Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-03-04

Jn6 IhpyruS (OyperuS TapyruS) as q
"sacred" plant, on account of its par
ticular fitness for fgurative and writ
ten representations. They used also
its trunk for tress-work, sails, cover
ings, cords, and even for articles OF
clothing. To prepare the Papyrus rolls,
strips taken from the trunk were laid
crosswise upon each other, and repeat
edly wetted with water from the Nile,
the glutinous substance of which gave
them the required tirmness.
Also in India, they used to write on
palm leaves, and the inhabitants still
at present prepare so. called "writing
leaves'' from the mulberry, yucca,
bamboo and agave. The best kinds of
these are manufactured at Kashmir,
Delhi and Shassa, and the widely
renowned gold and silver speekled pa
per at Lucknow. Many libraries, es-
pecially the collection of London and
Copenhagen, contain a large number of
very valuable records written on palm
leaves. The most known of them is
the " Birman Code" of which a copy
is found in the imperial library of Vi
emma.
A writing material common to India
and Germany, was the last or inner
bark of the birch tree, after which an
old German heroic epic was called,
"The Birch Song" This birch pa
per, as also the ink used to write with,
and which was composed of oil and
SCOT, possessed the great advantage of
being indestructible by water. The
ancient Indians were thereby enabled
during the prosecutions they had to
undergo from the part of the Mahom-
medans-tO save their valuable birch
manuscripts by submerging them in the
lakes.
The Chinese-with whom the knowl-
edge of writing is much higher es-
teemed than that of speaking, and who
call the paper plant, brush, their ink
and its saucer, the four most precious
gs"-wrote in the remote antiquity
on stone and metallic plates, wood,
bamboo tablets, palm leaves and barks,
until it occurred to the two herdsmen,
Luivendshu and Honkong, to prepare
and use the skin of the reed, the bam-
boobast, for writing leaves. The Man
DARN Tsailien rendered, however, a
much greater service, not only to his
native country, but to the whole civil
lied world, by his invention of the rag
paper in the year 95 B. G. An
immense quantity of paper is also
used in China ard Japan for other
purposes. Window panes, umbrellas,
parasOls, are made of paper; paper
sliding doors, rain cloaks, made of oiled
paper are frequently seen in Japan, and
small square pieces of paper which the
Japanese carry in their wide sleeves,
take the place of handkerchiefs. The
poorest hut in China has its paper
hangings; visiting cards ayard in length
and cOlored, are in common use, and
numberless are the bales Of paper used |
for fans and funeral ceremonies, since
every earthly good that a Chinese wish
es to bestow on the dead during their |
stay in the other world is to be repre-
sented by paper limitations and burned |
over the grave. These funeral papers
are called "Hochi," meaning resusci-
tated paper. The catalogue Of the last
world exhibition mentions several hun
dred different kinds of paper, of which |
samples had been sent from Japan.
The art of manufacturing paper pro-
Ceeded gradually from the East to 9TH
er countries, and was by the Arabs
brought to Europe (Spain). 1t is not
exactly known when the linen paper
there took the place of cotton paper,
though some writers mention the latter
half of the fourteenth century. From
Spain its manufacture came to France,
whittier, however, the Incrovingian
Kings had already, during the fifth
and sixth centuries, imported from
Egypt. Genoa gave paper to Andalu-
sia, and the latter paid for it with rags,
and the same exchange existed for
some time between France and Hol-
land. In Italy the cities Of Padua and
Treviso had then large paper manufac-
turing establishments; (HilD Italy was
behind Germany where already in the
ninth century, cotton paper had been
produced. Its greatest stimulation was
however, by this branch Of
when the art of printing
and other graphic branches had been
invented. From that time it continu-
ally improved until Louis Robert, of
succeeded in producing the
endless paper, an invention fully able
% supply the daily increasing demands.
Considering that the 360,000,000 of
civilized inhabitants of our globe yearly
need 100000, 900 pounds Of paper, re-
luiring not less than 3,450,000,000
pounds of raw material, representing a
7alue of $4,000, 900, we shall clearly
zee that the supply of rags required
must be entirely insufficient. It was
necessary in order to increase !
he supply of the raw material, to go
,ack to those vegetable matters, the 6
lncient manufacturers had already
Used, and, indeed, spike-jets, maize {
iber, mulberry, pine, Esparto bush, {
rotoloria, of Bengal, Especially used t
It present in India); Yuma and Rhea I
lielded the sought for surrogats, t
hough it cannot entirely supply the t
,enuine rag. Thus the dark spots so !
requently appearing on the maize pa !
'er arc real fungi, originating from the !
,luten of the plant.
If man, in the olden time, had right I
o speak of a golden or silver age, we s
re certainly justified in calling our :