/2 THE WOMBAT 1 . 



About the beginning of this century alkali began to be 

 used for boiling the rags, and the "rotting" process was 

 entirely superseded. Commercial caustic soda, which is now 

 so extensively used, was not known till long after this, so 

 that lime shell, either by itself or with carbonated alkali, was 

 used. At first both agents were put into the boiler with the 

 rags, but in course of time a great improvement was effected 

 by preparing the caustic liquor in a separate vessel ; the lime 

 was allowed to deposit and the clear liquor alone run into the 

 boiler. Almost simultaneously with the introduction of soda, 

 artificial bleaching agents began to be used. Chlorine, in its 

 gaseous and simple form, was first tried, but this proved danger- 

 ous and troublesome and expensive in production ; ere long it 

 gave place to bleaching powder, and now paper beautifully 

 uniform in texture and white as snow is not only possible but 

 easy of attainment. Still, however, the production of paper 

 was limited, and the demand by the press continually on the 

 increase. Before the introduction of the paper-making 

 machines many minds had been at work, fully realising the 

 great advantages to be derived from a speedier method of 

 converting the pulp — now so easy of production — into paper. 

 Undoubtedly the most successful attempt at doing this by 

 machinery was achieved by the machine patented by Mr. 

 Cameron, of Springfield, near Edinburgh. Although this 

 machine worked fairly well, it was after only a machine for 

 making paper in sheets and not in a continuous web ; this 

 fact earned for it the sobriquet of " the wooden man." The 

 machine undoubtedly did good work, and several of them 

 were made and sent over to France and Dublin, where they 

 gave very satisfactory results. 



In 1799 the dawn of a second revolution appeared, when 

 Louis Robert exhibited his model of a machine for making 

 paper in a continuous web. The germ of this invention, like 

 those of most great discoveries in machinery, was developed 

 in the midst of many difficulties, and its growth into the 

 perfect piece of mechanism of to-day was slow and laborious. 

 Unhappily the men whom we have to thank for this wonderful 

 invention, which is of such great value to mankind, were 

 allowed to share the fate of so many other benefactors of the 

 human race. Messrs. Fourdrinier and their ingenious 

 engineer, Donkin, deserved well at the hands of their country, 

 but, alas, their only reward was the loss of ^"60,000, blighted 

 hopes, and embittered lives. The Times in 1847 made an 

 appeal on behalf of the surviving brother, who was over 

 eighty years of age and in great poverty, but the appeal was 

 all in vain. 



The principle of paper-making by machinery is simply 

 this : instead of using moulds and felts of limited dimensions, 

 the peculiar merit of the invention consists in the adaptation 

 of an endless wire gauze to receive the paper pulp, and an 



