of culinary and other vessels which have
been discovered have been formed of this material. Among the remains
of ancient Egypt, numerous vessels have been found formed of common
clay baked in the fire; and, though of rude workmanship, extremely
elegant in form.

_Adhesive_, sticky; apt or tending to adhere.

_Insoluble_, not capable of being dissolved.

_Culinary_, belonging to cooking or domestic purposes.

Of what are Needles made?

Of steel; and though exceedingly cheap, they go through a great number
of operations before they are brought to perfection. It was in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth that the English learnt the art of making
needles.

Of what are Pins made?

Of brass wire, blanched with tin. They are manufactured in England,
France, the United States, and other countries. Though there is
scarcely any commodity cheaper than pins, there is no other which
passes through the hands of a greater number of workmen; more than
twenty persons being successively employed in the manufacture of each,
from the drawing of the brass wire to the sticking of the pin in the
paper. Pins are supposed to have been made in England about 1543, or
even earlier. Before this art was invented, the ladies made use of
wooden skewers.

_Blanched_, whitened.

Of what is Paper made?

Of linen and cotton rags beaten to a pulp in water; also from straw,
wood, and many plants.

What materials were used for writing, before the invention of Paper?

Various were the materials on which mankind in different ages and
countries contrived to write: stones, bricks, the leaves of herbs and
trees, and their rinds or barks; tablets of wood, wax, and ivory;
plates of lead, silk, linen rolls, &c. At length the Egyptian paper
made of the papyrus, was invented; then parchment; and lastly, paper
manufactured of cotton or linen rags. There are few sorts of plants
which have not at some time been used for paper and books. In Ceylon,
for instance, the leaves of the talipot; in India, the leaves of the
palm (with which they commonly covered their houses,) were used for
books. In the East Indies, the leaves of the plantain tree, dried in
the sun, were used for the same purpose. In China, paper is made of
the inner bark of the mulberry, the bamboo, the elm, the cotton, and
other trees.

What is Papyrus?

A large rush, chiefly growing in Egypt, on the banks of the Nile. The
ancient Egyptians made sails, ropes, mats, b