MATERIALS USED FOR PAPER. 137 



though I cannot say much of the quality we pro- 

 duced, being hurried and without proper implements. 

 We were obliged to fasten the strips together, to 

 form our sheet with gum, which may have arisen 

 from the Syracusan papyrus being deficient in the 

 glutinous quality of those of the Nile, or, which is at 

 least as probable, from our not dissolving it properly 

 or not giving the strata sufficient pressure. 



" Some manufactured papyri we saw in the house 

 of a gentleman of Syracuse were certainly infinitely 

 superior to our own, though even those would have 

 been a poor substitute for our English writing-paper 

 of the very worst quality. They were specimens of 

 the result obtained by an antiquary called L. Cavalier 

 Landolina, who, a good many years before, had en- 

 deavoured to revive the ancient manufacture, confi- 

 dently anticipating that it would supplant paper, not 

 only in Sicily, but in all Europe. It may however 

 be doubted, whether paper produced from this sub-; 

 stance, even when the ancient art was in its perfec- 

 tion, and the best papyri of the Nile employed, ever 

 equalled the paper we now produce from linen rags, 

 in any one quality save in durability/' 



We have already shown that in Europe at the 

 middle of the seventh century, parchment superseded 

 the paper made from papyri, and we have now to ob- 

 serve, that (as near as the date can be fixed) the use 

 of parchment gave way to that of paper made from 

 cotton at the beginning of the tenth century. 



Previously to the introduction and sufficient supply 

 of this new article the scarcity of materials for writ- 

 ing had induced the Greeks to pursue, what has 

 properly been called ** the almost sacrilegious prac- 

 tice " of obliterating the compositions of ancient au- 

 thors, in order that they might themselves use the 

 sheets on which they were written. 



This paper produced from cotton was white, strong, 



N 3 



