1824.] 
there are ten species. It seems to 
haye been unknown in, Europe till 
comparatively a very,.recent period, 
none of the Latin vocabularies giving 
any definition of its nature or proper- 
ties. It is, adyerted to by Herodotus, 
as growing in India. It was found in 
Mexico and in Peru at the time of the 
Spanish invasion, and its. manufacture 
among the Peruvians was carried on 
to some extent, 
The generality of the native West- 
India species of the plant are annuals; 
whilst those of Asia are perennial, both 
in root and branch, rising in a straight 
line about eight feet high, with leaves 
in five palmate lobes: but the plants 
chiefly propagated are of the herbaceous 
species. The origin and progress of 
its culture in Asia is involved in 
great obscurity; but it was doubtless 
coeval with the origin of those ancient 
dynasties which excited the cupidity 
of Alexander of Macedon, and its ma- 
nufacture progressively extended from 
the Indus to Cape Comorin. 
Although the plant, in a botanical 
point of view, appears to have been but 
little known in Europe till subsequent 
to the voyages of the Portuguese to 
India, by the Cape of Good Hope, the 
fabrics produced from the wool appear 
to have constituted articles of consi- 
derable traffic, when the commercial 
relations of India and Europe were car- 
ried on partly over-land, and partly 
across the isthmus of Suez. 
As regards the etymology of the 
word cotton, it appears tor have been 
derived from the Italians, who termed 
the down that adheres to the mala 
olonea or quince, cotone,—from whence 
the French coton; and from the 
French, the English cotton; and 
from the slight similarity of the 
wool or dana of the gossipium of the 
Latins to the down of the mala cotonea, 
may praveyly be assigned the Italian 
appellation cotone, the French coton, 
and the English cotton. With the In- 
dian names or appellations of this va- 
Juable plant, or of its dena or wool, 
either of Asia, Mexico, or Peru, I am 
not acquainted. The wool was called 
by the Greeks Epto&uaov [ Hriorulon]— 
from. erion, signifying wool, and zulon, 
signifying wood or a tree. Hence, pro- 
bably, its appellations with all the north- 
ern. European nations ; — German, 
Baumwolle, or tree wool; Danish, bo- 
muld; Swedish, bomule; the Low Dutch 
appellation is haltoen, probably from 
the French; the Spanish, a/godon ; and 
Remarks on the Natural History of Cotton. 
229 
the Portuguese, algodam; the Russian, 
chlobstchalaja bumaga. 
Without, therefore, attempting. to 
enquire farther into the origin and early 
history of the growth of cotton; I shall 
confine my observations to its use in 
great Britain since the period of 1770; 
with reference to which I herewith 
send you a tabulated statement* of the 
average, quantity of the raw’ material 
imported annually, in periods of ten 
years, from that date down to 1801; 
and from 1801 down to the present 
time, distinguishing the several coun- 
tries from whence imported, and the 
proportion from each respective country. 
The mostimportant feature of this state- 
ment will be seen to be the large and 
increasing supply. derived from the 
United States of America; adverting 
to which, I cannot help noticing the 
sudden and surprizing extension of the 
culture of the cotton plant in that part 
of the globe; from the time of its first 
colonization in the early period of the 
eighteenth century, down to its final 
extinction by the recognition of the 
federal government of the British 
United States in 1782-83, no regard 
was had to the culture, the growth not 
exceeding a few thousand pounds weight 
annually, which were consumed entirely 
for domestic use, none being manufac- 
tured for sale. Subsequent to 1783 a few 
trifling quantities were exported, more 
as experiments than in confidence ; and 
in 1789, it was gravely debated by the 
congress, whether the soils of Carolina 
and Georgia were suitable to its cul- 
ture, and whether it would be politic 
to afford it encouragement. It may here 
be right to state, that the cotton grown 
in this part of the world is of two very 
distinct kinds; one commonly called sea- 
island ; the other upland :—the first very 
superior in quality, inclining ‘to yel- 
low in colour, with a greenish seed, 
from which it is. easily separated, grow- 
ing chiefly upon the sea coast, and on 
an island of Charlestown harbour— 
whence, probably, its common appella- 
tion: this was the kind first cultivated. 
The total quantity exported in 1791 
did not exceed 190,000lbs.; in 1792, 
140,000Ibs.; in 1793, the total quan- 
tity of both sea-island and upland ex- 
ported was about 488,000Ibs.; and 
from that. period, owing to the in- 
vention of a machine for the more 
; effectually 
« This we have found too long for inser- 
tion in our pages. — Eepir. 
