4 



to be drawn from tbem lead to a classification of the fibres, which is in most respects an endorsement of 

 long-established usage, and we have,, therefore, the more confidence that the application of these criteria 

 to new and hitherto undeveloped raw materials will enable us to form certain conclusions as to their 

 value. 



We turn from the textile fibres to consider briefly the third and fourth divisions of vegetable 

 fibrous substances — those which are so constituted as to be unavailable for the textile manufacture, 

 and which can only be made available for paper-making through a process of chemical disintegration. 

 Those of monocotyledonous origin employed for this purpose are entire stems or leaves, (Bamboo, 

 Straw, Esparto). By the preliminary boiling process, usually at high temperatures, i. e. under pres- 

 sure, the structures are so far resolved that the separation into cellular and fibrous portions is only a 

 matter of breaking and washing. The resolution is completed by the bleaching operation, by which 

 the residues of " incrusting and intercellular matters" are oxidised and dissolved away, leaving a dis- 

 integrated mass of ultimate fibres, and as regards chemical composition, a pure cellulose. Of bast 

 tissues (dicotyledonous) very few are worked on this plan, the consumption in European manufactures 

 being virtually limited to jute " cuttings," and the Adansonia fibre, the bast of the Monkey-bread Tree, 

 which is imported from "West Africa. These, moreover, are used in the manufacture of wrapping 

 papers, and not as a cellulose or bleached fibre. The woods of the coniferous species, Abies and Pinus, 

 are, on the other hand, largely used in paper making, both as mechanical pulp, obtained by simply 

 grinding the wood to a fibrous mass, or by chemical processes of resolution of various kinds which 

 reduce the v.ood structures to a mass of ultimate fibres easily brought by bleaching agents to the con- 

 dition of pure cellulose. The following are the constants for the more important fibrous materials of 

 the above class : — 



Percentage of Cellulose. Length of Fibre. 



Adansouia ... 55.0 ... 3-5 mm. 



Wood (coniferous) ... 53.0 ... 1-3 " 



Straw ... 52.0 ... 1-2 " 



Esparto ... 52.0 ... 1-2 * 



So far, in dealing with these several classes of raw materials, we have introduced (1) the primary 

 constants, which have reference to the cellulose and the ultimate fibre of which it is made up, and (2) 

 we have spoken in a general way of the propertie s of the " non-cellulose." It is impossible within the 

 narrow limits of this report to deal with the large number of minor characteristics, both of the raw 

 fibres and of the celluloses isolated from them, which necessarily have to be taken into account by the 

 investigator in determining the position of a fibre in the scale. A brief description of the scheme of 

 analysis which has been adopted in the investigation of the fibres will suffice to show what are the 

 more important of these. The statement of the results of analyses is given in the following manner : — - 



Moisture ... Hygroscopic water or water of condition. 



f Ash Total residue left on ignition. 



Hydrolysis (a) ... Loss of weight on boiling raw fibre 5 minutes in 1 per cent 

 solution of caustic soda. 

 " (b) ... Loss of weight on continuing to boil 1 hour. 



Cellulose White or bleached residue from following treatment : (1) boil 



in 1 per cent. NaOH5 minutes. (2) Exposure to chlorine 

 gas 1 hour. (3) Boil in basic sodium sulphite. 



Separate portion taken 

 for each determi- 

 nation. Results 



calculated in per- \ Mercerising ... Loss on treating 1 hour with 33 per cent, solution caustic 



centage of dry sub- potash — cold. 



stance. Nitration Weight of nitrated product obtained by treatment with mixture 



equal volumes nitric and sulphuric acids, 1 hour in the cold. 

 Acid purification ... Raw fibre boiled 1 minute with acetic acid (20 per cent.) washed 

 with water and alcohol and dried. 

 !_ Carbon percentage ... The carbon in the fibre from above, determined by combustion. 



For a more detailed account of the above chemical methods, a paper published in the " Chemical 

 Society's Journal," 1883, p. 23, should be consulted. Those interested in the microscopic investigation 

 of fibres should consult M. Vetillart's work, " Etudes sur les fibres vegetales textiles," of which a very 

 good abstract, by the author himself, is published in Mr. Christy's " New Commercial Plants and 

 Drugs," No. VI.* 



Having thus taken a general survey of our subject-matter and laid down the fundamental principles 

 upon which these plant fibres require to be investigated, we may now proceed to the results of the par- 

 ticular examination of the raw materials to be found in the Colonial sections of the Exhibition. 



Our commerce in this department has been hitherto very limited, nor have the Colonies developed 

 any considerable manufacturing industry on the basis of a home supply of such raw materials. With 

 India, on the other hand, not only have we an extensive commerce, but the multitudinous fibres obtain- 

 able from its extensive flora have been so studied by scientific observers, native and European, as to 

 have given us a systematised technology of the suhject. It is not surprising, therefore, that we find in 

 the Indian section of the Exhibition that which can scarcely be said to be afforded by any of the Colonial 

 sections — an extensive and well-authenticated collection of fibrous raw materials. These have been sub- 

 mitted to exhaustive investigation by the writer in collaboration with others, and the results will be sub- 

 mitted as a report to the Indian Government and published by them. Those of our Colonies having a 

 similar flora, more especially the West Indian, will be able to take advantage of the information therein 

 to be published ; and as it will contain a full account of the scientific methods pursued, it will be advisable 

 for those who follow up this aspect of the subject to read it as complementing the present report, which 

 isjnecessarily somewhat meagre. 



♦The best general scientific account of the vegetable fibres will be found in Spon's " Encyclopaedia of the Industrial 

 Arts," 1881 : Article « Fibrous Substances."; 



