THE TECHNOLOGIST. [Jan. 1, 1865. 



242 ON THE COTTON PLANT. 



And in language " understanded of the people" as follows. " The trees 

 of the field there hear wool as fruit, in heauty and quality surpassing 

 that of sheep, and Indians use clothing from these trees." He came 

 home, and, as was the custom in that classic and sporting land, recited his 

 ohservations, which were accurate, and his priest-imparted stories which 

 were " crammers, " at the Olympic Games. Fancy Lord Dufferin or 

 Sir Gardner Wilkinson reading their experiences of Greece and Egypt at 

 Tattenham Corner ! The word " cotton " occurs in many etymological 

 forms, as Gotn, Kotun, and so on. Pliny first mentions it as Gossypium 

 or Gossympium, while other old authors, and, following them, the earlier 

 "botanists, use the word Xylon. But the oldest designation of the manu- 

 factured article is the Sanscrit kurpasum. Hence the Greek Kapiraaov, 

 the Latin Carbasum, and our canvass and cambric. Cotton, as a culti- 

 vated crop, did not get into China till the 3 3th century, though they 

 had long possessed the handsome red-flowered G. arboraum as a garden 

 plant. It is curious that the Celestials, who never do anything like any- 

 hody else, seem to have taken a fancy to the brownish yellow stapled 

 sort produced j:>rincipally by the Indian form called religiosam, but also 

 "by the American plant. This was imported, rather largely, at one time 

 to make Nankin trousers for the English fashionables, having first at- 

 tracted notice from its strength and durability. Seeing this, the crafty 

 Chinaman began to dye his common white cotton yellow, and the de- 

 preciated article lost him his trade. This sort is said to be one of those 

 held sacred by the Asiatics, and, as such, used only for the head and 

 upper parts of the body, while the British dandy's practice was just the 

 contrary. Undoubtedly ancient as the use of cotton was in Egypt, I 

 fear the mummy cloths were not made of it. This, however, was long 

 supposed to be the case, but the matter was settled a few years ago by 

 my friend Sir Gardner Wilkinson, who pronounced it to be linen, and 

 the microscope, in the able hands of Thompson and Bauer, confirmed 

 his decision. 



Old as our subject is in India, it can boast as high, and probably a 

 higher, antiquity in the western world, and the botanical genealogy of 

 the Occidental plant is far more inscrutable than that of the Oriental. 

 Columbus found it in the West Indies, Magellan in Brazil. Ferdinand 

 Cortez found the Mexican Court clad in cotton, and presents of it were 

 brought home by the gorgeous and cruel buccaneer to his imperial 

 master — better had they not been stained b} r the blood of Montezuma ! 

 Cotton, both in its raw state and beautifully woven, has been found in 

 the ancient Peruvian tombs. 



The Indian plant, however, appears to have been first cultivated by 

 the British colonists in America prior to the French Revolution, before 

 the high qualities of the indigenous Mexican form, so close at hand, 

 were known. Cotton was grown on a limited scale in Maryland, in 

 1736, by Miss Lucas, the daughter of the then Governor of Antigua. 

 Again a lady ! No conjured vision now, but an enterprising English 



