314 WILD FLOWERS. 



that they manufactured linen at a very early period 

 has been proved by microscopic examinations of the 

 threads composing clothes in which their mummies 

 are enshrouded ; and here, as in many other cases, 

 the light of science has proved the reliableness of the 

 records of remote history ; which, in the present in- 

 stance had assured us, that the Egyptian laws com- 

 pelled all to bury their dead in linen. Herodotus 

 and Plutarch tell us, that it was not permitted to any 

 Egyptian priest to enter a temple unless he wore a 

 linen garment ; and the same custom was adopted 

 by the priests of Isis among the Greeks and Romans, 

 as well as by those who were initiated into the 

 Egyptian mysteries. 



By the Greeks linen was used in the time of 

 Herodotus, who especially refers to their trading 

 for it to various countries, and' also to their distin- 

 guishing, by name, the linens of different districts. 

 Montfaucon, to whose researches on the subject I 

 have already adverted, finds no mention of the use 

 of linen by the Romans in male attire before the 

 time of Alexander Severus, with whom it was a 

 favourite material; but it would appear to have 

 been worn by women at a much earlier date. For 

 further information on this question I must refer 

 the reader to this author ; while such as are inte- 

 rested in the subject of the growth and manufac- 

 ture of flax, will find ample information in the 

 paper of Professor Hodges, before alluded to,* 

 which also contains much valuable matter with re- 

 gard to the particulars of the experiments com- 

 * See above page 311. 



