"The decalogue was graven upon the tables of stone.
"The Egyptians used papyrus and granite.
"The Burmese, tablets of ivory and leaves.
"Pliny mentions sheets of lead, books of linen, and waxed tablets of wood.
"The Hebrews used linen and skins.
"The Persians, Mexicans, and North American Indians used skins.
"The Greeks, prepared skins called membrana.
"The people of Pergamus, parchment and vellum.
"The Hindoos, palm-leaves."
The written deeds of biblical time were kept in various styles of pottery (Jeremiah xxxii. 14). Handwriting on tiles was common in Egypt, Assyria and Palestine (Ezekiel iv. I). Such handwritings were on tablets of terra-cotta or common baked clay bricks.
One of the kind was fashioned by inscribing directly with a "stylus" on the clay, before baking. Another, were "moulds" made from older inscriptions or duplicates from the first kind.
The Hebrew term sepher, translated into English means a "book," and some authorities claim it is derived from the same root as the Greek , a stone, which would seem to point to engraved stones as the earliest kinds of records. Indeed nearly all the passages in the Five Books of Moses, in which writing is mentioned, refer to records of this kind, or to tablets of lead or wood, occasionally described as coated with wax.
Long before the use of papyrus, or any like substance was known as a material for writing on, thin bricks were frequently utilized for such purposes.
The Chinese wrote on slips of bamboo which had been previously scraped to be afterwards submitted to intense heat which so hardened them, that a graver would cut lines with the same facility, as could be accomplished on soft metal like lead. These bamboo tablets were joined together by means of cords made of bark and when folded formed a "book." Different nations adopted other modes in their preparation of surfaces to engrave on. Many original specimens have come down to us which present definite evidence of the variety of materials and methods employed in their manufacture.
Hilprecht, "Explorations in Bible Lands," 1903, mentions many discoveries of such specimens. He says that more than four thousand clay tablets were discovered during the excavations of 1889 and 1900.
These relics call attention only to a very few discoveries of this character. There were other explorers who preceded Hilprecht in this direction, and who with him have thus secured tangible evidence which fully confirms all that has been said about the employment of the most ancient of writing instruments, the "stylus."The diamond is also to be classified under the head of "scratching implements" and many historical incidents are recorded of its use. One of the most interesting relates to Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth and to be found in Scott's "Kenilworth."Sir Walter, using his diamond ring, wrote on a pane of glass in her summer-house at Greenwich:
"Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall."The maiden Queen adding the words:
"If thy mind fail thee, do not climb at all."Biblical mention of the diamond, employed as a pen, is found in Jeremiah xvii. 1.
"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond."It has not always been possible to decipher and interpret the character values of the most ancient hieroglyphics or picture writings inscribed on bricks, stone and metal slabs, and the Egyptian monuments. The means to do so were furnished as the result of a very fortunate accident or "find."A French artillery officer in 1799 while excavating the foundations for a fortification near the Rosetta mouth of the Nile, found a curious black tablet of stone. On it were engraved three inscriptions, each of different characters and dialects.
