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The history of origins, by a literary antiquary
The history of origins by a literary antiquary Author:History Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: WRITING AND WRITING MATERIALS. The most ancient method of writing was upon the leaves of the palm tree. The next improvement was to write upon the inner bark ... more »of trees. Hence the Latins called a book liber, which signifies the inner bark of a tree. This mode still continues in practice in the East. In India, the Palmyra leaf is used, upon which the inhabitants write with an iron style, or pen, and are so dexterous as to write fluently what is delivered deliberately. The Ceylonese generally use the leaf of the Talipot tree. The ancient Persians and lonians wrote upon skins, and upon these it is supposed that Moses wrote the Law. History informs us that the skins of fishes were likewise employed for the same purpose. From the Book of Job, as well as from the evidence of ancient historians, it appears that in process of time, leaden tablets were used. This naturally suggested the possibility of writing upon wooden tablets, which could be more readily procured. Accordingly the original modeof writing among the Britons was by cutting the letters with a knife upon sticks. Of the several kinds of Paper used at different periods, and manufactured from different materials, the Egyptian is unquestionably the most ancient. The exact date, however, of its discovery is unknown, and even the place where it was first manufactured is matter of dispute. Though of a quite different nature, from the ancient papyrus, yet it is from hence that what we now employ has obtained the appellation of paper. That which is fabricated of linen rags is now used throughout Europe, and almost every part of the world where Europeans have penetrated. But we are left ignorant of the inventor and of the date of this important discovery. To the iron-style succeeded reeds or canes, and quills of geese, ...« less