NOTE.—Since the “proof” sheet was put into my hands, I have heard with very great satisfaction, that some interest has at length been awakened in the case of the Fourdriniers, and that a list has been commenced, headed with liberal subscriptions from his Grace the Duke of Sutherland, the Right Hon. the Earl of Harrowby, the Proprietors of _The Times_, _Illustrated London News_, and several leading firms connected with the Paper Trade.—R. H. CHAPTER II. On the Materials employed in the Formation of Paper—Method of Preparation—Processes of Comminution, Washing, Bleaching, etc. described—Paper-making by Hand—Paper-making Machine—Sizing Apparatus—Cutting-Machine, etc. explained—General Observations on what are termed Water-Marks—Manner of effecting the same—Importance frequently attached to them—Ireland’s Fabrication of the Shakspeare MSS.—Difficulty in procuring suitable Paper for the purpose—On the perfection to which Water-Marks have now attained, especially with reference to the production of Light and Shade, as seen in the New Bank Note, etc., etc. In the present chapter it will be my object to take as general a glance at the principles of paper making, as in the former it was my endeavour to treat its history. First then, we have to notice the nature of some of the materials employed. And although everybody is supposed to know that paper is made from rags, it may, perhaps, be excuseable to consider of what the rags themselves originally were composed. Unquestionably, the simplest definition one could give would be, fragments of worn-out clothing; and by clothing, no doubt, we all sufficiently understand the dress, vesture or garments usually adopted by man. Still we have to ask ourselves of what are these articles of clothing composed? It has been somewhat shrewdly remarked in every instance, of a something of which man has previously denuded something else. At one time (as we all know) he cunningly entraps innumerable individuals, of the fox, weazel, and squirrel tribes, to strip them of their warm and valuable fur. At another, he hatches and feeds legions of caterpillars, that he may rob them of the defensive padding which they spin to protect their helplessness while passing through the chrysalis state. Sometimes he pastures the sheep for its skin and its wool, occasionally setting so little store by the carcase as to melt it into tallow, or burn it as fuel. And even mother earth herself is treated with no greater forbearance, by alternately feeding her up with manure, and teazing and tormenting her surface with tillage, she is coaxed and compelled to send forth a living vegetable down, which is shorn, plucked and plundered from her bosom, in the shape of cotton, flax, and hemp.