DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61277#0140
112
MANUFACTURE OF
flowers.* Like most bulbous plants, it is pro-
tected by a double pellicle ;f the length and
breadth of which necessarily vary, according to
the size of the plant; the longest I have ob-
served might be from one to two feet in height,
always diminishing in breadth towards the top.
It was of these filament-like and reedy pellicles,
that the ancients formed that material which is
known to us under the name of the plant, and
from which the English word paper is derived.
They began with lopping off the two extremes
of the papyrus, that is, the blossoms and the root,
as of no use in this manufacture; the remaining
stem they slit lengthwise, into two equal parts,
and from each of these they then stripped the
thin scaly coats, or pellicles, of which it was com-
posed, with the point of a small knife. As the
pellicles were taken off, they extended them on a
table, and placed them over each other in a
transverse direction, and afterwards joined them
together by moistening them with water, which,
* I understand, that although the papyrus has been cultivated
in England, it has never been known to blossom here.
f A pellicle is a thin fibrous sheath, resembling that which
covers the buds of a jonquil or narcissus before they expand;
and its proportions always increase or diminish according to the
size of the plant.
MANUFACTURE OF
flowers.* Like most bulbous plants, it is pro-
tected by a double pellicle ;f the length and
breadth of which necessarily vary, according to
the size of the plant; the longest I have ob-
served might be from one to two feet in height,
always diminishing in breadth towards the top.
It was of these filament-like and reedy pellicles,
that the ancients formed that material which is
known to us under the name of the plant, and
from which the English word paper is derived.
They began with lopping off the two extremes
of the papyrus, that is, the blossoms and the root,
as of no use in this manufacture; the remaining
stem they slit lengthwise, into two equal parts,
and from each of these they then stripped the
thin scaly coats, or pellicles, of which it was com-
posed, with the point of a small knife. As the
pellicles were taken off, they extended them on a
table, and placed them over each other in a
transverse direction, and afterwards joined them
together by moistening them with water, which,
* I understand, that although the papyrus has been cultivated
in England, it has never been known to blossom here.
f A pellicle is a thin fibrous sheath, resembling that which
covers the buds of a jonquil or narcissus before they expand;
and its proportions always increase or diminish according to the
size of the plant.