MATKHIALS TO WRITE UPON BEFORE INVENTION OF PRINTING. 055 



These slips ((l)i\i'fj}/, philyne) were laid (oirether side by side 

 iil)()ii an inclined (al)le. whose sMrfaee was i)len(i fully moistened, so 

 that the sli[)s adhei'ed to each ollici-. Accordinii- to IMinw thev were 

 dampened with Nile water, which alone could dilute tiie viscous 

 liijuid oi" the crushed cells, necessary to cause the lamelhe to adiiere to 

 each other." 



The layer foi'med hy these slips was termed " scheda." On top of 

 the scheda a new layer of slips Avas ])laced. ci'ossing those of the 

 lower one; thus a sheet, or pla.iiuhu was produced whose diameter 

 in each dii-ectiou was ecpial to the length of a philyra. When it was 

 sutHciently desiccated, the plagula 

 Avas scpieezed in a press, which con- 

 tracted e\ery part of it; then it was 

 exposed to the sun {6 dry. 



A number of f)higuhe, from 10 to 

 tiO, accord ijig to the })eriod, were 

 joined together, then they were 

 rolled, and a quire, or scapus, Avas 

 formed of it. 



The (|uality of the papyrus ob- 

 tained varied according to the Avidth 

 of the first cuts or pliilyne. The 

 best (juality was called hieratic, 

 later Augustine. Subsequently there 

 was the Livian, the amphitheatric, 

 the Fannian, of a most remarkable 

 quality, the Saitic, the Tanitic, 

 then the emporetic or connnercial F"*- '^^- Fragment of Troano paper 



nianiiscript. ( De Bourbourg's Manu- 

 ])aper. script Troano. Paris, 1869.) 



The pai)er obtained in EgA'pt was 

 unfit to receive Avriting. It Avas subjected to further processes, 

 l)eating and ])olishing. Avhich imparted all the attributes required. 

 In Rome certain slaves Avere charged with that Avork. 



PAPER. PROPERLY SO CALLED. 



The discoA'ery of paper assured to the '" book '' an indefinite vital- 

 ity and expansion. The material par excellence had. in fact, been 

 found, indestructible material, Avhich alloAvs the book to be more 

 pliable, less heaA^y, to pass down the ages as AA^ell, if not better, than 

 papyrus and ])archnient. 



It is to Tsai Loun, minister of agriculture in China, one hundred 



o The mere visccsity of the crushed cells should ha\-e sufficed to make the 

 contiguous slips adhere to each other ; and, if water was necessary, was it 

 indispensable to have the water of the Nile? 



