^S Rev. Dr. Scot on the Fine Linen 



the Levites, in contradistinction to those made of fine linerf, 

 worn by the priests. 



Now, if fine linen be the true translation, we are directly led 

 to suppose, that it was a manufacture from the fibres of flax, 

 but much superior to that of common linen. In Lower Egypt, 

 flax has grown as far back as history reaches ; and the art of 

 making linen of the fibres of flax has been cultivated by the 

 Egyptians from time immemorial. Their eminence in this re- 

 spect has long been acknowledged, though some think that it 

 has been praised beyond its deserts. 



As the art of manufacturing linen, whatever may have been 

 its quality, has always been a national pursuit among the Egyp- 

 tians, there are many, even to this hour, whether they be grave 

 divines, or learned grammarians, who contend, that fine linen is 

 truly and strictly what has that name in the sacred writings. 



Convinced, however^ that fine linen was not the right render- 

 ing of the original term, Calvin, Junius, Tremellius, and others, 

 have rendered it by a term denoting silk ; but this rendering 

 must be erroneous, if the product of the vermes bombycina be 

 meant, of which the Chinese, from the remotest antiquity, have 

 formed a delicate and valuable cloth. 



When these interpreters, however, come to explain their mean- 

 ing, we find that it is something resembling silk, growing on 

 trees, soft to the touch, and of which rich and beautiful gar- 

 ments can be made, such as were worn by the Egyptian priests, 

 and those of high rank or in great favour. For instance, we 

 read in Genesis, that one of the Pharaohs clothed the patriarch 

 Joseph in a dress of this kind. 



Now, what can this silk be but cotton, which is a downy sub- 

 stance, contained in the pod of a plant, the species of which 

 grow in America^ in all the isles of the Archipelago, in Pales- 

 tine, in Syria, and especially about Thebes in Upper Egypt, 

 through the whole district lying on the east side of the Nile, 

 and west shore of the Red Sea. 



Those which produce cotton, are, the Gossipium arboreum, 

 Gossipium herbaceum, and Bombax ceiba. The Gossipium ai*- 

 boreum, in all probability, was the shrub from which the cotton 

 of Egypt was first procured ; — about the time of the Ptolemies, 

 it seems to have been gathered from the Gossipium herbaceum. 

 The Bombax ceiba was rather cultivated in Palestine. Tha 



