THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Aug. 1, 1865. 
14 ANIMAL SUBSTANCES USED FOR WRITING ON. 
originate in America), we are told, has printed part of its edition on 
paper made with cuttings of ivory. The doctors will now, therefore, 
get less ivory-dust to make jelly for their patients. 
Frequent attempts have been made to utilize fragments of animal 
substances for paper— woollen rags, old leather, hide cuttings, and such 
like. 
In 1816, a patent was taken out in France for a paper-pulp of animal 
substances, by M. Fouvielle, and in 1818, M. Saragin also made a 
leather paper from the parings and waste clippings ; whilst some years 
later, MM. Kondeaux and Herme made paper in the same country from 
leather cuttings and rubbish. Flock-paper hangings are, to some 
extent, a utilization of animal waste — old wool being ground and dyed 
to powder the gummed pattern imprinted on the paper. 
Cartouche paper (a Continental article), is all animal matter. Fish, 
fibre has been suggested by some enthusiasts as a new paper material, 
shark and dog-fish being specially selected for commendation, though 
what arrangement the parties proposed with a view to secure the 
material in sufficiently large quantities, does not appear. 
Barry's parchment paper is another invention of this group, and is 
remarkable for two reasons : the first is the fact of its being composed 
entirely of animal matter ; and the second, the fact of its having been 
the battle-ground of an argument, What is paper ? 
The government contended that the material being ground up, made 
on a machine, and proposed to be used for some of the purposes to which 
paper is generally applied, the paper was liable to the duty — since 
abolished — and the maker, on the other hand, as stoutly maintained 
that, not containing any vegetable fibre, it could not be termed paper, 
and was, therefore, not liable to duty. A slight investigation will lead 
us to hesitate at any arbitrary definition of " paper." 
The first sheet handled may probably be a compound from the three 
so-called kingdoms — animal, vegetable, and mineral. A sheet of good 
white blotting would probably be purely vegetable matter ; while a 
sheet of good English writing or account-book paper would contain 10 
per cent, of animal matter in the size, and a varying per centage of 
alumina and smalt, or ultramarine, to give the familiar blue tint. 
Perhaps, observes an experienced manufacturer, the following would 
approximate to a definition of modern paper : — 
"A substance made of disintegrated particles diffused through 
water, and subsequently felted together by the extraction or withdrawal 
of the water, capable of being easily written and printed upon." 
According to the definition of the Lord Chief Baron, in the Court 
of Exchequer in April, 1859, " Paper may be described as a manu- 
factured substance, composed of fibres adhering together, and in form 
consisting of sheets of various sizes and of different thicknesses, used 
for writing and printing or other purposes to which flexible sheets are 
applicable." 
