d, the words _woof_, _weaving_, and _web_ are allied to
the word _wife_. However, in ancient Egypt and in India men also
wrought at the loom. Probably nothing could be simpler or ruder than
the looms used by ancient weavers. Were we to compare these with the
looms and other weaving apparatus of the present day, and reason
therefrom that as the loom so must have been the cloth produced
thereon, we would make a very great mistake. There are few arts which
illustrate with equal force our argument in favor of the perfection of
ancient art so well as this of weaving. It would appear that our
advancement is not so much in the direction of quality as in that of
quantity. There are few things we can do which were not done by the
ancients equally perfect. Rude as were their looms in ancient Egypt,
they produced the far-famed linen so often mentioned in Scripture and
the writings of other nations. In order to show that this is not to be
regarded as a merely comparative term applicable to a former age, we
will here quote from G. Wilkinson respecting some mummy-cloths
examined by the late Mr. Thomson, of Clithero:--"My first impression
on seeing these cloths was, that the first kinds were muslins, and of
Indian manufacture; but this suspicion of their being cotton was soon
removed by the microscope. Some were thin and transparent, and of
delicate texture, and the finest had 140 threads to the inch in the
warp." Some cloth Mr. Wilkinson found in Thebes had 152 threads to the
inch in the warp, but this is coarse when compared with a piece of
linen cloth found in Memphis, which had 540 threads to the inch of the
warp. How fine must these threads have been! In quoting this extract
from Wilkinson to an old weaver, he flatly said it was impossible, as
no reed could be made so fine. However, there would be more threads
than one in the split, and by adopting this we can make cloth in our
day having between 400 and 500 in the inch. However, the ancient
cloths are much finer in the warp than woof, probably from want of
appliance for driving the threads of the weft close enough, as they do
not appear to have _lays_ as we have for this purpose. Pliny refers to
the remains of a linen corselet, presented by Amasis, king of Egypt,
to the Rhodians, each thread of which was composed of 365 fibres:
"Herodotus mentions this corselet, and another presented by Amasis to
the Lacedaemonians, which had been carried off by the Samians. It was
of linen, orna