SCIENCE IN THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD 



as of fighters; and how better could one of the Faithful 

 serve his master the Prophet than by introducing a sub- 

 stance which would facilitate the promulgation of the 

 true faith? His opinion was shared by the rest of his 

 nation, and within a few years after this first discovery, 

 paper-making was known all over the Moslem empire. 

 The city of Damascus became the source of most of the 

 paper in Christendom, and for this reason the substance 

 was known as charta Damascene, for many years. 



For a long time the Moors in Spain were the paper 

 manufacturers for all Europe ; but after they were driven 

 out by the Christians, their industry fell into the hands 

 of the Spaniards. But the new proprietors were unskil- 

 ful, and were slow in learning the art, so that the product 

 of Moorish mills, once so famous for its quality, never 

 again equaled its former standard. 



MATERIALS FOR PAPER-MAKING 



Most of the early papers were made from cotton pulp ; 

 linen and other fibrous substances did not come into use 

 until several centuries later. Nor is there any definite 

 record of just when the transition from one substance 

 to the other took place. Our most reliable source of in- 

 formation at the present time is found in the specimens 

 of paper themselves. These, when examined microscop- 

 ically, show that wool was at one time a favorite sub- 

 stance for paper-making for certain purposes, but was 

 usually mixed with other substances. Pure linen paper 

 does not seem to have been manufactured until early in 

 the fourteenth century; and cotton paper was used for 



[160] 



