prides
itself, such as vanillin, camphor and rubber, are not built up out of
their elements, C, H and O, although they might be as a laboratory
stunt. Instead of that the raw material of the organic chemist is
chiefly cellulose, or the products of its recent or remote destructive
distillation, tar and oil.

It is unnecessary to tell the reader what cellulose is since he now
holds a specimen of it in his hand, pretty pure cellulose except for the
sizing and the specks of carbon that mar the whiteness of its surface.
This utilization of cellulose is the chief cause of the difference
between the modern world and the ancient, for what is called the
invention of printing is essentially the inventing of paper. The Romans
made type to stamp their coins and lead pipes with and if they had had
paper to print upon the world might have escaped the Dark Ages. But the
clay tablets of the Babylonians were cumbersome; the wax tablets of the
Greeks were perishable; the papyrus of the Egyptians was fragile;
parchment was expensive and penning was slow, so it was not until
literature was put on a paper basis that democratic education became
possible. At the present time sheepskin is only used for diplomas,
treaties and other antiquated documents. And even if your diploma is
written in Latin it is likely to be made of sulfated cellulose.

The textile industry has followed the same law of development that I
have indicated in the other industries. Here again we find the three
stages of progress, (1) utilization of natural products, (2) cultivation
of natural products, (3) manufacture of artificial products. The
ancients were dependent upon plants, animals and insects for their
fibers. China used silk, Greece and Rome used wool, Egypt used flax and
India used cotton. In the course of cultivation for three thousand years
the animal and vegetable fibers were lengthened and strengthened and
cheapened. But at last man has risen to the level of the worm and can
spin threads to suit himself. He can now rival the wasp in the making of
paper. He is no longer dependent upon the flax and the cotton plant, but
grinds up trees to get his cellulose. A New York newspaper uses up
nearly 2000 acres of forest a year. The United States grinds up about
five million cords of wood a year in the manufacture of pulp for paper
and other purposes.

In making "mechanical pulp" the blocks of wood, mostly spruce and
hemlock, are simply pressed sidewise of the grain