And all those silks, woollens, flax, hemp, and cotton, in all their varied forms, whether as cambric, lace, linen, holland, fustian, corduroy, bagging, canvas, or even as cables, are or can be used in the manufacture of paper of one kind or another. Still, when we speak of rags, as of necessity, they accumulate, and are gathered up by those who make it their business to collect them, they are very far from answering the purposes of paper making. Rags, to the paper-maker, are almost as various in point of quality or distinction, as the materials which are sought after through the influence of fashion. Thus, the paper maker, in buying rags, requires to know exactly of what the bulk is composed. If he is a manufacturer of white papers, no matter whether intended for writing or printing, silk or woollen rags, would be found altogether useless, inasmuch, as is well known, the bleach will fail to act upon any animal substance whatever. And although he may purchase even a mixture in proper proportions adapted for the quality he is in the habit of supplying, it is as essential in the processes of preparation, that they shall be previously separated. Cotton in its raw state, as may be readily conceived, requires far less preparation than a strong hempen fabric, and thus, to meet the requirements of the paper-maker, we have rags classed under different denominations, as for instance, besides _Fines_ and _Seconds_, we have _Thirds_, which are composed of fustians, corduroy, and similar fabrics; _Stamps_ or _Prints_ (as they are termed by the paper-maker), which are coloured rags, and also innumerable foreign rags, distinguished by certain well-known marks, indicating their various peculiarities. I might mention, however, that although by far the greater portion of the materials employed are such as we have already alluded to, it is not from their possessing any exclusive suitableness—since various fibrous vegetable substances have frequently been used, and are indeed still successfully employed—but rather on account of their comparatively trifling value, arising from the limited use to which they are otherwise applicable. The agitation of late, which was partly-occasioned by the war, and partly by a sudden and unprecedented demand, that there was a great scarcity of fibrous materials fit to be used in paper making, coupled with an advance in the price of at least twenty per cent., and still further heightened by the offer of £1,000 to any one who could procure an advantageous substitute, has necessarily called forth many suggestions, but, to quote the words of Dr. Forbes Royle, “The generality of modern experimentalists seem to be wholly unacquainted with the labours of their predecessors, many of them commencing improvement by repeating experiments which had already been made, and announcing results as new, which had long previously been ascertained.” The latest suggestion of the kind, and indeed the only one worth