Papyrus was the only material available for the transmission and preservation of thought from about 3000 BC until the invention of paper in China in the second century. It is the material on which the classics of Egypt, Greece and Rome as well as the books of the New Testament were recorded. When growth of papyrus ceased in Egypt, both the plant and the secret of how the writing material was made were lost. No primary text discussing papyrus manufacture is known to exist. Accounts given by Pliny in the first century are vague and unclear, suggesting that his accounts were based on second hand reports. Since the late 18th century researchers have recorded their efforts to make papyrus sheets and to recover the ancient technology of papyrus manufacture. Most recently, Dr. Hassan Ragab reintroduced papyrus and its sheet production into Egypt in the 1950s. A papyrus institute in Syracuse, Italy produces papyrus sheets on a small commercial basis today. Although some details remain disputed, experimentation by these two institutes has resulted in a method that appears to duplicate the ancient Egyptian one closely.