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Some Observations and Experiments on the Papyri found in the Ruins 

 of Herculaneum. By Sir Humphry Davy, Bart. P.R.S. Read 

 March 15, 1821. [Phil. Trans. 1821, p. 191.] 



Having in some preliminary experiments upon fragments of a roll 

 of papyrus found at Herculaneum, the leaves of which adhered 

 very strongly together, ascertained that it afforded, by exposure to 

 heat, a considerable quantity of inflammable gaseous matter ; that 

 when digested in nitric and muriatic ether it coloured those fluids ; 

 and that, when immersed in an atmosphere of chlorine, it was evi- 

 dently acted upon ; Sir Humphry Davy concluded that there yet re- 

 mained in these papyri no inconsiderable portion of undecomposed 

 vegetable matter. With this information he proceeded to examine the 

 collection preserved at Naples ; and after detailing the state of the 

 manuscripts, he describes the methods resorted to for detaching the 

 layers and ascertaining their contents. These methods were con- 

 siderably varied, according to the state of the manuscripts. Those 

 which were pale chestnut-coloured, and covered with white ashes, 

 were so far destroyed as to render all attempts at arriving at any 

 knowledge of their contents quite hopeless. Two manuscripts of 

 firmer texture, and having the appearance of peat, were unrolled 

 when acted upon by chlorine and heat, but they had been rendered 

 illegible by the previous operation of water. All the best specimens 

 of the black and more perfect manuscripts had been operated upon 

 before Sir Humphry's arrival at Naples ; so that of these there were 

 only some remaining fragments, from many of which he however 

 succeeded in obtaining parts of columns, by which their contents may 

 be judged of. On the black manuscripts containing white earthy 

 matter in their folds several experiments were tried, but they were 

 rarely successful, from the firm agglutination of the fibres of the pa- 

 pyrus. 



After having adverted to the various impediments that were op- 

 posed to these proceedings, by the persons under whose care and su- 

 perintendence the Herculaneum manuscripts at Naples were placed, 

 and which rendered it improper to attempt continuing the inquiry, 

 Sir Humphry concludes this paper with some general observations. 

 The Roman manuscripts are generally on a thicker papyrus, and in 

 larger characters, though less perfect than the Greek ones. None 

 of them contain those vestiges of oxide of iron which would have 

 been detected had ink of galls and iron been employed : indeed it is 

 probable, says Sir Humphry Davy, that the use of this ink and that 

 of parchment were introduced at the same time ; for the ink com- 

 posed of charcoal and solution of glue will scarcely adhere to skin, 

 whereas the free acid of the chemical ink partly dissolves the gela- 

 tine of the manuscripts, and the whole adheres as a mordant. 



In the whole collection of manuscripts, no fragments of Greek, 

 and only very few of Latin poetry, have been found ; they are almost 

 exclusively the productions of the Greek Epicurean philosophers and 

 sophists. 



VOL. II. L 



