In the manufacture of this Egyptian paper, papyrus, the outer rind of the stem was first removed, exposing an interior made up of numerous successive fiber layers, some twenty in number. These were separated with a pointed instrument, or needle, arranged side by side on a hard, smooth table, crossed at right-angles with another set of slips placed above, and then dampened. After pressure had been applied for a number of hours, the sheets were taken out and rubbed with a piece of ivory, or with a smooth stone or shell, until the desired surface was obtained, when the process was complete, except for drying in the sun. The inner layers of the plant furnished the best product, the outer ones being coarse and suitable only for the making of cordage. Single sheets made in this way were fastened together, as many as might be required, to form the papyrus rolls, of which hundreds have been discovered in recent years. It is said that the Romans, when they undertook the manufacture of papyrus, made a great improvement in the sheets by sizing them with flour, to which a few drops of vinegar were added, and then beating the surface smooth. ♦Early Chinese discoveries♦ The Chinese, far away to the East, also learned some of the secrets of paper-making. It is believed that in early times they used silk as their basis, but later on they made the so-called rice-paper by a method similar to that employed in the manufacture of papyrus, deftly cutting a continuous slice from the pith of the papyrifera. [Illustration: THE THRASHER--PAGE 57] From the reed, and the process of manufacture through which it passed, the English language has gained a number of words. The plant itself, called papyrus in the Latin tongue, byblos in the Greek, has given us the two words paper and bible. It is claimed further that the process of furrowing off the different layers of the pith gave us, through the Greek word charasso χαρασσω, to furrow, and the Greek and Latin charta, a piece of paper, our several words chart, card, carte blanche, and, of course, the “charta” of that famous document, Magna Charta, the great sheet-anchor of English liberties. In the course of manufacture, twenty sheets of papyrus were glued together into a scapus by the glutinatorie, the first known bookbinders, and then into a roll known as a volumer, from which we get our word volume. The city of Paris boasts a volumer of this sort, a papyrus manuscript, well preserved, which is thirty feet in length. ♦Extensive use of papyrus♦