OF CERTAIN MODERN PAPERS. 185 



having*been, up to the present time, looked upon, not only, as a posi- 

 tive fraud in the quality of the merchandise, but as possibly having, in 

 many cases, by its abuse, certain inconveniences, of which the disas- 

 trous consequences are not sufficiently appreciated. 



But these consequences may become, as will be seen, of immense 

 importance. Papers, already weakened by the prolonged bleaching of 

 the raw materials of inferior quality, that are now used, must neces- 

 sarily suffer still greater injury in the solidity of their texture by the 

 mixture of a pulverulent mineral substance, which intervening between 

 the fibres of the cellulose, necessarily diminishes the closeness of the 

 paper and weakens the sheet so prepared. 



If its organic substance undergoes a slight alteration, either from 

 the presence of an excess of chlorine, or from the slowly destruc- 

 tive action of the air, the paper becomes brittle and soon falls to 

 powder, causing the destruction of the ink. Nor is it unusual, as 

 M. Dumas observes, to meet with books, printed within the last ten 

 years, of which the paper crumbles at the least touch. 



Assuredly, if this evil is not to be regretted, in respect to the moral 

 value of many modern works, of which the early destruction frees their 

 authors from the severe judgment of posterity, it is no less certain that 

 the introduction of mineral substances into the pulp, ought to be 

 severely repressed, not so much because it is a commercial fraud, as that 

 the process may compromise important interests. 



Indeed, setting aside the question of honesty, it may be conceived 

 how important it is not to expose to early destruction public docu- 

 ments, which are at the present time inconsiderately drawn up on 

 papers that contain within themselves the causes of alteration, thereby 

 ensuring their inevitable destruction within a not far distant period. 

 We know from good authority that already, in certain towns, a part of 

 the modern archives have been retranscribed, on account of the exten- 

 sive deterioration which the paper had undergone, and it is to be feared 

 that this transcription has been made on paper quite as bad in quality 

 as the former. This, of necessity, entails considerable expense uselessly 

 on the corporations or the government. 



It consequently behoves all governments, in order to ensure the safe 

 preservation of their archives, to examine carefully the quality of the 

 paper used in the preparation of public registers, and it is the duty of 

 every good administration not to use any official paper liable to change 

 from its faulty composition. 



In order to obtain these results, the English government requires 

 that the raw materials of the paper used for the State archives, shall 

 neither be boiled nor bleached. It is, however, but just to acknowledge 

 that many of the faults found in modern papers, can only be applied to 

 the first productions made by machinery, and it is reasonably to be 

 hoped that, in consequence of the improvements in paper-making, the 

 above-mentioned defects will soon entirely disappear. 



VOL. IV. p 



