11. This graphite could be used in its natural state for writing. Seeing the find as a rich prize, merchants cut it into sticks. They sold it for writing purposes. By present-day standards, however, it was far from satisfactory for writing. For one thing, the graphite's hardness could not be changed.

12. Grinding low grades of graphite to remove impurities, pencil makers elsewhere found difficulties. Their problem was to bind the black powder together again so it would be hard enough to serve as a writing instrument.

13. Napoleon Bonaparte had a finger in the development of the modern pencil industry. Cut off from English pencils. He was stuck with his own impure French graphite. Never one to accept second best, Napoleon hired Nicholas Conte to solve the problem.

14. Conte found the answer in 1795. By mixing refined graphite powder with clay, then heating it, he produced a firm hard lead. German researchers later perfected the method. The lead pencil was launched on its way to general use.

15. William Monroe, the Concord, Massachusetts, cabinet-maker, made the first pencils in the United States. The War of 1812 halted imports of pencils. Monroe developed machinery to make wooden slats. Each one was grooved to half the thickness of a pencil lead. Two slats were glued together with the lead between. The method is still being used today.