Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1873-02-05
Pens.

Tbe usc of pens with ink appears to
ave originated among tho Greek oc.
.upants of Egypt after tho conquest
If that country by Alexander tho
Iireat. Before that time IL was Gus.
tomary among the Greeks and isomans
to paint the letters on rolls OF parch-
ment or rced paper (papyrus) WITH q
Rnc camel s-hair pencil. The Cnlnesc
ut the present day use this method,
which accounts for the shape of their
letters. Among the Greeks and Ro-
mans the use OF n metal stylus TO
scratch words on waxcn tablets long
survived the introduction OF ink and
paper, The upper end of the stylus
was flattened, 80 that when memor.
andum marked on the wax had served
its purpose, it would be rubbed out
with that end, and the wax could thus
bc made ready for another inscription.
The "iron pen" Of which job speaks
wss a steel graver for cutting letters
10 stone or metal.
The first pens were made Of small
hard reed, about the size OF u swans
Quill, which grew in Egypt and Ar
menia, and found ready market 10
Cuiro and Alexandria. Reeds arc still
used for this purpose in Oriental coun-
tries. They are gathered on the shores
of the Persian gulf, and burned under
dung heaps for several months. Tho
heat and the gases generated BY tho
decomposition Of the manure dry up
the pilh, smooth and harden the sur.
face. aud give IL a mixed black and
yellow color.
The introduction Of our modern pa
per made ncedful finer pen than
reeds would furnish, and the quills Of
geese and swans met the new demand.
For the finest writing the qulls Of
crows and other smaller birds were
used. For centuries the quill trade
was immense. In Poland and Russia
great Hocks Of geese we're raised main
| ~ for their their quills. In one year
twenty-seven millions Of the latter
were exported 10 England from ST..
Petersburg The trade was also very
large in Holland and Germany. Each
goose would yield from both wings
(the only part from which quilts could
be) obtuined) but twenty feathers at
the outside, and often not more than
ten. The Dutch process consisted in
sorting the fresh, soft, tough feathers
into three sizes (primes, seconds, and
piuions), according TO the length and
thickness OF the barrel burying them
for short time in hot sand, which
dried the outside skin and loosened
the inner one. The outer was then
scraped OFF After this the quilts were
dipped in n boiling solution Of alum,
or into mixture Of nitric acid and
water, which hardened them and col
ored the barrel yellow. A part Of the
feather was then stripped of, and the
quilts tied up in bundles for sale.
The growth OF population, and the
spread OF knowledge of the art Of
writing since the school l-maslcr has
been abroad, produced toward the end
of the last century great increase in
the need Of pens, DR.. Johnson, who
wrote the whole of his English die.
tionary with single quill (Which was
afterward preserved in gold easel,
laughed at this demand but it devel-
oped in 1905 the first metallic PEN
Despite the greatgrowth of this latter
industry, it is stated by those best in
formed that the price and the produc-
ton of goose quills has hardly fallen
off; so that the metallic article would
seem simply to have supplied the ad-
dilional market lately created.