92 [Assembly 



plenty and variety that the wanderer would be impressed with 

 the idea that he was in the studio of a Frankenstein, in an exten- 

 sive line of business, and the lamented Warburton expresses with 

 much gusto that " the erratic Frank at his impromptu breakfast, 

 may boil his coffee and cook his kid steak over an aromatic fire 

 kindled with the spiced bosom of an oriental princess." 



While in some of the museums of the principal cities of the 

 world we possess such numerous and indestructible records of this 

 great people, we can well spare to employ what is merely a tithe 

 of their relics now rotting in the ground in the manufacture of 

 the important article of paper; and though myself an enthusiastic 

 devotee to archaeology in all its bearings, and unwilling to de- 

 spoil this fascinating science of some of its choicest gems, unless 

 the requirements of the age demand it, I think it not outre on 

 the imagination to predict that a Rosseau, Abelard and Heloise of 

 the next generation may transcribe their amorous epistles on 

 "ivory satin," once the chemisette enveloping the bosom of 

 Joseph's fair temptress, or a sheet of the " New- York Times" be 

 issued on the indestructible shroud of Moses' fairer (Pharaoh) 

 stepmother. 



The above statistics as to the supply and value of this material, 

 sufficient for demand for many years, are given upon the most cor- 

 rect and lowest basis, and they were endorsed by others, at the 

 period I previously published them, whose opportunities tor ob- 

 servation have been far more extended than my own, and I have 

 recorded them in good faith as to tlie ultimate success of an un- 

 dertaking both novel and antiquated in its character; and those 

 who would at the first blush carp at and condemn it as fabulous 

 in its application, may, on investigation, be constrained to admit 

 that in this utilitarian age affected prejudice must give way to 

 the necessities w'hich the mass of socieiy demands; and repulsive 

 as it may appear to the over sensitive, it is entirel} shorn of this 

 feeling when viewed with the anticipated famine of paper mate- 

 rial looming up in the distance ; and I would ask ihem whether 

 it is not preferable to employ clean and sound linen wrappings 

 from a virgin mummy to the dubious rags collected from the 



