Aquarius the Water-bearer, is a boatman on a river.
Pisces the Fish, is two fish dealers blowing their horns.
Gutenberg.
Invention of Printing.
The art of writing is one of great antiquity. At first, it consisted of what are called hieroglyphics—which are pictures of objects, or signs and symbols of objects, or figures, expressing words to the ear. The ancient Egyptians, the Chinese, and the Mexican Indians, all appear to have hit upon this hieroglyphical mode of writing.
The invention of letters, for spelling words, was of later date; and the writing of them was later still. The first writing was probably upon stone, and was used, doubtless, to record great events upon national monuments, as pyramids, obelisks, temples, and other structures. As the art grew more familiar, it was practised upon wood, ivory, metals, and leaves.
The leaves of the papyrus, from which paper takes its name, afterwards came into use, and for a long time were employed for books, letters, &c., as we use paper. The papyrus is a water plant, the root being always immersed in water. It grows eight or ten feet high, with a stout naked stalk: the leaves are eight in number, sword-shaped, and two feet long. They grow abundantly along the marshy borders of the Nile, and in some parts of Sicily. It is still used in the countries where it grows, for sail-cloth and cordage, and sometimes for wearing apparel. Of the stems, closely woven together, basket-fashion, boats are made.
The manufacture of the papyrus into paper appears to have been of ancient date. The skin of the leaves, only, was used. This, which was usually a foot wide, was taken off, by some process, and several layers were pressed together, having been dampened by the water of the Nile. Thus a texture as thick as parchment was formed. It was made into rolls, for books. The city of Alexandria, in Egypt, carried on a large manufacture of this kind of paper, and derived great wealth from it. The making of paper, from cotton and linen rags, did not supersede the papyrus paper till the eleventh century.