and Gibbon, ix. 379.); and most probably the mode of its production was then, also, known to the Greeks. It appears to have been soon after introduced into Europe; but it is doubtful whether this were done by the Arabians or Greeks. The mode of fabricating paper from cotton and other vegetable materials being once discovered, its fabrication from linen rags was a comparatively easy, and in Europe, where cotton was then extremely scarce, an all but necessary step. It is singular, however, that we have no positive information either as to the country where, or the epoch when, paper from rags began to be manufactured in Europe. Mais on ne peut reculer son invention plus tard, qu'au Treizieme siecle, ni son usage ordinaire au-delà du Quatorzième. — (Nouveau Traité, &c., i. 524.) In fact, Egyptian paper, or paper made of papyrus, in the manner described above, continued to be partially employed down to the middle of the 11th century, though parchment was then the principal material used in writing. It is curious to observe how very shortly the introduction of paper preceded the invention of printing, to which, indeed, as already seen, it was an indispensable preliminary. Muratori attributes the ignorance of the barbarous ages principally to the scarcity and high price of paper, and the superior intelligence of modern times to its abundance and cheapness. —(Andres, i, 200.) And whatever opinion may be entertained as to the first part of this statement, there can be no question that the latter is perfectly well founded.

Not only are we in the dark as to the history of modern paper, but we are unable to make any very satisfactory conjectural estimate of the mode in which it was invented. It is, however, all but certain that the invention must have been suggested by accident, or by observing the effects produced by the accidental drying of triturated vegetable matter, or in some such way; and that the hint thus afforded was gradually improved upon. It is not possible to imagine that the invention should have been wholly the result of design; for, we cannot conceive how any one without any previous knowledge should have proposed to himself to produce paper by pounding rags, or other vegetable matter, mixing the mass in water, and then pressing and drying the deposit. But, without indulging in unprofitable conjectures, it is at all events certain, that however and by whomsoever discovered, no invention has been of greater importance. Charta usu maxime humanitas vitæ constet et memoria. (Plin. Hist. Nat. lib. xiii. cap. 11.) The processes by which the most worthless and vilest materials are converted into such admirable substances as paper and glass, are probably the greatest triumphs of human talent and ingenuity. They have more than realised the dreams of the alchemists; and have been incomparably more advantageous than if we had become acquainted with a means of transmuting the inferior metals into gold.

-

Manufacture of Paper in England. The application of paper to the purposes of writing and printing, and the fact of its being indispensable to the prosecution of the latter, render its manufacture of the highest utility and importance. But, even in a commercial point of view, its value is very considerable. France, Holland, and Genoa had, for a lengthened period, a decided superiority in this department. The finest and best paper being made of linen rags, its quality may be supposed to depend, in a considerable degree, on the sort of linen usually worn in the country where it is manufactured; and this circumstance is said to account for the greater whiteness of the Dutch and Belgian papers, as compared with those of the French and Italians, and still more the Germans. The rags used in the manufacture of writing paper in Great Britain are collected at home; but those used in the manufacture of the best printing paper are imported, principally, from Italy, Hamburg, and the Austrian States, by way of Trieste. -(See RAGS.) We believe, however, that it was owing rather to the want of skill, than, as has sometimes been supposed, to the inferior quality of the linen of this country, that the manufacture of paper was not carried on with much success in England till a comparatively recent period. During the 17th century, most part of our supply was imported from the Continent, especially from France. The manufacture is said to have been considerably improved by the French refugees who fled to this country in 1685. But it is distinctly stated in the The British Merchant (vol. ii. p. 266.), that hardly any sort of paper, except brown, was made here previously to the Revolution. In 1690, however, the manufacture of white paper was attempted; and within a few years, most branches were much improved. In 1721, it is supposed that there were about 300,000 reams of paper annually produced in Great Britain, which was equal to about two thirds of the whole consumption. In 1783, the value of the paper annually manufactured was estimated at 780,000l. At present, besides making a sufficient quantity of most sorts of paper for our own use, and for exportation, we annually export about 100,000l. worth of books. The importation of foreign paper for British consumption has now nearly ceased. A small quantity of French paper was used in this country for copperplate printing till within these few years; but, in this respect, we now surpass the French, and there is no artist of either country, who does not consider English paper, manufactured according to the latest improvements, best

adapted for prints. The French have, however, always excelled in the manufacture of very thin letter paper; and a small portion of this article, and some paper hangings, are now the only articles of import.

In 1813, Dr. Colquhoun estimated the value of paper annually produced in Great Britain at 2,000,000l.; but Mr. Stevenson, an incomparably better authority upon such subjects, estimated it at only half this sum. From information obtained from those engaged in the trade, we incline to think that the total annual value of the paper manufactured in the United Kingdom, exclusive of the duty, may at present amount to about 1,600,000l. or 1,700,000%. There are about 700 paper-mills in England, and from 70 to 80 in Scotland. The number in Ireland is but inconsiderable. Of these mills, we believe very few have lately been unemployed. About 28,000 individuals are supposed to be directly engaged in the trade: and, besides the workmen employed in the mills, the paper manufacture creates a considerable demand for the labour of millwrights, machinists, smiths, carpenters, iron and brass founders, wire-workers, woollen manufacturers, and others, in the machinery and apparatus of the mills. Some parts of these are very powerful, and subject to severe strain; and other parts are complicated and delicate, and require continual renovation. Owing to this, the manufac ture is of much greater importance, as a source of employment, than might at first be supposed, or than it would seem to have been formerly considered by government, who loaded it, down to a very recent period, with an excise duty amounting to more than three times as much as the total wages of the workpeople employed!

It was formerly customary to collect the rags used in the manufacture into large heaps, in order that, by their heating and fermentation, they might be the more easily reduced to filaments. But this injured the rags; and it is now the practice to tear them to pieces, without any such preparation, by powerful machines, constructed for the purpose.

During the present century this manufacture has been signally promoted by the combined influence of science, ingenuity, and mechanical skill. These have been successfully exerted in the preparation of the pulp; the conversion of the pulp into paper; and the provision of materials: and in none has their influence been more remarkable than in the last. This is evident from the fact, that while the manufacture has been more than doubled since 1820, the demand for continental rags and other foreign materials has actually been reduced within that time, in consequence of the immense home supply we derive from substances previously regarded as worthless, and treated as refuse. The sweepings of cotton and flax mills, owing to the grease and dirt with which they are mixed up, were, until within these few years, of no value whatever, except as manure. But means having been discovered of rendering them clean and white, they are now made into very good paper; and the neighbourhood of Manchester has, in consequence, become a principal seat of the manufacture. The chemical and mechanical processes by which these materials are purified, whitened, and made available for the production of paper, without their strength being impaired, are not only exceedingly interesting in themselves, but are of great national importance; and, by reducing the cost of paper, have done ten times more to lower the price of books, and diffuse literature, than all the efforts of all the societies that ever existed.

The first idea of a machine for converting pulp into paper, originated in France, the inventor being an ingenious workman of the name of Louis Robert. A model of this machine was brought to England by M. Leger Didot; and though at first it was far from giving an assurance of success, it sufficed to induce English capitalists and engineers, particularly Mr. Donkin, to follow up the scheme; and in the course of a few years they brought it to a high degree of perfection. Mr. Dickinson, of Hertfordshire, one of the most intelligent mechanists and extensive paper manufacturers in England, has invented a machine of a different construction for the same purpose, and has also introduced various subsidiary improvements into the manufacture. One of these consists in the application of air pumps to the process, by the action of which, he produces a partial vacuum under a portion of the wire on which the pulp is in the act of settling, and thus very much accelerates its consolidation; in fact, prepares it almost instantaneously for the first mechanical pressure. The result is

all but miraculous. By the agency of a great deal of complicated machinery, so admirably contrived as to produce the intended effect with unerrring precision and in the very best manner, a process, which in the old system of paper-making occupied about three weeks, is performed in as many minutes! A continuous stream of fluid pulp is, within this brief space of time, and the short distance of 30 feet, not only made into paper, but actually dried, polished, and every separate sheet cut round the edges, and rendered completely ready for use! The paper manufactured by this wonderful combination of intelligence and power is, at once, moderate in price, and, for most purposes, superior in quality to what was formerly made by hand. The sample before the reader, though not the finest that is made, will warrant what is now stated.

Mr. Dickinson some time since made an important improvement in the paper manufacture, on the principle of veneering in cabinet work. He makes two webs of paper, each by a separate process; and by laying them together while in an early stage, they are rendered inseparable by the pressure to which they are subjected. This paper is used in copperplate printing; and by adopting a peculiar method of preparing the pulp, and selecting a finer rag for the web which forms the face of the paper, it is much better calculated for taking a fine impression. Its introduction has put a total stop to the importation of that species of French paper, which was formerly used in considerable quantities by copperplate printers. Probably, however, the most ingenious of the modern inventions in the manufacture is that by which Mr. Dickinson has contrived, without increasing the thickness of paper, to embody parallel coloured threads in its fabric. This novel description of paper is now used in the printing of exchequer bills and postage envelopes, for which it is admirably fitted, inasmuch as it cannot be counterfeited, except by employing similar machinery, which it would cost a great deal to construct, and be all but impossible to conceal.

Duty on Paper.-Previously to 1836, all writing, coloured, or wrapping papers, cardboards, and pasteboards, were denominated 1st class paper, and paid 3d. per lb. duty (288. a cwt.); unless manufactured wholly of tarred ropes, without the tar being previously ertracted, in which case the paper was denominated 2d class, and paid 1d. per lb. (148. a cwt.). Millboards and scaleboards, made of the same materials as 2d class paper, paid 24d. per lb. (218. a cwt.) duty.

This duty varied on the different descriptions of 1st class paper from about 25 or 30 per cent. on the finest, to about 200 per cent. on the coarsest! A duty so oppressive led to the commission of very great frauds, which all the vigilance of the officers, and the endless multiplication of checks and penalties, were unable to prevent; the real effect of such devices being to injure the honest manufacturers, and to give those of a different character greater facilities for carrying on their fraudulent schemes. But, laying out of view for a moment the oppressiveness of the duty, could any thing be more absurd, than to interdict the manufacturer of third class wrapping paper (for it is to him that the regulation applied) from using any other material than tarred ropes? After the peace, and the very general introduction of iron cables, tarred ropes advanced considerably in price; but as the use of any other material whatever would have occasioned an increase of 14s. a cwt. of duty, advantage could not be taken of this circumstance; so that the excise regulation, without putting one sixpence into the pockets of government, obliged the public to pay an increased price for an inferior article! Neither was this its only effect: a good deal of the refuse thrown out in sorting rags, which might have been used in the manufacture of coarse wrapping paper, was sold by the manufacturers for about 3s. a cwt.; while a good deal that might have been used in the same way could not be sold at all, but was absolutely lost. It is plain, therefore, that this regulation had a two-fold operation: first, in adding to the cost of wrapping paper, by compelling it to be made from a comparatively expensive article; and, secondly, in adding to the expense of fine paper, by preventing the refuse of the rags used in its manufacture from being beneficially employed.

Owing to the decline in the price of paper, the duty still amounts to about 50 per cent. on a large proportion of what is manufactured, though it may be doubted, considering the purposes to which paper is applied, whether it should be subject to any duty whatever. Printers, stationers, bookbinders, type-founders, artists, copperplate and lithographic printers, card-makers, paper-stainers and paper-hangers, &c. are all injured by a duty on it. But the greatest evil of all is its influence in increasing the price, and hindering the publication, of books. "This places a great obstacle in the way of the progress of knowledge, of useful and necessary arts, and of sober, industrious habits. Books carry the productions of the human mind over the whole world, and may be truly called the raw materials of every kind of science and art, and of all social improvement."-(Sir H. Parnell on Financial Reform, 3d ed. p. 30.)

But though the exigencies of the public service have not permitted the total repeal of the duties on paper, we are glad to have to state that they have been most materially lowered. In 1836, the duty on first-class papers was reduced to the same level as that on papers of the second class, or from 3d. per lb. to 1d. per lb. ; the manufacturers of the coarser descriptions of paper being at the same time relieved from the restraints under which they had previously laboured, and allowed to use any material in the manufacture which they may judge best. The oppressive duty of 13d. per square yard laid on paper when printed or stained, over and above the ordinary duty on paper, was then also repealed, and the various acts relating to paper were combined into a single statute. At present, therefore, the same rate of duty is laid on all descriptions of paper, so that there is no longer any room for cheating the revenue by the substitution of superior for inferior paper, and, consequently, no necessity for exercising so great a degree of vexatious surveillance over the manufacture as formerly prevailed.

The influence of this wise and judicious measure in reducing the price of paper used in printing and writing, has since been decidedly manifested. The abolition of the discriminating duty on stained or printed paper has, also, been of material importance. The reduction of price it has occasioned has enabled a much larger class of persons to get their apartments papered; and it has been in this way productive, not only of a great additional demand for paper and labour, but of a great increase of comfort and cleanliness.

This measure has, also, in part obviated the injustice done to authors and publishers, by compelling them to pay a duty on the paper used in printing books previously to their publication; and, consequently, before it can be known whether the books will sell. When they do not sell, the tax has obviously to be paid out of the capital of the authors or publishers, and the loss arising from an unsuccessful publishing speculation is increased by its amount. (See antè, p. 160.) It is true that every duty on paper, how limited soever, operates in this way, and is, therefore, objectionable on principle; but the hardship inflicted on an unsuccessful author by the existing paper duty being only half its former amount, is not nearly so much felt.

In 1835, the nett produce

As respects revenue, too, the measure has been successful. of the duties on paper, in the U. Kingdom, amounted to 796,305. Of this sum, the duty on first class paper produced about 650,000l.; and as the rate of charge of it has been reduced a half, it follows, had there been no increased production, that the duty should now (1843), amount to about 471,000l. (viz. 325,000l. half the duty on first class paper, plus 146,000, the duty on second paper, pasteboard, &c.) But, in fact, the paper duty produced in 1841, a nett revenue of 587,380l., being an increase of nearly 25 per cent. This, however, gives a very imperfect view of the progress of the manufacture; for, owing to the premium (for so it may be called) which the new postage regulations give on the use of thin and light paper, the increase in its production has been incomparably greater than we might infer from the increase of weight. Indeed, the probability is, that but for the change in the postage system, the revenue would now (1843) have lost little, if anything, by the reduction of the paper duties. An Account exhibiting the Quantities of the different Sorts of Paper charged with Duties, the Rates of Duty, and the Produce of the Duties, &c., during each of the Three Years preceding the Reduction of the Duties in 1836, and the Six subsequent Years.- (From Parl. Papers, No. 295. Sess. 1842, and No. 43. Sess. 1843.)

Rate of duty on all sorts of Paper in 1837, 1838, 1839, and till the 15th May, 1840, 14d. per lb.; and thereafter 1d. per lb. and 5 per cent. additional.

Scotland
Ireland
U. Kingdom 88,950,845 555,942 15

6. Scotland

Lhs.
£ 8. d.
76,780,041 491,528 5
16,866,024108,674 12
3,591,293 23,159 17

Drawbacks on Paper exported

£ 8. d. 124,834 13 8 1 6,929 10 2 6 22,901 18 8 257 18 10 8581,428 15 10 32,022 2 8

1838.

England

7,508,582 19 10 24,870 6 10 U. Kingdom 97,237,358 696,662 15
1841.
73,805,741 461,285 17 7 436,246 2 517,658 17 0 England -
16,105,666 100,660 8 3 96,264 7 10, 3,543 4 10 Scotland
3,554,879 22,217 19 10 22,037 17 0 122 4 0 Ireland

76,292,724 500,671 0 0459,956 19 4 25.737 5 3 16,821,331110,390 2 10 101,369 14 7 8,018 15 11 3,991,472 26,194 0 7: 20,053 1 2 134 19 81 1,33,891 0 10

Scotland

Ireland

U. Kingdom 93,466,286 584,'64 5 8554,548 7 3,21,324 5 10 U. Kingdom 97,105,550,637,255 3 6587,379 15

1839. England Scotland Ireland

1842.

-76.987,279 481,170 9 10 450,659 17 522,476 15 10 England 75,574,228 495,955 17 6 17,196,736 107,479 12 1 101,193 13 2 4,596 14 9 Scotland - 17,065,666 111,993 8 9 3,462,529 21,610 16 21,379 4 10 211 5 O Ireland 5 4,033,429 26,600 12 JU. Kingdom 97,646,544 61,00 18 0 573,232 15 527,584 15 7U. Kingdom/96,693,323 634,549 18 8

1

PARCEL, a term indifferently applied to small packages of wares, and to large lots of goods. In this latter sense, 20 hogsheads of sugar or more, if bought at one price, or in a single lot, are denominated "a parcel of sugar."

PARCELS, BILL OF, an account of the items composing a parcel.

PARCHMENT AND VELLUM. The former consists of the skins of sheep and goats, and the latter of those of calves, prepared in such a manner as to render them suitable for being written upon, for covering books, and other purposes. The consumpsion of these articles is very considerable. In this and most other countries, it is customary to use them instead of paper in the drawing up of a great variety of deeds and other legal instruments. They are also extensively used, especially in Italy, in the binding of books. The finest copies of the magnificent classics which issued from the Dutch presses, in the 17th century and the early part of the 18th, were all bound in vellum.

Parchment is coarser than vellum, and not so well adapted for writing upon. The qualities of both articles differ very widely; so much so that the best parchment is preferable to inferior or even middling vellum. The goodness of each depends partly on the quality of the skins of which they are made, and partly, and indeed in a very high degree, on the care and skill with which they are manufactured.

Historical Notice. The history of these articles is involved in some obscurity. Varro and Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib. xiii. cap. 11.), who have been generally followed, state that they were originally manufactured at Pergamus, in Asia Minor, the capital city of Eumenes II., one of Alexander's successors, during the reign of that prince; and that parchment owes to this circumstance its classical name of charta Pergamena. But there seems to be little if any foundation for this statement. We have seen, in the preceding article on paper, that Herodotus, who flourished rather more than a century before Alexander the Great, states distinctly, that previously to his æra, when paper (charta Egyptiaca) was scarce, the Ionians were accustomed to write on the skins of sheep and goats, and that that practice was then followed (viz. in his time) by several barbarous nations.— (Lib. v. cap. 58.) And it is all but certain, seeing that the practice of writing on skins had been in use for at least 2 centuries, and probably much more, previously to the æra of Eumenes, that their preparation would, in the course of that lengthened period, be so much improved as to render them little different from parchment. It is probable, indeed, that their manufacture may have been improved in Pergamus; but we incline to think that parchment owes its name rather to the extensive demand for it in that city, in consequence of Eumenes having amassed a large and valuable library, than to any thing else. He was, in fact, compelled to use parchment and vellum in the copying of books, as his contemporary Ptolemy Philadelphus had prohibited the exportation of paper. — ( Plin. ubi suprà.)

The scarcity of parchment during the middle ages, and in antecedent times, led to the practice of obliterating the writing on old parchments, by rubbing them with pumice stone, immersing them in boiling water, and such like devices; and there can be no manner of doubt that the prevalence of this practice has been most injurious to literature, and that it has most probably occasioned the total destruction of some of the noblest chefs-d'œuvre of antiquity. In the middle ages these were erased that room might be made for some worthless treatise on scholastic theology or logic! Sometimes, however, it happens that the ancient writing is not so much obliterated, but that it may still be read; and to that circumstance the recent discovery of a portion of Cicero's treatise De Republica is to be ascribed. It had been effaced to make room for a commentary of St. Augustine on the Psalms. (See the preface of May, the ingenious discoverer of this lost treatise.)

Parchments that have been erased in this way are called Palimpsests (from waλiv, again, and yaw, to efface or clean), or repeatedly cleaned parchments; because they have been repeatedly cleaned, renewed, or prepared for writing upon. If the learned world is ever to be gratified by the recovery of the lost comedies of Menander, or the lost books of Polybius, Livy, and Tacitus, it will most probably be by finding them under some homily or such like trash. - (Nouveau Traité de Diplomatique, i. 482, &c.; Dom de Vaines, ii. 177, &c.)

PARTIAL LOSS. See INSURANCE (MARIne).

PARTNERSHIP, the association of two or more individuals for carrying on some business or undertaking in common; each deriving a certain share of the profits, and bearing a corresponding share of the loss arising therefrom.

The term partnership is usually applied to those smaller associations in which the partners personally conduct their joint affairs: the term company being applied to those great associations conducted by directors and servants appointed by the body of the He was a successor of, but must not be confounded with, Eumenes, the secretary and general of the Conqueror.