MATERIALS TO WRITE UPON BEFORE INVENTTON OF PRINTING. 649 



est effort, they presented successively the entire code of Inws to the 

 eyes of the behoklers. (Fi'g. 24.)" 



In Rome the hiws were written upon hoards of oalv. wliich were 

 exhibited in the Forum. The word '" album " ])robably originated in 

 the Roman custom of inscribing in black ink upon tablets of wood, 

 painted white, their annals or daily happenings.'' 



St. Jerome informs us also that small boards and cubes of wood 

 were employ(Ml to engrave the alphabet uj^on. to teach the children to 

 read. 



The tablets in use among the Romans and throughout the middle 

 ages were made of wood. Thev were likewise made of lead, ivorv. 



Fi(i. 24. An attempt at a restoration of the -'^'^ 



tables of Solon (Azores) from Geraud's Fkj. 2">. Wood tablet witli (ireek in- 

 description. scriptiou. 



parchment, and even of the bark of trees. In the time of the poet 

 Fortunatus not only were tablets of ash used, but small, smooth rods 

 as well.'' 



The Egyptians observed the custom of putting '" tal)lai '" (fig. "25)^' 

 upon their coffins. These tablets contained the names and attributes 

 of the deceased person. All that have thus far been collected se(>m 

 to date from the Roman occupation, since the inscriptions are in 

 Greek. 



a Gcraud (11.) Essai sur les livres dans rantiquitts Paris, 1840. .S°, i»i>. 19-20. 



'' Gt'raud, o]>. cit., p. 20. 



'■ Iliid., i». 21. 



f' Le Blauc (iGdm.), Revue arohcoloi;.. 1874, p. 242 et se(i. 



