Show TUB THE 11 ASP THE FIRST PAPER MIKER paper Is so common now that we overlook the first maker the wasp Is the earliest paper maker he outdates man by hun deeds of thousands of years in this art the wasp takes wood fiber grinds it in his mouth mixing it with a se much like saliva and when the pulp Is ready makes the walls of his house from mouthfuls when the house is finished the wasp again turns on the faucet and cements or glazes it over with an other coating of glue like saliva and he has a more or less waterproof house it is all very wonderful the fibers from the mouth of the wasp much resemble the fibers of our own paper when studied under the microscope the paper making wasp insists ed the social wasps or hornets that is they live in clusters a group of them occupying the same house as contrasted with the solitary wasp who shuns society the paper making insists upon privacy when in the act of making paper and resents indru sion hence it Is very difficult in deed for even a scientist trained to the task to catch the wary fellow at it and more often the wasp gets on his ear and sinks his sting into those who nose in too closely our word paper comes from the greek word tor for the plant that the ancient egyptians used to make their paper from called papyrus it is a water plant and when beat en up gives a fair grade of a some what coarse compared with our standards of today but then con very good grade of paper but our present paper making corn com es from china where a paper su perlor to the egyptian product had been manufactured for centuries arab traders got it at about the time or within a century or two of the time when they got tor for us the system we now call arabic no atatim M e now make paper from rags which is the better class of paper and from wood pulp the wood pulp paper Is the cheaper kind used very laidly in newspaper work and is only a cheap quick method and not up to the higher classes of rags pa per there are two principal methods of making papers from wood one the boiling method which gives the better paper and the other the acid method by which the cellular sue is broken down with acids the add acid method is the quickest and it is said by a german plant that thirty isa hours after the log hits the first grinding machine the finished paper isi il ready for the press the paper that our currency Is made of is in turn made from the best rags it is one of the highest priced papers there Is but the first paper maker was the wasp |