PAPER. 
364 
the bark (brinks To far as to let about half an inch of the 
wood appear naked at the top. When the (licks have all 
been fuificienlly boiled, the}'' are taken out of the water, 
and expofed to the air till they grow cold, then they are 
(lit open lengthways, for the bark to be taken off; which 
being done, the wood is thrown away as ufelefs ; but the 
bark is dried and carefully preferved, as being the fubftance 
out of which they are in time to take their paper, by let¬ 
ting it undergo a farther preparation, confifting in clean- 
fmg it anew, and afterwards picking put the better from 
the worfe. In order to this, it is foaked in water three or 
four hours, and, being grown foft, the blackifh (kin which 
covers it is fcraped off, together with the green furface of 
what remains, which is done with a knife which they call 
liaadfi hifagqi, that is a kaadfi razor; at the fame time 
a I (o’ the (Ironger bark, which is a full year’s growth, is 
leparated from the thinner, which covered the younger 
branches, the former yielding the belt and white! paper, 
the latter only a dark and indifferent fort. If there be 
any bark of more than a year’s growth mixed with the 
reft, it is likewife picked out, and laid alide as yielding a 
(till coarfer and worfe fort of paper; all grofs knotty 
particles, and whatever elfe looks in the lead faulty and 
difcoloured, is picked out at the fame time, to be kept 
with the 1 aft coarfe matter. 
After the bark has been fufficiently cleanfed, and pre¬ 
pared andforted according to its different degrees of good- 
nefs, it mult be boiled in clear ley. From the time it be¬ 
gins to boil, they keep perpetually ftirring it with a ftrong 
reed, pouring from time to time fo much frefn ley in as 
is neceffary to condenle the evaporation, and to fupply 
what has been already loft by it; this boiling muft be 
continued till the matter is grown fo tender, that, being 
but (lightly touched with the finger, it will diffolve and 
feparate into flocks and fibres. Their ley is made of any 
fort of allies, in the following manner: Two pieces of 
wood are laid acrofs over a tub and covered with draw, on 
which they lay wet allies, and then pour boiling hot wa¬ 
ter upon it, which, as it runs through the draw into the 
tub underneath, is imbued with the (aline particles of the 
allies, and makes what they call ley. 
After boiling the bark as above defcribed, follows the 
wafliing of it, which is of no fmall confequence in pa¬ 
per-making, and muft be managed with great judgment 
and attention. If it has not been waflied long enough, 
the paper will be ftrong indeed, and of a good body, but 
coarfe and of little value; and if, on the contrary, the 
wafliing has been too long continued, it will afford a 
whiter paper, but fuch as will not bear ink. They wadi 
it in a river, putting the bark into a fort of fieve, which 
will let the water run through, and ftirring it continually 
with the hands and arms, till it comes to be diluted into 
a delicate foft pulp, or mucilage. For the finer fort of 
paper the wafliing muft be repeated; but the bark muft 
lie put into a piece of linen, inftead of a fieve, becaufe, 
the longer the wafliing is continued, the more the bark 
is divided; and would come at laft to be fo thin and mi¬ 
nute, that it would run out at the holes of the fieve and 
be loft. The bark, having been fufficiently waflied, is put 
upon a thick fmooth wooden table, in order to its being 
beaten with mallets of hard wood, which is commonly 
done by two or three people, until it is wrought fine 
enough, and becomes withal fo thin as to referable a pulp 
of foaked paper. 
Tlie bark, being thus prepared, is put into a narrow 
tub, with a glutinous extract from rice and the root oreni, 
which is very vifcous. Thefe three fubftances, mixed 
together, are (lined with a reed till they form a liquor of 
an equal and uniform confiltency. This compofition is 
poured into tubs fimiiar to thofe ufed for filling the forms 
in our paper- mills. 
As foon as the (heets are made and detached from the 
form, they are laid in a heap on a table covered with a 
double mat. A fmall flip of cane is placed betwixt every 
flieet. This piece of cane, jutting out, ferves to diftin- 
guilh the (heets, and afterwards to raife them. Every 
one of the heaps is covered with a plate or thin board of 
the exadl fize of the paper. In proportion as the paper 
dries, or is able to bear it without danger of being com- 
preffed into one mafs, they lay on additional weights. 
This preffure, intended to carry off any unneceffary 
nvoifture, is continued for twenty-four hours, when the 
(heets are fufpended, by means of the little pieces of 
reed, to long plants, in the open air, till they are com¬ 
pletely dried. 
The Japanefe paper is of fuch prodigious ftrength, that 
the materials of which it is compofed might be manufac¬ 
tured into ropes. There is fold at Serige, the capital 
city of the province of Japan of that name, a kind of it 
fit for bed-hangings and wearing-apparel; anu fo much re- 
lembling (luffs of wool and (ilk, that it is often taken 
for them. 
VI. Of INCOMBUSTIBLE PAPER, from ASBESTUS, 
Albeftus is a genus of talcofe earth ; (fee the article 
Mineralogy, vol. xv. p.445.) and we have already, un¬ 
der the word Asbestus, vol. ii. defcribed the procefs of 
making cloth from this mineral, or (lone. It is (till more 
extraordinary that paper can be formed of fuch a llub- 
born material ; and paper, moreover, which cannot be 
burnt. 
Dr. Bruckman, profeffor at Brunfwick, has publiftied a 
natural hillory of the afbeftine or incombuftible paper : 
and four copies of his book are printed on this paper: 
they are depolited in the library of Wolfembuttel. See 
Bibl. Germ. tom. xiv. 
The manner of making this extraordinary paper is de¬ 
fcribed by Mr. Edward Lloyd, from an effay made by 
himfelf. He pounded a quantity of the afbeftus in a 
(lone mortar, till it became a do wiry fubftance; then lifted 
it in a fine fieve, and'by this means purged it indifferently 
well from its terrene parts; becaufe the earth or Hones 
he could not pick out of it before, or at the pounding, 
being reduced to a powder, came through the fieve, the 
fibre remaining. This done, he brought it to the paper- 
mill; and, putting it in water, in a veffel juft big enough 
to make a meet with fuch a quantity, he ftirred it pretty 
much, and defired the workmen to proceed with it in the 
ufual method, with their writing-paper mould; only to 
ftir it about always before they put their mould in, it 
being a far more ponderous fubftance than what they 
ufed ; and that confequently, if not immediately taken 
up after it was agitated, it woiild fubfide. The paper 
made of it proved but coarfe, and was very apt to tear; 
but, this being the firft trial, there is reafon to'believe it 
might be much improved; nor did the workmen doubt, 
but, in cafe it were pounded in one of their mortars for 
twenty hours fpace, it would make good -writing-paper ; 
and Mr. Lloyd (Phil. Tranf. 1684) promifed to make far¬ 
ther experiments; but we do not know that he did. The 
Encyclopaedia Britannica fays, that the writing difappears 
when call into the fire; but does not inform us whether 
it re-appears again when the paper is withdrawn, and gets 
cold. Upon the whole, it is certain!}' an objefrt more of 
curiofity than ufe. The afbeftus, with which Mr. Lloyd 
made his experiments, was collected in the parifh of Llan- 
fair, in the northern part of the ifle of Anglefey. 
VII. Of PAPER made from LINEN RAGS. 
Paper is now manufactured through all Europe of linen 
rags collefted in the cities and in the country. This 
kind of paper was utterly unknown to the ancients. The 
libri lintei mentioned by Livy, lib. iv. Pliny, c. xi. and by 
other Roman writers, are demonftrated by Guilandinus, 
in his commentary on Pliny, See. to have been written 
on pieces of linen cloth, or canvas prepared in the man¬ 
ner of painters. 
But it is not fufficient to be certain that paper from 
linen is a modern invention ; it is neceffary to know by 
what nation, and at what period, it was difeovered. Poly- 
dore 
