The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1899-06-28
MOVABLE METAL TYPE.
Thu We're Used Ia Korea Long 1siws Their
Ewopesn Invention.

Even Korea can boast Of her share
OF the great inventions OF the world.
though, singularly enough, neither the
world at large nor she herself, except
in one case. has benefited permanently
by the inventions .F
Korea was the first OF all people
20 originate movable metal type. says
Harper's Magazine. For hundreds OF
years the country and the king had
been under the dominion OF the Budd-
hist priesthood, and the land was suf-
feiing the extremes OF sacerdotalism.
Every third son must by law become
a monk-in other words, an unproduc-
tive member of society; the killing or
a cow was a greater crime than the
killing of a man. The peoples houses
were being seized for the erection or
worse than useless monasteries. Al
last the General vi Ta-jo, whom dot
ard king had sent upon the insane mis-
sion OF invading China, turned TO his
soldiers and said Shall we return u
the capital and apply ourselves TO the
cleansing of the unspeakable corrup-
tion of our country" He was applaud
ed TO the echo and like julius Caesar,
but with better purpose, he recrossed
the Yalu, Koreas Rubicon, marched
back upon the capital and sealed the
death warrant of sacerdotalism. No
sooner had the new dynasty been
founded i'm 1892 than literature received
new impetus through the revival of
Confucianism and the study OF the an
cient classics. The monasteries. which
had become the repositories of the
scholarship OF the land were filled with
the unntelligible jargon of Buddhism,
fined 60 it's ritual. But now schools
were being established. books were be-
ing demanded and students were call
ing impatiently for the time-honored
classics. Thus IL was that i'm the reign
OF King Ta-tong a fount OF metal type
was cast, the first the world had ever
seen. The art OF typography had ex-
listed for centuries, and clay type had
also been used in Japan, but Korea was
the first 60 discern the need of the more
permanent and durable form of metal
type; and so well did she carry out
her plan that the type then cast has
came down TO the present day pracl-
cally unimpaired. Each type was built
on the principle OF the arch, being cy-
lindrically concave on the under side.
The purpose of this was TO secure a
firmer hold upon the bed OF beeswax
which constituted the form" techni-
caliy so called. a shallow tray was
filed with wax and the type, after be-
ing firmly imbedded in il. were plan
ed I'm the ordinary manner The prin-
ter. sitting cross legged before IL, ap-
piled liquid by means OF soft brush
after which a sheet OF paper was light
ly laid upon the form. a piece of felt
was brushed softly across the porous
paper. with the right hand. and the
left removed the printed page. In this
way IL was possible TO strike off some
] 500 impressions in n day.
That the pieces OF type from which
the illustration was made belonged TO
the original fount is fairly plain.
though not absolutely dsnsanstrahle.
The annals OF Korea show clearly that
there have been two such founts cast
one about the year 1906 and the other
some two centuries later. But we find
that these two founts. or the remains
of them, exist today. Those OF the
later casting are now I'm common use
i'm the Korean government printing
office.