DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( put toa similar use. In the year 485 the remains of St. Barnabas were found in Greece with a copy of a portion of the New Testament written on this material and placed on his breast. But undoubtedly the most ancient material of all used for this purpose was Papyrus, hence our word paper. This substance was procured from a bulrush of that name which grows on the banks of the Nile, and was used in Egypt by the Pharaohs and their subjects, whose history we can trace back for upwards of 6000 years. Amongst the ancient Britons the original method of writing was by cutting letters with a knife on sticks, which were afterwards put together in the form of a frame or book. I need not say that this very primitive method was superseded when parch- ment or vellum was first introduced into this country from the far East. Its preparation from the skins of sheep, lambs, and goats, has been traced to distant antiquity, and it remained for many centuries in use, despite its costliness, after linen rags had been employed for the manufacture of paper. No two scholars agree about the date when linen rags were first so employed, but this is certain, that the earliest manuscript of linen paper, which was recently in the possession of a German professor, bore the date of 1239, That knowledge and culture were cherished,