Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/250

 232 of which the ark was composed in which the infant Moses was laid, in the flags by the river s brink, were in fact the latter plant. Ancient authors have likewise referred to the adaptation of the papyrus to other domestic purposes, both culinary and medicinal. But it seems hardly credible that the Cyperus Papyrus could alone have sufficed for the many uses to which it is said to have been applied. Wilkinson has pointed out (Anc. Egyptians, ii. 121) that, the cultivation of this variety being limited to certain districts, where, moreover, it was a monopoly of the Government, it cannot have been employed for so many purposes ; and we may therefore conclude that several plants of the genus Ci/perm were comprehended under the head of byblus or papyrus an opinion which is supported by the words of Strabo, Avho mentions both inferior and superior qualities. The Cyperus dives is still grown in Egypt, and is used to this day for many of the purposes named by ancient writers. The widespread use of papyrus as a writing material throughout the ancient world is attested by early writers, and by documents and sculptures. In addition to the names of the plant, which were also applied to the material, the latter was also known as x*P n ? 5 &amp;gt; charta. Papyrus rolls are represented in ancient Egyptian wall-paintings ; and extant examples of the rolls themselves are sufficiently numerous. The most ancient of these, known, from the name of its former owner, as the Prisse papyrus, and now preserved at Paris, contains a work composed in the reign of a king of the fifth dynasty, and is computed to be itself of the age of upwards of 2000 years B.C. The papyri dis covered in Egypt have generally been found in tombs, and in the hands, or swathed with the bodies, of mummies. The ritual of the dead, which in its entirety or in an abridged form was buried with every person of consequence from the eighteenth dynasty to the Roman period, is most frequently the subject. And, besides the ritual and religious rolls, there are the hieratic, civil and literary, documents, and the demotic and enchorial papyri, relating generally to sales of property. Coptic papyri usually contain Biblical or religious tracts or monastic deeds. The early use of papyrus among the Greeks is proved by the reference of Herodotus (v. 58) to its introduction among the lonians. An inscription of 407 B.C. records the sale of two sheets (^aprm 8vo) at Athens, for two drachmas and four obols. Greek papyri have been found in Egypt of great importance both for their palaeographical and literary worth. The first instalment which came to light, as late as the year 1778, consisted of some fifty rolls, which were discovered in the neighbourhood of Memphis ; but all, with one single exception, were carelessly destroyed. More fortunate were the documents found near the Serapeum of Memphis, and connected with that temple ; and further discoveries of valuable texts of Homer, Hyperides, and other classical writers have rewarded later searches (see PALEOGRAPHY). The numerous rolls found in the ruins of Herculaneum generally contain the less interesting works of writers of the Epicurean school. Papyrus also made its way into Italy, but at how early a period there is nothing to show. Under the empire its use must have been extensive, for not only was it required for the production of books, but it was also universally employed for domestic purposes, correspondence, and legal documents. So indispensable did it become that it is reported that in the reign of Tiberius the scarcity and dearness of the material, caused by a failure of the papyrus crop, nearly brought on a riot (Pliny, N. II., xiii. 13). The account which Pliny (N . II., xiii. 11-13) has trans mitted to us of the manufacture of the writing material from the papyrus plant should be taken strictly to refer to the process followed in his own time ; but, with some differences in details, the same general method of treat ment had doubtlessly been practised from time immemorial. His text, however, is so confused, both from obscurity of style and from corruptions in the MSS., that there is much difference of opinion as to the meaning of many words and phrases employed in his narrative, and their application in particular points of detail. In one important parti cular, however, affecting the primary construction of the material, there can no longer be any doubt. The old idea that it was made from layers or pellicules growing between the rind and a central stalk has been abandoned, as it has been proved that the plant, like other reeds, con tains only a cellular pith within the rind. The stem was in fact cut into longitudinal strips for the purpose of being converted into the writing material, those from the centre of the plant being the broadest and most valuable. The strips (philyrse), which were cut with a sharp knife or some such instrument, were laid on a board side by side to the required width, thus forming a layer (scheda), across which another layer of shorter strips was laid at right angles. The two layers thus &quot; woven &quot;- Pliny uses the word texere in describing this part of the process formed a sheet (playultt, or net), which was then soaked in water of the Nile. The mention of a particular water has caused trouble to the commentators. Some have supposed that certain chemical properties of which the Nile water was possessed acted as a glue or cement to cause the two layers to adhere ; others, with more reason, that glutinous matter contained in the material itself was solved by the action of water, whether from the Nile or any other source ; and others again read in Pliny s words an implication that a paste was actually used. Be this as it may, the sheet was finally pressed and dried in the sun. Any roughness was levelled by polishing with ivory or a smooth .shell. But the material was also subject to other defects, such as moisture lurking between the layers, which might be detected by strokes of the mallet ; spots or stains ; and spongy strips (tseniee), in which the ink would run and spoil the sheet. When such faults occurred, the papyrus must be re-made. To form a roll the sheets were joined together with paste (glue being too hard), but not more than twenty sheets in a roll (scapus). As, however, there are still extant rolls consisting of more than the prescribed number of sheets, either the reading of vicenx is corrupt, or the number was not constant in all times. The best sheet formed the first or outside sheet of the roll, and the others were joined on in order of quality, so that the worst sheets were in the centre of the roll. This arrange ment was adopted, not for the purpose of fraudulently sell ing bad material under cover of the better exterior, but in order that the outside of the roll should be composed of that which would best stand wear and tear. Besides, in case of the entire roll not being filled with the text, the unused and inferior sheets at the end could be better spared, and so might be cut off. The different kinds of papyrus writing material and their dimensions arc also enumerated by Pliny. The best quality, formed from the middle and broadest strips of the plant, was originally named hieratica, but afterwards, in flattery of the emperor Augustus, it was called, after him, Augusta ; and the charta Livia, or second quality, was so named in honour of his wife. The hieratica thus descended to the third rank. The first two were 13 digiti, or about 9^ inches in width; the hieratica, 11 digiti or 8 inches. Next came the charta amphithcatrica, named after the principal place of its manufacture, the amphitheatre of Alexandria, of 9 digiti or 6 inches wide. The charta Fanniana appears to have been a kind of papyrus worked up from the amphitheatrica, which by flattening and other methods was increased in width by an inch, in the factory of a certain Fannius at Rome. The S&amp;lt;dtica,^ which took its name from the city of Sais, and was probably of 8 digiti or 5f inches, was of a common description. The T&niotica, named apparently from the place of its manufacture, a tongue of land (rat via) near Alexandria, was sold by weight, and was of