Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/301

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•lory, that it Is much to be wondered at that the art of print ing was not found out among them ; an art fo nearly allied to that of the cutting feah and the dies of medals. The making thefe dies, and the ftamping their coins with them, was, in reality, no other than printing on metal ; and their imprefling their feals, cut in cornelians, agates, &c. on wax, was another (pedes of printing on this fubilance. And finally, a third fort of printing among them, was the impref- fing the name of the workman on their pieces of fine earthen- ware.

Mountfaucon, in his antiquities, gives the figures and defcrip- tions of feveral very large figilla of the Romans, in which the names were all cut in hollow, in capital letters; and he imagines, that the ufe of thefe was to mark large earthen veflels with, while the clay was ibft, and particularly thofe large veflels in which the Romans kept their wines. It does not feetn that this diligent enquirer into antiquity ever met with any of thefe figilla with the letters or characters in re- lief, or ftanding out in the manner of our modern types for printing, fuicc he mentions none fuch ; yet the remains of the Roman antiquities in terra cocta, or earthen-Ware, fhew that they had fome fuch, tho' they were left common than the others ; thefe veflels fometimes being marked with letters £oing in, tho' in general they have them all (lauding out, as muff, be the cafe when the impreflion was given from a figillum cut in creux.

There is now, in the collection of the Duke of Richmond, a figillum of the other more rare kind, which brings the difco- very very near to that of printing: on this all the letters are railed, as is alfo the verge or rim of the feal, in the manner of our types ufed this day in printing. The ftamp is made of true antient brafs, and has on it the common green coat of irrugo which diftinguifhes the true antique medals. The plate is near two inches long, and near an inch in breadth, and has on the back part a ring for the convenience of holding it for making the impreflion. The letters ftand in two rows ; they are the common Roman capitals, very well made, and their faces all (land exactly on the level with one another, and with ! the furface of the verge of the feal. This feal was exactly { of the nature of our method of printing fo many letters at once. | It contains the name of one Caius Julius Ca;cilius Hermias, fome private man, as we have no account of any perfon of this name upon record. It ferved him probably to fet his name to any thing, to fave him the trouble of writing ; and the name being that of fome private man feems alfo to prove, that thefe figilla were very common among that people. It was evi- dently made to be ufed on parchment, or fome other fuch thin fubftance ; and the manner of ufing it muft have been by firft dipping it into ink, or fome other coloured matter, not plunging it fo far as to touch the ground, fo that the letters only became marked, and gave their figures on the paper. The ground of this feal is very rough and uneven, and thence alfo it is plain, that the ufe of it was not to prefs down any foft fubftance, flu h as clay, or the like; becaufe the imper- fection of the ground would, in that cafe, have been fccn y ■whereas in the ufe it was really intended for, the ground ne- ver gave any impreflion, and therefore there was no reafon for beftowing any pains in the working it even. The firfl ufe of printing among the later ages, was by wooden blocks in this very manner ; and it was not till long after this invention, that we learned the way of ufing feparate types for the letters ; and thefe were then called typi mobiles, in opposition to the blocks, where the whole page was contained together, which were called typi fixi. This fignet of the Duke of Rich- mond's, which was found near Rome, is truly and properly one of thofe typi fixi, and prints off its impreflion on pa; er with our modern printer's ink, as well as any fet of letters cut in this manner can be expected to perform. This feems, therefore, the moft antient (ample of printing that we know of; for, by the appearance of the metal, it feems to be of the higher empire.

It is plain, by this ftamp, that the very eflence of printing was known to the Romans; for they had nothing to do, but to have made a ftamp with lines three or four times as long, and containing twenty lines inftead of two, to have formed a frame of types that would have printed a whole page as well as Coder's wooden blocks, ufed in printing the book called j'pfculum fa'utis, which was the firfl: book printed, in the year 14.40, and confided of pictures of ffories out of the bible, with fome of the verfes underneath each page; being printed from a block of wood,, like a wooden cut. This was the firfl cflay of the fixed types, from which the moveable, or common feparate tvpes were foon deduced ; and it feems ft range, that the Romans, who were as fugacious a people as any in the world, ftiould not as eafily have fallen upon the ufe of fepa- rate types, in which the whole art of modern printing confifts, from fuch fignets as thefe, as the later ages from Coffer's ivqoden blocks, which were plainly no other than larger works of the fame kind.

Cicero, in his book da vatura dcorum, has a paflage from which Toland fuppofes that the moderns took the hint of printing. That author orders the types to be made of metal, and calls them forma; iiterarvm, the very words ufed by the firft printers to exprefi them. It is plain from Virgil, that

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brands, with die letters of the owner's name, were in ttCe !fl li.s time for the marking of cattle. And we have an account or the lame artifice that is now ufed for die painting of cards being ufed by the emperor Juftin, who could not write. I here was a fmooth board, with holes cut through it, in form of the letters of bis name; and when he had occafion to fign any thing, this was laid on the paper, and he marked the let- ters with a pen or ftylus dipped in red ink and dircfied through the holes. Philof. Tranf. N'. ,.79, p. 393.

PRIN I S. To take off printed cuts, fo that the outlines and principal ftrokes may be exaflly copied for graving, may be thus performed : if the print be not above a year or two old, the paper need only be moiftened w th water in the manner ufually praclifed for printing cuts ; but if it be more antient, it ihould be laid to foak all night in water, and afterwards hung in the air till it becomes dry enough for the prefs. The paper thus prepared, is to be laid with its printed fide next the plate, thinly cafed over with white wax, which is thus to be committed to the rolling prefs, wherebv an impreflion of the cut will be obtained. Beyle s Works abr. Vol. 1. p. 136.

PRIORITES, in botany, a name given by the antient Greeks to a plant which they recommend in medicine';' but they do not clearly explain what it was. It is the faT e with the cef- trum and pfuchrotrophon of the fame writers ; and they fay it was called hetmica, fa rdtuk, or refmarim J, by the Romans. It is evident, from a flricT: enquiry into their' accounts, that the ferratula was the plant they meant; for Pliny fays, that the betonica was only a Gaulifh name for this pla- t, and the place of growth, which is defcrihed to be wet fliady places, evidently excludes what we aMnfemary from any title to the name.

Apuleius has greatly perplexed the caufe by faying, that the p u ites, orbetony, has leaves like thedocks; but Tie does not diftinguifh between the betonica and britannica, which laft plant is the hydrolapathum, or great water dock, and has leaves like the other docks; and it is plain, that both Apu- leius and Pliny borrow the account of the dock-like leaves from this paflage, and attribute them to a plant the original author never meant them for.

PRISMATIC atenna:, in natural hiftory, a term ufed to ex- prefs the horns or antenna of a peculiar genus of butterflies. As thofe of the common kind are (lender and buttoned at the end, thefe become very thick a little way from their origin, and^ continue of that diameter through their whole length, till juft at the extremity they turn a little and terminate in a fharp point. The anterior part of thefe is rounded, as in the other kinds ; but behind they are made up of two planes meeting in an angle, and each of thefe has a row of hairs on it: thefe meeiing at their fummits, form an angular vacant fpace or alley be'ow. Reaumur's Hilt. Inf. See Feelers.

PRISON (Cyd.) — Breaking ofprifm; by the law of Scotland, is a punifhablc offence; but there are no particular laws ao-ainft it in that country, fo they are guided by the Roman laws in fuch cafes. But tho' this law feems to make the punifhment of this crime capital, yet this is thoug! t too great feverity in Scotland, where an arbitrary punifr.ment, greater or lefs, according to the circumftances of the efcape, and the violence with which it was accomplifhed, is thought fufficicnt and ad- equate. Math, de Criniin. Carpz. Part 3. Bayne'% Crim. Law.

PRIST1S, the faw-fijh, a fifh of very large fize, and armed with a very remarkable weapon like a' faw, at his nofe, from whence he has his name See Tab. of Fifties, N y. c. This fifh, from its large fize, is generally reckoned a kind of whale, but crroneoufly ; for it is truly of the fame genus with the galei or hound-fifhes. It is afh-colour- ed on the back, and white on the belly ; its bead is of a heart-like fhape, and flatted ; its mouth is placed far below the end of the fnout, and in the under part of the head, as in thezygajna; its lips are rough and {harp, like a file, but it has no other teeth ; its head is terminated by a loiif and flat, bony fubftance, furnilhed on each fide with jaggs or points like deep teeth of a faw. There are from twenty to thirtv or thefe teeth on each fide. The body is round, and grows fmall towards the tail. The fword of this fifh is fometimes five feet long. It is found in the weftern ocean.

PRIVET, ligujlrum, in botany. See Ltoustrum.

The leaves and flowers of privet are cooling, drying, and aftringent, and confequently good in ulcers and inflammations oi the throat and mouth, bleeding of the gums, and relaxa- tion of the uvula.

Privet-^-, in natural hiftory, the name of a fpecies of fly very common on the fhrub from whence it has its name. It is cal'ed the erinoptertts, and is remarkable for having its wings deeply divided into figments; fo that they feem compofed of feathers like bird's wings. The creature as it fits looks like a fmall feather.

PRIZES (Cycl.)— The officers and feamen of the king's fhiris, and of other Bricifh (hips having letters of marque, are intitied to the file intereft, and property of all fltips and goods by them taken, and adjudged lawful prizes by the court of ad- miralty. Stat. 13 Geo. II. c. 4. fefl. 1 and ]. The prize is to be divided among the officers and feamen of

the