Chap. 24.] 
MODE or TESTING- PAPER. 
189 
as ''emporetica,"" it is quite useless for writing upon, and is 
only employed for wrapping up other paper, and as a covering 
for various articles of merchandize, whence its name, as being 
used by dealers. After this comes the bark of the papyrus, 
the outer skin of which bears a strong resemblance to the 
bulrush, and is solely used for making ropes, and then only 
for those which have to go into the water. 
All these various kinds of paper are made upon a table, 
moistened with N'ile water; a liquid which, when in a 
muddy state, has the peculiar qualities of glue.^^ This table 
being first inclined,^^ the leaves of papyrus are laid upon it 
lengthwise, as long, indeed, as the papyrus will admit of, the 
jagged edges being cut off at either end ; after which a cross 
layer is placed over it, the same way, in fact, that hurdles are 
made. When this is done, the leaves are pressed close together, 
and then dried in the sun ; after which they are united to one 
another, the best sheets being always taken first, and the infe- 
rior ones added afterwards. There are never more than 
twenty of these sheets to a roll.^^ 
CHAP. 24. — THE MODE OF TESTIJTG THE GOODNESS OE PAPEK. 
There is a great difference in the breadth of the various 
kinds of paper. That of best quality is thirteen fingers wide, 
while the hieratica is two fingers less. The Panniana is ten 
fingers wide, and that known as amphitheatrica," one less. 
The Saitic is of still smaller breadth, indeed it is not so 
wide as the mallet with which the paper is beaten ; and the 
emporetica is particularly narrow, being not more than six 
fingers in breadth. 
In addition to the above particulars, paper is esteemed 
according to its fineness, its stoutness, its whiteness, and its 
smoothness. Claudius Caesar effected a change in that which 
1^ " Shop-paper," or " paper of commerce." 
Otherwise, probably, the rope would not long hold together. 
Fee remarks, that this is by no means the fact. With M. Poiret, he 
questions the accuracy of Pliny's account of preparing the papyrus, and is 
of opinion that it refers more probably to the treatment of some other 
vegetable substance from which paper was made. 
20 Primo supina tabulae scheda. 
2^ "Scapus." This was, properly, the cylinder on which the paper was 
rolled. 
22 Augustan. 
