PARCHMENT (OF.. Fr. porchyinin, from La t. p, rgaininn, p rya no a',, from Gk. :nip parchment, from II p?rzptiror, rya inr.nos, lating to Pergamus, from Ily;upor, I I yr, apov, Pcruamon, a city of in Minor,w hence parchment was originally brought , and VELLUNI ( from OF. rchn, Fr. rehm, Muni, from .ME. ritu/Mus, relating to a calf. from rituhts, calf: connected with Gk. IraVs, itolus, Mkt. ratsa, calf, from rasa, s-ac, year). Parchment is one of the oldest of writing materials, known at least a. early as B.C. 500. Herodotus speak. of books written upon skins in his time. Pliny, without good grounds, places the invention as late a. me. 196, stating that it was made at Pergannim in the reign of Eumenes II., in consequenee of Ptolemy of Egypt haying prohibited the exporta tion of papyrus. Possibly the Pergamian inven tion was an improvement in the preparation of skins, which had certainly been used centuries before. The manufacture rose to great impor tance in Dome about the first century MC.. and its use spread over all Europe, and retained it. prei;minenee until the invention of paper from rags.
Parchment is prepared from the of -heep and goats; vellum, from that of calves, kids. and dead-born lambs: the thick. common kind., for drums, tamborines, battledores, etc., from those of old goats and in Northern Europe from wolves; and a peculiar kind is made from a.-.'.'
skins, the surface of which is enameled. It is used for tablets, as black-lead writing can be readily removed from it by moisture. The method of making parchment is at first the same as in dressing skins for leather. The skins are limed in the lime-pit until the hair is ea.ily removed. They are then tightly and equally upon a square wooden frame called a herse. The flesh side is drc.socl as in currying. until a perfectly smooth surface is obtained. it is next ground by rubbing over it a flat piece of pumice stone. previously dre.sing the flesh side only with powdered chalk, and slaked lime sprinkled over it. It is next allowed to dry, still ti4htly stretched on the frame. The drying process is an important. one and must be rather slowly carried on. for which purpose it must be in the shade. Sometimes these proces.e, have to be reneated several times, in order to in.ure an excellent quality, and !midi depends upon the skill with which the pumice stone is used, and also upon the tinenes. of the pumice itself. Vellum i. prepared with the tinest pu mice. When quite dried the lime awl ehalk are removed by rubbing with a soft lanib.kin with the wool on.