430 Observations, &c. on the Papyri found at Herculaneum. 
cal ink partly dissolves the gelatine of the MSS., and the whole 
substance.adheres as a mordant; and in some old parchments, the 
ink of which must have contained much free acid, the letters have, 
as it were, eaten through the skin, the effect being always most 
violent on the side of the parchment containing no animal oil, 
The earliest MSS. probably in existence on parchment, are 
those codices fescripti, discovered by Monsignore Mai, in the 
libraries of. Milan and Rome. Through his politeness 1 have 
examined these MSS., particularly that containing some of the 
books of Cicero de Republica, and which he refers to the second 
or third century. From the form of the columns, it is very pro- 
bable that they were copied from a papyrus. The vegetable 
matter which rendered the oxide of iron black is entirely de- 
stroyed, but the peroxide of iron remains ; and where it is not 
covered by the modern MSS., the form of the letter is sufficiently 
distinct. Monsignore Mai uses solution of galls for reviving the 
blackness. I have tried several substances for restoring colour 
to the letters in ancient MSS. The triple prussiate of potash, 
used in the manner recommended by the late Sir Charles Blag- . 
den, with the alternation of acid, I have found successful ; but 
by making a weak solution of it with a small quantity of muriatic 
acid, and by applying them to the letters in their state of mix- 
ture with a camel’s hair pencil, the results are still better. 
It is remarkable, that no fragments of Greek, and very few 
only of Latin poetry, have been found in the whole collection of 
the MSS. of Herculaneum; and the sentences in the specimens 
we unrolled, in which Mr. Elmsley was able to find a sufficient 
number of words to infer their meaning, show that the works, 
of which they are the remains, were of the same kind as those 
before examined, and belonged to the schools of the Greek Epi- 
curean philosophers and sophists. 
Nearly 1600 columus of different works, a great part unrolled 
under the superintendance of Mr. Hayter, and at the expense of 
His present Majesty George 1V., have been copied and engraved 
by the artists employed in the Museum ; but from the characters 
of the persons charged with their publication, there is very little 
probability of their being, for many years, offered to the world ; 
which is much to be regretted; for, though not interesting from 
their perfection as literary works, they would unquestionably 
throw much light upon the state of civilization, letters and 
science, of the age and country to which they belonged. 
Should discoveries of MSS, at any future time be made at 
Herculaneum, it is to be hoped that the papvri will be imme- 
diately excluded from the atmosphere, by being put into air-tight 
cases, filled with carbonic acid after their introduction, - There 
can 
