gs of wood, he made
paper on which books and newspapers were printed. Lead was formed by
him into printer's type, for the communication of knowledge without end.

But the most extraordinary changes of all were made in a heavy stone
containing metal, dug out of the ground. With this, when smelted by
wood or coal, and manipulated by experienced skill, iron was produced.
From this extraordinary metal, the soul of every manufacture, and the
mainspring perhaps of civilised society--arms, hammers, and axes were
made; then knives, scissors, and needles; then machinery to hold and
control the prodigious force of steam; and eventually railroads and
locomotives, ironclads propelled by the screw, and iron and steel
bridges miles in length.

The silk manufacture, though originating in the secretion of a tiny
caterpillar, is perhaps equally extraordinary. Hundreds of thousands
of pounds weight of this slender thread, no thicker than the filaments
spun by a spider, give employment to millions of workers throughout the
world. Silk, and the many textures wrought from this beautiful
material, had long been known in the East; but the period cannot be
fixed when man first divested the chrysalis of its dwelling, and
discovered that the little yellow ball which adhered to the leaf of the
mulberry tree, could be evolved into a slender filament, from which
tissues of endless variety and beauty could be made. The Chinese were
doubtless among the first who used the thread spun by the silkworm for
the purposes of clothing. The manufacture went westward from China to
India and Persia, and from thence to Europe. Alexander the Great
brought home with him a store of rich silks from Persia Aristotle and
Pliny give descriptions of the industrious little worm and its
productions. Virgil is the first of the Roman writers who alludes to
the production of silk in China; and the terms he employs show how
little was then known about the article. It was introduced at Rome
about the time of Julius Caesar, who displayed a profusion of silks in
some of his magnificent theatrical spectacles. Silk was so valuable
that it was then sold for an equal weight of gold. Indeed, a law was
passed that no man should disgrace himself by wearing a silken garment.
The Emperor Heliogabalus despised the law, and wore a dress composed
wholly of silk. The example thus set was followed by wealthy citizens.
A demand for silk from the East soon became general.

It was