A Written Record of Achievements 



writers. These characters could be easily carved on the 

 bark of this tree with a sharp or pointed instrument and 

 they were durable and could be preserved. As an example 

 of the earnest desire of the ancient writers to find a sub- 

 stance upon which their thoughts could be recorded and 

 justifying the bark of the beech for such use, there are in 

 this country living beech trees upon whose bark names were 

 carved more than fifty years ago and they can still be read. 

 Our word "library" comes from the Latin word "liber," the 

 inner bark or rind of a tree used for paper. Our word 

 "paper" comes from the papyrus plant from which the 

 papyri rolls of ancient times were made and upon which 

 most of the ancient books affecting our civilization were 

 written. 



Since the papyrus plant has furnished the substance upon 

 which a record of the ancient past has come to us, It Is only 

 proper to give, in some detail, at this time, some of the facts in 

 connection with its usefulness. It grew In the swamp or marsh 

 lands of Egypt, although It has long been extinct in those 

 regions. It is now found only In Sicily and along the upper 

 Nile. It grew in clusters of eight or ten pithy stocks coming 

 from one root and It attained a height of from three to ten 

 feet. Its stocks were triangular in shape and at their lower end 

 they were about four inches thick. Its uses were many. It 

 was used in the manufacture of baskets, boxes, boats, ropes, 

 sails, awnings and matting. Its roots were dried and used 

 for fuel. The pith of the plant was boiled and used as a 

 food by the poorer classes of Egyptians. The most impor- 

 tant use to which this plant was put and the one that now 

 concerns us most was in the manufacture of a kind of paper 



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