394 ON THE PAPER MANUFACTURE. 



a prosecution for penalties. On the trial, tlie Judge, ruling that it was a 

 question of law and not of fact, caused a verdict to be entered for the 

 prosecution, but allowed the party the unenviable privilege of leave to 

 move for a new trial, on the ground that although it was quite clear to 

 him that the article in question was not parchment, he could not say 

 that it was paper. In consequence of these proceedings the mill was 

 shut up, and we are not aware of the manufacture having been 

 revived. 



Particularly facetious persons have more than once informed us that 

 sawdust is a highly nutritious article of diet when properly cooked ; but 

 it would appear that uses have been found for it other than gastronomi- 

 cal, one being as a fibre for paper-making. We are informed that wood 

 of any kind or age is equally well adapted for this process, which is being 

 extensively worked in some of the Continental States. At the recent 

 International Exhibition Wurtemberg contributed several samples of 

 paper made from wood pulp mixed with rags, the proportion of the 

 former varying from 10 to 80 per cent ; and the paper is reported to be 

 serviceable, although of a low quality. Doubtless the inventor will 

 improve the article as he gains experience in its manipulation. We 

 understand that the wood is simply rubbed down into pulp against the 

 periphery of a wheel prepared with a rough face, so utilizing the enor- 

 mous waste of the timber-producing forests of the north of Europe. 



Since the repeal of the duty on paper the manufacture has barely reco- 

 vered from the general paralysis occasioned by that Act. The demand 

 for paper both for home consumption and exportation to all parts of 

 the world, the United States excepted, is steady. In the United States 

 there exists at the present moment a paper famine which must, sooner 

 or later, be satisfied by importation from the European markets. So 

 serious is the scarcity that paper has risen in price enormously, and the 

 consumers are clamouring for the repeal of the prohibitory duty fixed 

 by the Federal Government on its import from abroad. When that 

 comes, the prices ol all paper* here must inevitably rise, but some years 

 must elapse before the balance of trade be again restored. 



[The reader will find the following articles bearing on paper making 

 and materials in previous volumes of the Technologist. — Editor. 



Vol. i, Paper and Rags in China, by Dr. Macgowan, p. 27 ; Paper 

 Materials Patented since the year 1800, by M. C. Cooke, p. 50 ; On the 

 Manufacture of Paper in Tasmania, p. 61 ; Paper from Indian Corn 

 Leaves, p. 109.] 



