658 MATERIALS TO WRITE UPON BEFORE INVENTION OF PRINTING. 



Rag paper is more ancient than has been supposed. It goes back 

 to the tenth century. 



Rag paper was first used in the Orient. It did not penetrate into 

 the Occident until two or three centuries later. 



Paper was filigreed from the thirteenth century in the Occident. 

 This practice was transported later to the Orient." 



It is certain that in China from the very origin of the discovery of 

 paper, bamboo must have been used in its manufacture. Other vege- 

 table materials may have contributed to the same use. The Japanese 

 paper which we know is manufactured from the l)ai-k of certain small 

 trees, Edgewortia papyrifera, Broussonetia papyrifera. and Wik- 

 stroemia canescens. 



A longer digression upon this siil)ject would carry us beyond our 

 projected limits. With the discoveiy of printing we nnist stop. 



We may conclude by saying that man, inspired b}' the desire of 

 leaving traces of his life and actions, sought every means to transmit 

 them to his descendants. What an eA'olution he has passed through 

 from the pictographic inscriptions uj^on the rocks to the phonetic 

 alphabet Avritten on pajDer and finally printed. 



» Bricjuet (C. M.) Recherches sur les premiers papiers employes en Occident 

 et en Orient, <Ui X'' au XV'' sieele, pp. 13o-lS0. Followed by Analyses micro- 

 scopiques Ue papiers du moyeu age, pp. 181-205, 1 i)late outside the text. 



