EARLIEST PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE. The method of manufacturing paper by hand from the inner bark of the paper mulberry, as prac ticed to-day by the Japanese, probably represents the method in vogue from the very earliest times. It is of interest not only ou account of its antiquity, but because it presents in outline all other methods, which merely are adaptations of the processes fiere described. A sheet of paper is an artificially felted web of vegetable fibre. puri fied of perishable materials, so that the remaining fibres are more or less pure cellulose (q.v.). The process may be described as collecting the raw material, cleaning it by boiling viith lye, macerat ing it to a fine pulp, diluting with water, form ing a sheet on a porous surface (that the water may drain off), and drying the sheet of paper thus formed. The Japanese strip the paper mulberry of its bark. soak it in water till soft enough to strip the outer bark, then separate the inner bark, dry in the sun, and boil with lye obtained by leaching wood ashes. After being well washed, the bark is now beaten into pulp by four men seated around a board of hard wood on which the bark is placed. The men pound with long wooden mallets and turn out each day about SO pounds of pulp per man. The fibre is now mixed with sufficient water, and the sheet of paper formed on a sieve made of fine strips of bamboo. A wooden frame is fitted on the sieve to hold the right amount of liquid pulp. This elevated border is called in Europe the 'deckel,' and prevents the pulp from spread ing beyond the limits of the sheet. After
dipping the sieve into the vat of pulp, the paper maker dexterously shakes the mold in all directions as the water drains off, thus felting the fibres in all directions and making a strong sheet. The sheets are then spread out on a board and dried in the sun.
The European method of making paper by hand differs in several respects from the Japan ese. The raw material used (originally linen rags) is too tenacious to be reduced to pulp by hand power. and the earliest European mills used a sort of trip-hammer or pestle driven by a water wheel. This in turn was superseded by the modern beating engine or llollander. in vented by the Dutch in the latter part of the seventeenth century. as described below. The sieve used, instead of being made of bamboo. is of wire cloth, with a movable edge or deckel. The workman after forming the sheet removes the deekel, turning the damp sheet onto a sheet of woolen felt. A pile of these sheets, alternate paper and felt. is called a 'post.' and is placed in a press to remove the water. The sheets are afterwards hung up in a loft to dry. and finished by sizing with glue or gelatin. and smoothed by pressure or ea lender rolls. Handmade paper always has four rough edges. while machine made paper has only two. These are usually trimmed off unless an imitation of hand-made paper is wanted.