FATHER LE MENANT DES CHESNAIS' LECTURE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 31, 25 November 1887, Page 27

FATHER LE MENANT DES CHESNAIS' LECTURE.

( Continued.) I HATE dow to explain the materials used in writing. The Egyptian employed s sort of paper made of the papyrus, a kind of reed which grew to the height of from 6ft. to 9ft. the stem of which was triangular in form. When the reeds were full grown they were cut off by the roots and split lengthways. The delicate pellicles surrounding the stems were extracted and carefully dried in a stove, after which they were flattened out, and, by the aid of hot water and flour, pasted on one another in sheets of various sizes and were extremely flexible These sheets were polished by marine shells and were made of a daazling white colour, after which they were fit for use, They also made pens or styles of a kind of reed found everywhere along the banks of the Nile and the Euphrates. The ink to write with was made of berries of different colours aud gathered from shrubs grow, ing in the locality. There was a factory for the fabrication of paper at Alexandria, from which it was sent throughout Egypt and other eastern countries. A most beautiful paper was also made ont of the aloe, the leaves of which were dried and subjected to a process by which the fibre was extracted and then pressed by great weight An excellent paper was also manufactured from the leaves of the palmtree. A very good paper could be made from New Zealand fljx (Fkormium Tenax) if we were a little more industrious. Its fibreß are extremely suitable for making ropes, etc., only they must be mixed with Borne other substance, as they would be likely to snap in the course of time. By the aid of some chemical preparation very many useful articles can be made from it, and in the course of time some of our friends from tha other side of the ocean, will come over and start factories for its manufacture. Then, instead of being despised and destroyed as at present, it will be highly appreciated I have now to speak of the invention of printing properly so called which was discovered by John Guttenburg, a great friend of the Franciscans, and a devoted child of the Catholic Church, in 1468 He was possessed of a beautiful voice, with which he assisted in singing the hymns at the devotions in the church of the Franciscans, in wih.ch he was afterwards buried. He was the first who found out how to print with raised characters. Wishing to reproduce some of the masterpieces of the past, then used in the offices of the Church he made letters of wood which he carved with his penknife By Ibis means he printed a few flying sheets, and carved pictures out of bl-^ks ot wood from which he made several copies and distiibuic 1 Hem arsons- his fnends, who were greatly astonished. A disciple of hi« bchoefler, next made types from metal. Guttenburg wL gre uly assisted by Faust, who gave him money ia order to carry out his improvements He printed a most' beautiful Bible (Biblica Latma) in 1459, and the. Psalms of David, called the '' Psalier of Mayence," in 1457. Punting was introduced into tbe British Dominions by Caxton, who was a Catholic, and a great tnend of Thomas Milling, Lord Abbot of Westminster. This Thomas Milling was a gieat Fcientist, and having heard of the discovery and invention ot pricing from metallic types by Schoeffer he determined to introduce it into England. He assisted Caxtou in every way boh by money and aiv.ee to establish a printing press in Westminster Abbey, from whence were ' issued the first Bib c that was established in England and also the "Lives of the Fibers of the DeVrt >! - Now you will see that it was devoted members of tin Catholic Church ' who introduced printing into the world, and also printed the first < Bibles, and yet the Catholic Church i« accused of trying to keep its ' tnf e th« ln ß^°M n ? c - V l hHd timel ™*i show you that it wa 9 I out of the Bible that our fathers of the E.ist and West learned io read ■ I that the early Christians taught their children how to read out of I the Holy Scriptures. There were tablets of wax on which the early I wn ers printed their thoughts with styles, and it was on such tables that the discourses of the gre.is doctors <,f the Church, such as Sd ! Ambrose and Augustine, etc., were taken down and it was also on -hese tablets that the shorthand writers of the early Christians noted down the- facts that transpired. When an eaily Christian was brought before a Comt of Jußtice a shorthand writer was sent amor g the°crowd to I wnle down everything that was said ; and cojnes of these not.-, on papyrus were made an,4 scattered about. Furthermore, in the schools ! uere scrolls of papyrus on wbich were extracts from the Holy Sou.,- ' ime>, and horn the lives of the apostles and martyrs, nni it was out ■ o they, that the children learned to read and acquired a kin*TeJ"e I of the faith and had the Old Testament explained to them by a bis W or priii,t, or by some duly appointed clergyman. St Auousti [■ brought a copy of the Holy Scriptures with him to England bt latnck aso to Ireland, and many fathers did the same °You'm!iv tee in other countries copies of the Holy Scriptures that were written n.oie than 1200 years before the Reformation or Mnrtin Luther was heard of. Now I come to the inveniion of clocks, baromettrs in i t\ ermometers. A clock in the general sense of the tirm is an instrument to mea-ure time. Time was measured amongst the ancients hv means of the gnomon, which was simply a style placed on a flat mi. face v, npiesent the shadow of the hud. If you place a stick in 'he ground tbe shadow will follow th« moMons of ih.- sun or rath-., ! thobeof the earth, in revolvins on its axles. It will be create t when the sun is nsiDg or siting, and least at noon. Li ton wa> Ume waß measured in the olden days. (To be concluded in our next )