Part 27 (2/2)

Its principal source of supply until about 1845, when it becaland, which was discovered in 1564 About 1852 a nu this substance in Siberia and from which place the best products are now obtained

The accidental discovery of this n of Queen Elizabeth who made many inquiries about it The naraphite) So valuable was it regarded that it coh price, and this price acted as in inducement to the workmen and others to pilfer pieces froreat co out of these depredations; and the result was that the proprietors adopted such stringent rules that hardly anything was known of the internal econoave a description of it, from which I may condense a few particulars

The h, which rises at in angle of about 45 degrees; and, as that part of thethe last century is near the middle of the mountain, the present entrance is about a thousand feet fro by which the workuard the treasure within, the proprietors have erected a strong brick building of four rooms, one of which is immediately over the entrance into the mine This entrance is secured by a trap-door, and the roo-room for the s, which relieve each other every six hours, and when the hour of relief co- rooe their dresses as they come up one by one out of the mine The clothes are examined by the steward to see that no black-lead is concealed in the rooe their clothes, enter the mine, and are fastened in for six hours In one of the four rooms of which the house consists there is a table, at whichthe mineral This is necessary, because it is usually divided into two qualities, the finest of which have generally pieces of iron- ore or other impurity attached to them, which must be dressed off These men, who are strictly watched while at work, put the dressed black-lead into casks holding about one hundred-weight each, in which state it leaves the mine The casks are conveyed down the side of the ht sledge with theels, and a man, who is well used to the precipitous path, walks down in front of the sledge, taking care that it does not acquire h to overpower hiuided safely to the bottoe up hill upon his shoulders, and prepares for another descent

Up to about the hteenth century the mine was opened only once in seven years, the quantity taken out at each ti such as was deemed sufficient to serve the market for seven years; but when, at a later period, it was found that the de, it was deemed necessary to work the , the ht and day; and when a quantity sufficient for one year's consumption has been taken out, theyear

Several hundred cartloads of rubbish are wheeled into the mine, so as to block up the entrance cos and land waters froradually beco is concluded, the barrels of black-lead are brought tothe sales was described by Dr Faraday soo to be as follows: A market is held on the first Monday of every enerally only seven or eight in number, examine each piece with a sharp instru rejected The person who has the first choice pays 45s per pound, the others 30s

But, as there is no addition made to the first quantity in the ain until they are exhausted At one time the annual sale was said to areatly reduced since

Aprocesses to the preparation of black-lead is described by Dr

Ure as being adopted in Paris Thereduced to a fine powder, is mixed with very pure powdered clay, and the two are calcined in a crucible at a white heat; the proportion of clay ereater as the pencil is required to be harder, the average being equal parts of both The ingredients are ground with a muller on a porphyry slab and then made into balls, which are preserved in a moist atrooves cut in a sreased, is pressed down upon it When the paste has had tirooved board is put into a moderately heated oven, by which the paste, now in the forrooves In order to give solidity to the pencils they are set upright in a crucible and surrounded with pounded charcoal, fine sand, or sifted ashes; the crucible, being covered, is exposed to a degree of heat proportionate to the hardness required in the pencils, the harder pencils requiring the higher degree of heat Some of the pencils are shaped in a curious ht upon an iron tray, having edges raised as high as the intended length of the pencils; and a metallic alloy, made of tin, lead, antimony and bismuth is poured into the sheet-iron tray When the alloy has cooled, it is inverted and shaken off from the hout with tubular cavities corresponding in size with the intended pencil pieces; the pencil paste is introduced by pressure into these cavities, and when nearly dry the pieces shrink sufficiently to be easily removed from the cavities

The pencils just described are alike throughout all their thickness, but in the lish pencils there is a wooden holder to contain a narrow filao as the year 1618 this overnor of the Borrowdaleof black-lead says, that ”Of late it is curiously formed into cases of deal or cedar and so sold as dry pencils, soeneral waycedar first into long planks, and then into s machine moved by a fly- wheel to such a depth as will receive a small layer of black-lead; the pieces of the mineral are cut into thin slabs and then into rods the sarooves, into which they are inserted; the two halves of the case are then glued together, and the whole is turned into a cylindrical fore

The kind of pencil called ”crayon” is asubstance

The earth eypsu substance is yellow ochre, o--indeed, any of the usual dry colors, according to the tint required

Besides the earth and the color, there is a guuacanth, and in soredient The crayons here alluded to are e, but they obviously belong to the class of pencils in their mode of action

The ancients drew lines and letters ooden styles, and afterward an alloy of lead and tin was used Pliny refers to the use of lead for ruling lines on papyrus La Moine cites a docuraphite in wooden sticks (pencils) are land with the production They are doubtless the product of the Borrowdale mine, then lately discovered In the early part of the seventeenth century black-lead pencils are distinctly described by several writers They are noticed by Ambrosinus, 1648; spoken of by Pettus, in 1683, as inclosed in fir or cedar

Red and black chalk pencils were used in Germents of chalk, charcoal, and shaped sticks of colored minerals had been in use since times previous to all historic mention

When Cortez landed in Mexico, in 1520, he found the Aztecs using graphite crayons, which were probably made from a mineral found in Sonora

The firest manufacturers of lead pencils in the world They have co which they have permitted me to use in the story which follows

The lead pencil is an invention of modern times, and its introduction e number of technical innovations in which more especially the last three centuries have been so rich; nor can it be denied that pencils have played an important part in the diffusion of arts and sciences and in facilitating study and intellectual intercourse

To the classic ages and their art the pencil, and in general every application of lead as a writing material, was entirely unknown, and it was not till the advent of the an to be used for this purpose This lead, i e raphite or black-lead of our pencils, which are only honored with the prefix of ”lead,” owing to the leaden color of the writing done with them

Moreover, in those days, lead was used exclusively for ruling and in no way for writing or drawing; it was eed discs, similar to those which, it is said, were already used for the same purpose in ancient classic tirowth of in to be met At so early a period even as the fourteenth century, mention is made by the masters of that tiain in the fifteenth century by Menlink and others, of studies or compositions which were made with an instrument similar to a lead pencil, upon a paper with chalk prepared surface

This type of draas commonly classed as ”silver- style,” a term, however, which was no doubt erroneous, as there could be no question of the use of pure silver in this connection

In the same way it is also reported of the later mediaeval Italian artists that they drew their subjects in ”silver-style,” upon planished fig-tree wood, the surface of which had been prepared with the powder obtained from calcined bones,--a method, however, which seems only to have been employed in exceptional instances

But in the fourteenth century, drawings were frequently done in Italy with pencils consisting of a s could easily be erased with bread crumbs

Petrarch's ”Laura” was portrayed in this manner by one of his conteue in the days of Michael Angelo From Italy these pencils subsequently found their way to Germany, but it is not apparent under what particular name In Italy itself they were called ”stili,” the equivalent of the word stylus At no time, however, do these varieties see purposes

In conjunction with these, pens were used for writing and drawing, and at the zenith of the art period of those days black and red crayons were also used on a large scale The Italians imported the best qualities of red crayons fro obtained from Spain