IT would not be far from correct to describe Cotton as the central 

 feature of the world's modern commerce. Certainly no more 

 remarkable example of a sudden development exists in the history 

 of economic products than is the case with cotton. The enormous 

 importance of the textile to-day, in the agricultural, commercial, 

 industrial and social life of the world, renders it difficult to believe 

 that, but little more than two hundred years ago, cotton was practi- Unknown 



cally unknown to the civilised nations of the West. But it is two 



. centuries 



perhaps even still more singular that a fibre which, for many ago. 



centuries apparently, had been a staple article of clothing in India 

 and the East generally, should scarcely find a place in the early 

 classic literature of these countries. Nearly all the beautiful and 

 useful plants of India have their properties extolled by the Sanskrit 

 poets, and indeed are frequently dedicated to the gods, but cotton 

 the plant above all others which might have been expected to have 

 formed the theme of nature worship is hardly more than incidentally 

 mentioned. 



The Sanskrit word kdrpdsd-i, usually rendered ' cotton,' is con- Sanskrit 

 neeted with the Greek and Latin karpasos and carbasus, but meant names - 

 originally Spanish flax. It was also known to the Phosnicians and 

 Hebrews, but whether it originated in India or was imported would be 

 hard to say. Mr. F. W. Thomas, who has kindly permitted me to 

 consult him on this point, informs me that 'the earliest mention 

 appears to be in the Asvalayana Srauta Sutra (say 800 B.C.), where 

 the material is contrasted with silk and hemp as that of which was 

 made the sacred thread of the Brahman. Probably the word was 

 borrowed from India. The other words tula and picu are later 

 they denote the substance.' 



'The Sanskrit dictionaries give four names (vadara, kdrpdsi, 

 tundikeri and samudrdntd) for the shrub, while the wild kind is 

 called bhdradvdji. They also mention that kdrpdsa and vadara (the 



