650 MATERIALS TO WRITE UPON BEFORE INVENTION OF PRINTING. 



Shavings of wood, taken off by the plane, Avere also utilized. 

 Theophrastus cites nn example of it," and Pancirot saA^s that the 

 Lombards joined these sliavings by means of glue and thus manufac- 

 tured a sort of paper.'' The idea of writing on wood is not lost in 

 our days. P]ntire boolvs are written on leaves of wood resembling 

 thin veneer. Visiting cards of wood are sometimes seen. In Cliina 

 paper and envelopes are used where the paper is exceedingly thin 

 and is covered with a pellicle of wood. The school primers of the 

 East — Algeria, Turkey, and other ISIoslem regions — are made of 

 ^mall l)oards (pi. iv), recalling in form the Egyptian tablai, upon 

 which the letters or sentences from the Koran are written. The 

 inscriptions, which are so curious, but which have not yet been de- 

 ciphered, discovered on Easter Island, are engraved upon w^ood. 

 Wood is even at the present dnj employed in China for engraA'ing 

 characters in relief, which are subsequently printed. Our xylo- 

 graphic plates of the fifteenth century were also of wood. 



Finally, Avood is still employed to make l)lackl>oards, in use in 

 schools. 



In the remotest times the ancients used the outer l)ar]v of trees for 

 writing, but the numerous inequalities and the frequently great 

 fragility of the bark caused it to be abandoned, with the exception 

 of that of the cherry, the linden, and the birch, riiey sought to 

 utilize the inner bark, or liber, of the tree, and employed by prefer- 

 ence that of the pine, the fir, and the linden.' The Greeks and the 

 Romans wrote extensive Avorks upon the prepared bark of trees. 



The knives of trees liaA'e also l)een used. The Syracusans voted by 

 Avriting on oHa'c leaA^es, Avhence the Avord petalisni, a s3aion3'm of 

 ostracism.'' The leaA'es of seA^eral othei- trees, among them the mal- 

 loAV, contriljuted to the same purpose. A sort of tissue Avas made 

 from the leaA^es of a certain palm. 



In Persia, a great part of Asia, India, Indo-China, China, Borneo, 

 Sumatra, even in Oceania, ]:)repared leaA^es of trees, particularly 

 of certain palms, Avere and are still made use of. In Malaysia they 

 use the leaves of cabbage palms, dried, polished, or covered Avitli a 

 brilliant or gilt varnish; it is after these successive preparations 

 that they trace the characters Avith a pencil or engrave them Avith a 

 very fine j)oint. Certain books, formed thus, resemble a good deal 

 the slats of our Venetian blinds, opening and closing in the same 

 manner. In the Maldives they use the leaf of the makarekau, 

 Avhich has a breadth of 1 foot and a length of 3 feet.^ 



a Geraucl, op. cit, p. 21. 



Mbid. 



'• Gernnd, oj). cU., iip. 1(>. 17. 



(i Ibid., p. 15. 



