The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1902-07-04
EXTINCTION OF PAPYRUS.

| not continually fccOpleu-Our pOeIS,
historians, or literature in general ?
The printed paper rots even more
quickly than written. On that prob
lem indeed the famous manuscript
will give no hint, for doubtless 1t is
inscribed on parchment-but we do
not speak with knowledge on the point.
There are instances of the use of paper
in Europe much earlier than the ninth
century; the very first known is a
charter of Ravcnna This, however,
was made from papyrus, as were all
the others. 1t is commonly asserted
that the conquest Of Egypt by the
Arabs put stop TO the expectation
of this article. That it actually stop
ped about that time is certain, but the
connection of the two events does not
appear at a glance. The Arabs did
not discourage commercc-quite the
reverse. The willful burning of the
library at Alexandria has long since
been dismissed as stupid fiction.
They soon became a literary nation,
but one can hardly believe that they
forbade the exploration OF papyrus be-
cause they wanted all the stock for
themselves; more probably the plant
was already on the verge of extinc-
tion. When Egypt was thrown open
once more it had vanished.
I Europe betook itself to parchment.
That was very old invention. Hero
dotus tells that the Ionians called a
book parchment "pergamen," because
formerly, when papyrus was scarce,
they used the skins of sheep and goats;
"evcn at the present day" he adds.
"many of the barbarians write on
such skins" The word came from
Pergamos, a city famous in all times
for its library until Julius Caesar
carried it to Egypt as a present for
Cleopatra-to replace the books dc
stroyed at Alexandria during The
riots. Presently, however, the de
mand of monks and lawyers became
so urgent that the supply Of sheep
could not meet it; DR.. Thorold Rogers
ingeniously pointed out how these
animals multiply when law and order
prevail, and vanish as rapidly III
troublous times The Dark Ages
were not favorable to shecp-breeding
Even in this island Henry | was not
able to obtain parchment enough foi
an illuminated edition of the Bible
which he proposed.
1t be came necessary to do something
First the monks ransacked their libra
ries, and when they found an antique
MS. on parchment they cleaned il
with pumice stone, erasing the con
; tents, probably valuable, to inscribt
their silly legends. But this vilt
trick would not serve for any length
Of time. 1t appears to be certain tina,
paper, in our modern sense of th'
world, was an Oriental invention
Arabic writer's say that it was use6
in Samarcand before the ninth cen
turv-made from linen, or mixture
ol In. Ii and cotton. Their account:
may be believed, seeing the Arabs
themselve adopted the manufacture
There are many MSS. in the Escuria
of linen paper, some as early as til
eleventh century. But Europe wa
slow to learn from the intidel. Th
very first example is in the Nienn:
Library, a small charter dated 1913
experts say that it is mostly cotton
Doubtless this was imported from th
East. Not till the fourteeth centur,
do We find examples freal paper mad
from linen beyond the Moorish king
doms of Spain. Germany claims tn
invention, and it is true that the cal
liest specimens survive therein th
archives of the hospital at kaafbeu
ern, dated 1918.
But there is no evidence Of th
place where they were made ant
when the Arabs had certainly beel
using linen paper for 800 years, i
seem much more likely that the pro
: cess was learned from them. Blu
Germany introduced it to Christen
: dom, no doubt. The conference ma,
: discuss these matters in its leisur
| time; but its practical duties will b
to find paper and an ink that viii
last. For the former why not G
back to papyrus? If there is non
=. in Egypt, there is vastly too much il
= the Soudan. That famous ''sudd
which makes dam across the Nile
which the government proposes t
| lclllt'N 1 ~ IL SOSI VI tHllllouS "uSil
! can find the cash-is mostly papyrus
they say.
, Papa" asked the little Peck boy
# "why do they always have lady t
, read the Declaration of independence
:. at the Fourth of July celebr:
e ton p
1 "Beausc," was the solemn answer
h "the committee knows how foolish
would seem to have ii man read
{. with his wife in the audience'
Finsbury Park, London, was visite
u recently by white stork, which
I supposed to have escaped from cal
tivity.