PARCHMENT

(Fr. par chem in.) A material formed of tlie prepared skins chiefly of sheep and goats, when intended to be written upon. A similar preparation of calves', kids', and lambs' skins is called vellum. The skins are first prepared as for tanning; then shaved down and pumiced; and lastly, stretched and carefully dried. The parchment of drums is made of the skins of a es, calves, and wolves; a skin is used for battledores; and goat skin is preferred for sieves. For some kinds of bookbinding parchment is dyed green by verd i grease. (See lire's Dictionary of Arts.) Parchment was known at a very early period. It was used for writing as early as the year 2.50 before the Christian era by Eumenes, king of Pergamus; who, desirous of collecting a library which should vie with that of Alexandria, but prevented by the jealousy of the Ptolemies from obtaining a sufficient quantity of papyrus, had recourse to this substitute; and its invention at Pergamus claimed and secured to it the lasting name of Pergamena: whence parchment. (Sir G, Wilkinson'' s Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, iii. 151.) In the beginning of the eighth century, the use of the papyrus was almost entirely superseded by parchment, on which we find that all the public documents under Charlemagne and his dynasty were written. When the different kinds of parchment came into use for the purposes of writing, they were rolled up before they could be sealed: hence the word volumen, from Lat. volvere, to roll. And as parties wrote to the very bottom of the parchment, i. e. to the place where the cord used for the folding was fastened, we may account for the well-known expre ion, opus ad umbilicum. perdu£tum. [s. 901] A Dictionary of Science, Literature, and Art — W. T. Brande (1st Ed.) ana Sözlük (A–Z)