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