524 ORIEl^TAL ELEMENTS OF CULTURE IN THE OCCIDENT. 



tenbach's compilation" from which it is diiBcult to olitaiii a clear view. 

 Still, according to the data given l)y him, it seems that paper produc- 

 tion came from the Arabs to Southern Europe in the twelfth centur}^ 

 and in the fourteenth to Germany (p. 145). How tlioroiighly the 

 invention, the history of which we have just sketched, now pervades 

 all our relations in life is shown among- other things by the cognomen 

 of "paper age" given to our time. Borrowings of civilization have 

 also their traces in the language. And indeed our paper measures, 

 "quire'' and "ream," go l)ack to old- Aral)ic time. "ReanrMs the 

 Arabic rezma, '•package," which passed into Spanish as resma, into 

 Italian as risma, into German as ries, into French as rame. For 

 "quire'' the French say "main de papier," the Russian "dyest 

 bumagi." Dest is the Persian word for hand and in Arabic also 

 denotes a pan'' and a measure.'' On the other hand, for tlie miaterial 

 itself the languages of the Occident did not receive a new word l)ut 

 transferred the Egyptian designation of the older writing material 

 to the new descendant which in connnon with the former is of vege- 

 table nature, just as the name " pen" was inherited l)y the more perfect 

 steel writing instrument. 



Like the art of paper making, so also that of printing wandered from 

 the Orient to the Occident in the form of faliric printing (Zengdruck). 

 Nol)ody has thus far made a study of this industr\' in China; in fact, 

 there is a general dearth of w^orkers in the field of sinology. It is 

 well known of the Dayaks of Borneo that they first cut the designs of 

 their tattooings in wood, then, with the aid of a pigment, impressed 

 it on the skin and performed the operation after tliis pattern. '' We 

 possess Egyptian fabric prints of the sixth century. What is perhai)s 

 the oldest samphi comes, it is true, from the tomb of St. Ca?sarius at 

 Aries, but is very prol)abl}^ of Egyptian origin' and is preserved in 

 the Germanic Museum at Nuremberg. •' This same institution possesses 

 a valuable collection of fabric prints of the sixth and seventh centuries, 

 which Dr. Forrer, of Strasburg, excavated at Ikhmim, in Upper 

 Egypt; also two fabric print models from the same place. A shred 

 reproduced by Forrer--' seems to represent the l)eginnings of the art 

 in the Occident and dates, according to him, from the Carolingian 



" Schriftwesen im Mittelalter, 3(1 edition, Leipzig, 1891. 



'HJomp. Fleischer, DeglossisHabichtianis, Lipsije, 1886, pj). 13-14, uml Les voyages 

 <le Sindeljad le Marin, ed. Machuel, 2d ed. Alger, 1884, p. 13 of the Arabic text. 



•^'Conip., for instance, Ibn at-Tiqtacia, ed. Ahlwardt, p. 131; faakala ma'ahn des- 

 tani mina' 1-khnbzi 's saiuidhi, he ate a dest of cracknels; in the Stauibnl Karagii/. 

 print, "Karagoziin aktor olinasy," is read, p. 8, "bir desta kiat," a dest of paper. 



''See Ileinrich Schurtz, llrgeschichte der Knltnr, ]>. 397, and the illustiation of a 

 tattooing stamp on p. 39S. 



''Comp. R. Forrer, Los Iniiiriineurs des Tissns, Strasbourg, 1S9S, p. 9. 



/No. 1088 in Ilanipe's Katalog der Ge\vel)esaniinliiiig des < icriiianischcn Xational- 

 museums, 1. jiart, Nuremberg, 1890. 



fifDie Kunst des Zeugdrucks, Strassbnrg, 1898, plate iii. No. 1. 



