The Potter journal and news item. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1872-1874, 1873-02-07
CYDeruS PapyruS.

Cyperus Papyrus.
When it first became necessary to e6-
press ideas, promulgate laws, or certify
contracts i'll writing, some natural sub
stance, needing no manufacture and but
little preparation, would be chosen. The
bare surface of rock: fiat stone; clay,
afterwards dried in the sun, like the
! Babylonion bricks. sutiiced for the re-
quirememtS of rulers and priests-the
only classes whose deeds or thoughts
were then considered worthy of record.
But. as the intercourse of man with
his fellow-men increased-aS traffic be-
came more general, and something like
enlightenment irradiated from the orig
inal centre-greater facility of commu-
nication or means of remembrance be-
came essential. Tablets, therefore,
composed of slight pieces of board COW
cred with wax. or some other soft sub
stance easily impressed 10y the stylus,
were used for memoranda, while plates
of metal, ivory or wood were inscribed
with the edictS, or whatever writing was
to serve other than a temporary pur-
pose.
Long before the REIMBURSEMENT of
these inconvenient and cumbrouS ma
terials, however, paper-So called from
the papyruS of which it was first made
came into usa. We have no possibil-
ity of aScertaining the origin of this
primitive paper; nor will this surprise
us when we consider that writing on
ppyrCs has been discovered dating back
as far as the two last reigns of the third
dynasty of Manetho's PharaUhs, the
immediate predecessors of CheOps, the
builder Of the first and greatest pyra-
mid-thuS fixing the era at two thou
sand years before the time of Moses.
This plant lthe cgper'ls fapyrllsl grows
on the marshy banks of rivers in Abys-
Sinia and syria. 1t is also found TO some
extent in Sicily: but in ancient times it
abomdcd on the shores of the Nile. 1t
is of the s;m9 order as the bulrush, but
of much larger growth. The stem is
triangular. surrounded by long grassy
leaves that spring from near the ground.
The flowers form fiattened spikes from
fifteen to twenty inches in length, gar
miShed with long silky fibreS. These
flowers were much used in Egypt to form
garlands for crowning the statues of the
gods.
Paper is made from the papyrus,"
says Pliny, by splitting it with needle
into very thin leaves, due care being ta-
ken that thcv should be as broad as pos
sible." The sheets of papyrus pith are
laid upon a table and mOistened with
Nile water, lengthwiSc as long as the
IpapyruS viii admit Of. the Jagged edges
being cut off either end; after which a
cross layer is placed over 1.-THE same
way, in fact. that hurdles are made.
When this is done the leaves are pressed
close together and then dried in the
sun; after which they are united to one
another"
The great manufactory and mart for
this ancient paper was Alexandria, and
during the first few centuries of the
Christian era ii formed an important
article of commerce. Writings on pa
pyruS exist belonging to the fifth and
! sixth centuries, and there is evidence
of its having been used rs late as the
seventh. Indeed, it does not appear to
have been wholly given up till the time
of Charlemagnc. The cypcr'tS j,tpg111S
has now disappeared from Egypt. max
ing good tie words of Isaiah: The pa
per reeds by the brooks, by the mouths
of the brooks, shall wither, be driven
away, and I've no more seen.
ONLY 4 GRAIN OF SAND.-A man
who had for years carried All old and
cherished watch about him ono daycalled
on its maker and told him il was no long
CT useful for it would not keep time cor
rectly.
Let me examine. " said the maker;
and taking a powerful glass he looked
carefully and steadily into the works till
he Spied just one little grain of sand
Il have found it " he said; Il can get
over your difficulty"
About this moment. hy some powerful
but unseen instinct, the little grain, Sus-
pectinC what was coming, cried out
Let me alone, am but small thing,
and take up so little room. | cannot
possibly injure the watch. Twenty or
thirty of us might do harm but cannot
so let me alone
The matchmaker replied, You must
, come out for you spoil my work. and ali
the more so, that you are so small and
but few people can see you
Thus it is with us, whether children
or elders. one lie, one feeling Of pride,
l,, oh
little one that none but ourselves know
of it: vet God. who sees all things, knows
it. and that one sin. however little 1t
= may appear, Will spoil olu best efforts III
his service,