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Show 16 PAPERMAKIN most identical with that of Samarkand in use a thousand year ago At the introduction of papermaking into Europe the method of the East were no doubt used for the maceration of the pulp. I did not, however, take the Europeans long to devise a bette method of beating, for about 1151 there was invented at Xativa, a ancient ity of Valencia, Spain, a stamping-mill operated by wate power. At that period linen and cotton were used as material fo making paper. For the preliminary treatment the well-worn clot was wetted and pressed into balls, which were left in piles for si weeks or two months, being kept moist the while. This caused fermentation, manifested by the increased temperature of the mass the rags assuming a peculiar colour, not unlike the dregs of wine This method of preparation was wasteful in the extreme as full one-third of the material was rotted beyond use. The portion suite for paper was, however, tender and casily beaten, so that the actio of the newly invented stamping-mills had immediate cffect upo the rotted and disintegrated cloth During the initial centuries of papermaking in Europe the demand for the commodity was slight, but after the advent of printing from movable types in the middle fificenth century the demand became greater, and by the close of the century the art o papermaking on the continent had developed beyond belicf an had spread to many places where the craft had not hitherto bee practiced. During this period linen was used in wastefully larg quantities, as there was considerable loss of the material durin the fermenting process and also in the actual stamping of the clot into fibre. In the fificenth century in Europe there was not o course the great variety of cloth that there is at present, so that th sorting of the rags was not a difficult problem as it is today; th linen and cotton fabrics of that period were naturally all woven b hand, and being free from chemicals and bleaching agents wer Digital Imag © 2004 University of Utah. All rights reserved |