Chapter XIII: Implements of Writing

The implements used for writing necessarily varied in the different ages and diverse civilizations according to the character of the materials successively used and the nature and stage of the civilization. When inscriptions were made in stone of any sort--sand-stone, marble, granite, basalt, or other stone--or in wood, a _chisel_ was the tool. When the material used was lead, ivory, wax, or plastic clay,--bricks, tablets or cylinders--a _stylus_ was used. The stylus was made of bone, ivory, or metal, according to the requirements or tastes in the case. When the writing was with ink, upon leather, parchment, papyrus, paper, and kindred substances, a _pen_--of silver or from a reed or quill--was employed as in modern times. Pens of bronze have been found in tombs. _Brushes_, too, as in China, were used in recording literature. The "_pen-knife_," for fashioning pens from reeds or quills; the _pumice_ stone, for erasures and smoothing the material to be written upon; the _ruler_ and _compasses_, for indicating the lines of writing; _scissors_, _sponge_, and _ink-stand_ (the "writer's ink horn," Ezekiel 9:2, 3), sometimes double for different colored inks; and the _palette_, containing small hollows for the various kinds and colors of inks used, were all paraphernalia of the copyist's profession.