After linen and cotton are so much worn as to be unfit for any other purpose, the several kinds are collected together, and the hard seams and other accumulations, which would require a much longer time to prepare proper for the general mass, than would be consistent with the economy of the whole, those shreds are then separated and thrown away; the different kinds are then collected and kept separate from each other. In such a state of separation they are laid in troughs, which are afterwards filled with water, where they are suffered to remain till a species of fermentation takes place; and the separation of the parts formed by art is not only rendered easy, but also, a division may be made of the most minute parts; the separation is then made by machinery. When properly prepared, a sufficient quantity is placed upon a wire frame, or otherwise one formed of cloth; by mechanical pressure, the moisture is extracted, after which the sheets are hung up separately on lines to dry, in a building properly constructed to admit a free circulation of air.
Manufacturers of paper, originally, could only use white rags to make white paper; but Mr. Campbell, in 1792, discovered a method of discharging any colour from rags, by bleaching with oxi-muriatic acid gas, for which he obtained a patent.
The next considerable improvement which appears to have been made in the manufacture of paper, consists in using felt or woollen cloth in conjunction with the wire cloth formerly used, and now of necessity retained, and other processes too voluminous to be inserted here.
The only remaining circumstance we have to mention is, that in the beginning of the present century there was manufactured, in the vicinity of London, a very good printing paper, made entirely from wheat straw; for which manufacture, the inventor obtained a patent, but he did not succeed, we presume, because it is now discontinued. Considerable quantities of paper is now made from straw in France; but it is of a yellow tinge. Paper made from linen is the best.
PAPER HANGING.
The desire of man, for the gratification of his natural wants, being soon satisfied, he yet is wanting—those artificial wants which arise in the mind, and are the source of his comforts, because their gratification yields him high delight. Having built him a house, to shelter himself from the exigencies of the weather, to enlarge the sphere of his pleasures, he is desirous to ornament it; and because he cannot, perhaps, construct his house of silver, gold, or costly stones, he endeavours, at least, to have an imitation; and gilding, lacquering, painting, or staining is substituted. This idea, we will presume, to have given origin to every species of decorative ornament in the construction of houses—and among the rest to paper-hanging, which is carried on to a greater extent in this country, than at any former period.
The ancient Greeks, according to Archbishop Potter, constructed not only their arms, but also their houses, occasionally of brass, whilst the Romans frequently gilt theirs; they often covered them with costly casings or veneers, sometimes with precious stones. Since they went to such great cost to ornament the outside of their habitations, we need not wonder that they spared no expense in endeavouring to ornament them within.—Those people, however, who could not procure these extravagancies in reality, thought they would, at least, have the nearest imitation of them; accordingly they had recourse sometimes to veneers of those substances they had seen substantially employed by the rich and luxurious, as well for outside ornament as interior decoration; those who could not afford this, had recourse to pigments and the graphic art; for this purpose, the ingenuity of man was employed to devise various modes of ornament and decoration. Hence arose the various kinds of painting, the fresco, scagliolo, &c., and lastly, came staining of paper in use.
To enumerate the various kinds of this, might be attended with very little benefit, because the principle of all is nearly the same. However, it has been remarked that three kinds are deserving of notice. The first and plainest is that which has on it figures, drawn and painted with one or more colours, consisting only of painted paper. The second contains a woolly stuff, dyed of various tints, and made to adhere to the paper, in certain forms, by a glutinous matter; and the third is a species of paper covered with metallic dust. There are other papers used for hangings, which contain a representation of many kinds of stones, of which we understand there is a large manufactory in Leipsic.
There is also a species of velvet paper—a paper covered with sham plush, or wool dyed and cut short, and made to adhere to the paper by some kind of cement, said to have been the invention of an Englishman, of the name of Jerome Lanyer, in the reign of Charles I., for which he received a patent. In the specification it is stated, that he had found out an art and mystery for affixing wool, silk, and other materials, upon linen, cotton, leather, and other substances, with oil, size, and cements, so as to make them useful and serviceable for hangings and other purposes; which he called Londrindina; and he said it was his own invention, and formerly used within this realm.