i86 FLORA OF THE 



What are they? They are the seals used m those days 

 by merchants, ministers, kings, etc. They are always 

 of hard stone — agate, hematite, crystal, etc. They are 

 small and of cylindrical shape, with a hole through 

 their axes. A wire or other substitute was used as 

 an axle. As we roll a blotting-paper roller over wet 

 writing, so they rolled their cylinders over soft clay, 

 the only writing material they then used. The cylinder, 

 having its surface engraved, left an impression, in the 

 shape of a picture, to which there was often added an 

 inscription, just as we now see on seals, private and 

 public. They also had seals shaped much like those 

 we have, as shown in Lajard's ' Culte de Mithra,' 

 pi. 12, figs. 10, II, and 12, and in the British Museum. 



Like seals and trade-marks it w^as important that 

 no two cylinders should be alike, lest the seal, which 

 stood for the signature of the individual, might be 

 forged ; and no doubt the engraver must have kept 

 impressions of all the cylinders he made, so that each 

 might be distinct from all others, for therein lies the 

 value of a seal. 



The great object of the engraver was not only to 

 produce some sort of picture, but a 'tout ensemble' 

 different from that of every other picture that was to 

 be used as a signature. The engraver was the only 

 person who could manufacture such a seal, and, there- 

 fore, if he made every one distinct from all others 



