The Editorial team

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   Paper, even today dominates the world of written literature. It is cheap, easy to make, simple which even subdues e-books and electronic readers of today. So how did this papery stuff came into existence? Although papyrus was widely used in ancient Egypt, this cannot be termed as paper since the fibres were not pulped in it. The discovery of true paper is credited to a Chinese named Tsai Lun who used mulberry fibres, fish nets, old rags and waste hemp as raw materials. Although any material can be used, until the midnineteenth century, only cotton rags and linen was used. Although it proved to be excellent, it was not sufficient for the rapidly growing demands of that time. Then something else was used, cellulose fibres (wood pulp). The soft wood chips today are put into enormous digesters with chemicals such as sodium sulphate and raised to extremely high temperatures to separate out the fibres. Impurities such as resin and pitch are removed and the pulp is bleached and mixed with chemicals to produce the ideal colour or make it whiter. The rest of the water is drained and dried by steam heated cylinders. It is finally coated with clay or chalk to improve its surface.

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