Chap. 21.] 



THE PAPYRUS. 185 



tree and the cherry 89 is of an inferior kind, and that which is 

 gathered from the plum-tree is the worst of all. The vine, 

 too, produces a gum, 60 which is of the greatest utility in healing 

 the sores of children ; while that which is sometimes found on 

 the olive-tree 91 is used for the tooth-ache. Gum is also found 

 on the elm 93 upon Mount Corycus in Cilicia, and upon the 

 juniper, 93 but it is good for nothing ; indeed, the gum of the 

 elm found there is apt to breed gnats. From the sarcocolla 94 

 also—such is the name of a certain tree— a gum exudes that is 

 remarkably useful to painters 95 and medical men ; it is similar 

 to incense dust in appearance, and for those purposes the white 

 kind is preferable to the red. The price of it is the same as 

 that mentioned above. 96 



CHAP. 21. THE PAPYRUS : THE TTSE OE PAPER; WHEN IT WAS 



FIRST INVENTED. 



We have not as yet taken any notice of the marsh plants, 

 nor yet of the shrubs that grow upon the banks of rivers : 

 before quitting Egypt, however, we must make some mention 

 of the nature of the papyrus, seeing that all the usages of 

 civilized life depend in such a remarkable degree upon the 

 employment of paper — at all events, the remembrance of past 

 events. M. Yarro informs us that paper owes its discovery to 



89 These gums are chemically different from gum Arabic, and they are 

 used for different purposes in the arts. m _ 



90 The vine does not produce a gum ; but when the sap ascends, a juice 

 is secreted, which sometimes becomes solid on the evaporation of the 

 aqueous particles. This substance contains acetate of potassa, which, by 

 the decomposition of that salt, becomes a carbonate of the same base. 



91 This is not a gum, but a resinous product of a peculiar nature. It is 

 known to the moderns by the name of " olivine." 



92 The sap of the elm leaves a saline deposit on the bark, principally 

 formed of carbonate of potassa. Fee is at a loss to- know whether Pliny 

 here alludes to this or to the manna which is incidentally formed by certain 

 insects on some trees and reeds. But, as he justly says, would Pliny say 

 of the latter that it is " ad nihil utile"—" good for nothing "? 



9 * A resinous product, no doubt. The frankincense of Africa has been 

 attributed by some to the Juniperus Lycia and Phoenicia. 



94 The Penaea Sarcocolla of Linnaeus. The gum resin of this tree is 

 still brought from Abyssinia, but it is not used in medicine. This account 

 is from Dioscorides, B. iii. c. 99. The name is from the Greek cdpK, 

 "flesh," and icoXXa, "glue." 



95 See B. xxiv. e. 78. % Three denarii per pound. 



