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captivated the imagination; misled the judgment;

and stamped with the dignified title of history; the

amusing excursions of fanciful romance。 Too

proud to consider surrounding nations; (if the Eyptians

may be excepted) in any light but that of

barbarians; they despised their records; they altered

their language; and framed too often their

details; more to the prejudices of their fellow citizens;

than to the standard of truth or probability。

We have names of Persian kings; which a Persian

could not pronounce; we have facts related they

apparently never knew; and we have customs

ascribed to them; which contradict every distinguishing

characteristic of an Eastern people。 The

story of Lysimachus and one Greek historian may

indeed; with justice; be applied to many others。

This prince; in the partition of Alexander's empire;

became King of Thrace: he had been one of the

most active of that conqueror's commanders; and

was present at every event which deserved the

attention of history。 A Grecian had written an

account of the Persian conquest; and be wished to

read it before the king。 The monarch listened

with equal attention and wonder: 'All this is very

fine;' says he; when the historian had finished;

'but where was I when those things were performed?' 〃







CHAPTER II。



ANTIQUITY OF INK。



THE INVENTION OF THE ART OF WRITINGTO WHOM

IT BELONGSITS UTILIZATION BY NATIONS AND

INDIVIDUALSWHEN IT IS FIRST MENTIONED IN THE

BIBLECITATIONS FROM THE ENCYCLOPaeDIA BRITANNICA

AND SMITHS DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLESOME

REMARKS BY HUMPHREYS OF THE ORIGIN AND PROGRESS

OF HANDWRITINGCOMMENTS BY PLATO AND

THE COLLOQUY BETWEEN KING THAMUS AND THOTH;

THE EGYPTIAN GOD OF THE LIBERAL ARTSFIRST

APPEARANCE OF INK WRITTEN ROLLSDESTRUCTION

OF THE TEMPLES WHICH CONTAINED THEMCOMMENTS

OF THE HISTORIAN ROLLINSDESTRUCTION

OF THE MOST ANCIENT CHINESE INK WRITTEN MSS。



THERE is a difference of opinion as to what nation

belongs the honor of the invention of the art of

handwriting。 Sir Isaac Newton observes:



〃There is the utmost uncertainty in the chronology

of ancient kingdoms; arising from the vanity

of each claiming the greatest antiquity; while those

pretensions were favoured by their having no exact

account of time。〃



Its antiquity has been exhaustively treated by many

writers; the best known are Massey; 1763; The Origin

and Progress of Letters;〃 Astle; 1803; 〃The Origin

and Progress of Writing;〃 Silvestre; 〃Universal

Palaeography;〃 Paris; 1839…41 ; and Humphreys; 1855;

〃The Origin and Progress of the Art of Writing。〃

They; with others; have sought to record the origin

and gradual development of the art of writing from

the Egyptian Hieroglyphics of 4000 B。 C。; the Chinese

Figurative; 3000 B。 C。 ; Indian Alphabetic; 2000 or

more B。 C。 ; the Babylonian or Cuneiform; 2000

years B。 C。; and the Phoenician in which they include

the Hebrew or Samaritan Alphabet; 2000 or more

B。 C。; down to the writings of the new or Western

world of the Christian era。



The data presented and the arguments set forth;

deserve profound respect; and though we find some

favoring the Egyptians; or the Phoenicians; the Chaldeans;

the Syrians; the Indians; the Persians or the

Arabians; it is best to accept the concensus of their

opinion; which seems to divide between the Phoenicians

and the Egyptians as being the inventors of the

foremost of all the arts。 〃For; in Phoenicia; had

lived Taaut or Thoth the first Hermes; its inventor;

and who later carried his art into Egypt where they

first wrote in pictures; some 2200 years B。 C。〃



The art appears to have been first exercised in

Greece and the West about 1500 or 1800 B。 C。; and

like all arts; it was doubtless slow and progressive。

The Greeks refer the invention of written letters to

Cadmus; merely because he introduced them from

Phoenicia; then only sixteen in number。 To these;

four more were added by Simonides。 Evander brought

letters into Latium from Greece; the Latin letters being

at first nearly the same form as the Greek。 The Romans

employed a device of scattering green sand upon tables;

for the teaching of arithmetic and writing; and in India

a 〃sand box〃 consisting of a surface of sand laid on a

board the finger being utilized to trace forms; was the

method followed by the natives to teach their children。

It is said that such methods still obtain even in this

age; in some rural districts of England。



After the invention of writing well…informed nations

and individuals kept scribes or chroniclers to record in

writing; historical and other events; mingled with claims

of antiquity based on popular legends。



These individuals were not always held in the highest

esteem。 Among the Hebrews it was considered an

honorable vocation; while the Greeks for a long time

treated its practitioners as outcasts。 It was an accomplishment

possessed by the few even down to the fifteenth

century of the Christian era。 The rulers of

the different countries were deficient in the art and

depended on others to write their documents and letters

to which they appended their monogram or the

sign of the Cross against their names as an attestation。

So late as A。 D。 1516 an order was made in London to

examine all persons who could write in order to discover

the authorship of a seditious document。



The art of writing is not mentioned in the Bible

prior to the time of Moses; although as before stated;

in Egypt and the countries adjacent thereto it was not

only known but practiced。



Its first mention recorded in Scripture will be found

in Exodus xvii。 v。 14; 〃And the Lord said unto

Moses; Write this; for a memorial; in a book; and

rehearse it in the ear of Joshua; for I will utterly put

out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven。〃

This command was given immediately after the defeat

of the Amalekites near Horeb; and before the arrival

of the Israelites at Mount Sinai。



It is observable; that there is not the least hint to

induce us to believe that writing was then newly invented;

on the contrary; we may conclude; that Moses

understood what was meant by writing in a book;

otherwise God would have instructed him; as he had

done Noah in building the Ark; for he would not have

been commanded to write in a book; if he had been

ignorant of the art of writing; but Moses expressed

no difficulty of comprehension when he received this

command。 We also find that Moses wrote all the

works and all the judgments of the Lord; contained

in the twenty…first and the two succeeding chapters of

the book of Exodus; before the two written tables of

stone were even so much as promised。 The delivery

of the tables is not mentioned till the eighteenth verse

of the thirty…first chapter; after God had made an

end of communing with him upon the mount; though

the ten commandments were promulgated immediately

after his third descent。



Moses makes frequent mention of ancient books of

the Hebrews; but describes none; except the two tables

on which God wrote the ten commandments。 These

he tells us; were of polished stone; engraven on both

sides and as Calmet remarks: 〃it is probable that

Moses would not have observed to us these two particulars

so often as he does; were it not to distinguish

them from other books; which were made of tables;

not of stone; but of wood and curiously engraven; but

on one side only。〃



It cannot be said that Moses uses any language

which can be construed to mean the employment of

rolls of papyrus; or barks of trees; much less of parchment。

We have therefore reason to believe that by

the term book; he always means table…books; made of

small thin boards or plates。



The edicts; as well as the letters of kings; were written

upon tablets and sent to the various provinces;

sealed with their signets。 Scripture plainly alludes

to the custom of sealing up letters; edicts and the tablets

on which the prophets wrote their visions。



The practice of writing upon rolls made of the barks

of trees is very ancient。 It is alluded to in the Book

of Job: 〃Oh! that mine adversary had written a book;

surely I would take it upon my shoulders; and bind

it as a crown to me。〃 (Old version。) The new one

runs: 〃And that I had the indictment which mine

adversary hath written!〃 The rolls; or volumes;

generally speaking; were written upon one side only。

This is intimated by Ezekiel who observes that he

saw one of in extraordinary form written on both

sides: 〃And when I looked; behold; an Hand was sent

unto me; and lo! a roll of a book was therein; and he

spread it before me; and it was written within and

without。〃



To have been able to write on dry tablets of wood

or barks of trees with the reed or brush; the then only

ink…writing instruments in vogue would have necessitated

the employment of lampblack suspended in a

vehicle of thick gum; or in the form of a paint。 Both

of these maybe termed pigmentary inks。 The use of

thin inks would have caused spreading or blotting and

thus rendered the writing illegible。



The Encyclopaedia Britannica generalizes its remarks

on this subject:



〃The earliest writings were purely monumental

and accordingly those materials were chosen which

were supposed to last the longest。 The same idea

of perpetuity which in architecture finds its most

striking exposition in the pyramids was repeated;

in the case of literary records; in the two columns

mentioned by Josephus; the one of stone and the

other of brick; on which the children of Seth wrote

their inventions and astronomical discoveries; in

the pillars in Crete on which; according to Porphyry;

the ceremonies of the Corybantes were inscribed;

in the leaden tablets containinlu the works of Hesiod;

deposited in the temple of the Muses; in Boeotia;

in the ten commandments on stone delivered by

Moses; and in the laws of Solon; inscribed on planks

of wood。 The notion of a literary production surviving

the destruction of the materials on which it

was first writtenthe 'momentum; aere perennius'

of Horace's ambitionwas unknown before the discovery

of substances for systematic transcription。



〃Tablets of ivory or metal were in common use

among the Greeks and Romans。 When made of

woodsometimes of citron; but usually of beech or

firtheir inner sides were coated with wax; on

which the letters were traced with a pointed pen or

stiletto (stylus); one end of which was used for

erasure。 It was with his stylus that Caesar stabbed

Casca in the arm when attacked by his murderers。

Wax tablets of this kind continued in partial use in

Europe during the middle ages; the oldest extant

specimen; now in the museum at Florence; belongs

to the year 1301。〃



Later the Hebrew Scriptures were written in ink or

paint upon the skins of ceremonially clean animals or

even bi

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