Introduction
The given speech will be about a piece of paper. It is difficult for a modern person to imagine life without paper. Paper is a sheet of natural plant or artificial fiber, and its history and the development of the paper industry are not simple. Paper is one of the objects that are taken for granted, and people do not even think about its origin and history. Regarding its physical characteristics, it is white, rectangular, flat, and its surface might differ from smooth to rough. It is used for several purposes, including preserving information, delivering, showing pictures, drawing, manufacturing, and cleaning.
Main text
People often forget that paper is the dead, dried tissue of a living organism called a tree. These plant forms evolved for millions of years from one photosynthetic cell, such as algae. It gradually adapted to the harshest conditions and developed think bark and stem to sustain in dry conditions. Plant cells evolved cell walls comprised of cellulose, which is the key component of the paper. In ancient Greece, Rome, and then throughout Europe, people wrote on wooden tablets, and then covered them with wax. The stick, which squeezed letters on the wax, was pointed on one side, and its other end had the shape of a scapula and could erase the inscription.
Everyone knows that needs are a powerful engine of progress. In search of more practical storage media, people tried to write on a tree, bark, leave, skin, metal, and bone. In countries with hot climates, dried and varnished palm leaves are often used. For more than four thousand years, the Egyptians used papyrus – a reed plant that grew on the banks of the Nile River. The plant was light, strong, thin, and easy to carry, and for thousands of years, nothing better was invented for writing and documenting. The earliest existing registered papyrus dates from the 1st Dynasty of Egypt, but it is believed that it may already have been used 4,000 years BC (Maranzani, 2018). In addition to using for writing, papyrus was also used for mattresses on beds, for creating chairs, tables, and other furniture, for the manufacture of baskets, sandals, dishes, ropes, and boats. The root of the papyrus was also a source for making perfumes, used in medicine and for food.
More than two thousand years ago, nettle paper technology was developed in China. For the first time, the paper came to European countries from the East, where they learned to make it from mulberry bark. European scientists understood that mulberry is a southern plant, and it is not so common on their land, and thus, they needed to look for other material for paper. They decided that since paper consists of short plant fibers, is it possible to extract them from old rags. The sticky mass was cooked from rags, then water was squeezed out using a press, the result was paper, but it was costly, and thus the cheaper material was found – ordinary wood.
Conclusion
Paper was an essential component of human progress, which allowed mass printing. The latter was the main catalyzer of the European enlightenment, which primarily educated the entire population through newspapers and printed sources of information. All of the benefits of the digital era would not be possible without paper because it was the foundation of knowledge becoming available for the masses. Therefore, there is a rich and profound history behind such a simple object, such as paper.
Reference
Maranzani, B. (2018). 4,000-year-old Egyptian manuscript found. History. Web.