USEFUL INVENTIONS.

PRINTING.

AMONG THE MANY ARTS AND sciences cultivated in society, some are only adapted to supply our natural wants, or assist our infirmities; some are mere instruments of luxury, calculated to flatter pride, to gratify vanity, and to satisfy our desires of every description; whilst others tend at once to secure, to accommodate, delight, and give consequence to man. Of this latter kind, Printing undoubtedly stands pre-eminent; and if viewed in its full extent, it may be truly said to possess a very considerable portion not only of the comforts, but the conveniences and positive utilities of life. The advantages derived from this invention must be acknowledged by all,-this art has proved the principal step towards civilization: by it has Christianity been propagated; and by its powerful means are we made acquainted with all that is useful in knowledge, in art, and science. It would take the pen of an inspired writer to enumerate all the blessings which flow from it. It is a patent engine which possesses a preponderating influence over the mind of man either for good or evil, according as it is used.

As we proceed we will have frequent occasion to express our feelings in grateful eulogium, when considering the benefits resulting to society from various ingenious inventions and discoveries; but when we consider the advantages derived from the typographic art, it appears like a vortex, drawing every other sensation into its deep interest, and engulphing every consideration, so that we can think of nothing but printing, and its extensive catalogue of benefits. This interest is wonderfully increased, whether it be viewed on account of its ingenuity, the extent of its benefits, or the benevolence of its objects. In whatever point of view we behold it, whether as a medium for giving the utmost facility to the despatch of the common concerns of life; or as affording the eager mind of the philosophic inquirer the ready means to gratify the inquisitive thirst of his knowledge; in every species of mental intelligence, the rapid facility which it affords to the multiplication of those mediums of communication, by which knowledge is promulgated in every part of the earth. We are at a loss for a term sufficiently comprehensive to express our sense of the infinite importance of those advantages which accrue to mankind from the invention of an art so replete with important consequences, which we hourly perceive to emanate from typography. We need therefore scarcely offer an apology for inserting a brief history of this divine art in our pages.

The earliest specimens of printing which have been discovered, consist in the stamped marks on the bricks and tiles used in building the tower and city of Babel, and which may be dated as far back as two thousand two hundred years before Christ. A number of these stamped clay materials of Babel are still preserved in antiquarian repositories. It is remarkable that they generally differ in shape and appearance, and that the letters or words, which are in ancient character, seem to have been stamped by the hand with moveable blocks. In Trinity College, Cambridge, some curious specimens are preserved, one of which is a round piece of clay, seven inches in height, and three in thickness at the end, resembling a barrel, being thickest at the middle. This interesting relic, this Chaldean book, is entirely covered with lines of letters and words running from the one end to the other; from its portable character it may be called a pocket volume, and one which cannot be less than four thousand years old. It is mounted on a marble pedestal, covered with a glass case, secured by an iron bracket, and so contrived that the curious inspector may cause it to revolve on its marble base; but the greatest care is taken of this valuable relic of antiquity. It appears to have been printed by two moulds, and at the middle of the circumference a small blank square has been left, in case as it is supposed, room should be required for a portion of the clay to escape in the action of compression.

Next to these extremely ancient stamped bricks, in point of interest and antiquity, are specimens of the earliest engraving of letters on stone. We are informed by various historical writers that Cadmus, a Phonician, who lived one thousand five hundred years before Christ, at a period contemporary with Moses, and who was esteemed as the builder of the city of Thebes, was the first who taught the Greeks the use of alphabetic symbols, an art he most likely acquired from the Hebrews. The most ancient specimen of an engraved inscription now known to be extant, is the Sigean Inscription, so called from having been disinterred upon a promontory named Sigeum, situate near the ancient city of Troy, in Phrygia. It is engraved on a pillar of beautifully white marble, nine feet high, two feet broad, and eight inches thick, and which, from the inscription, served as the pedestal of the heathen god Hermocrates. The letters used in this inscription are the capitals of the Grecian language, though rudely cut, but read from right to left like the Hebrew. This specimen of engraving must be about three thousand years old.

Another not less interesting relic of the earliest age of printing is found in a Roman signet ring or stamp, approaching in character to that species of stamp now used by the post-office on letters. This curiosity is preserved in the British Museum. It is the very earliest specimen we possess of printing, by means of ink or any similar substance. It is made of metal, a sort of Roman brass; the ground of which is covered with a green kind of verdigris rust, with which antique medals are usually covered. The letters rise flush up to the elevation of the exterior rim which surrounds it. Its dimensions are, about two inches long, by one inch broad. At the back of it is a small ring for the finger, to promote the convenience of holding it. As no person of the name which is inscribed upon it is mentioned in Roman History, he is therefore supposed to have been a functionary of some Roman officer, or private steward, and who, perhaps, used this stamp to save himself the trouble of writing his name. A stamp somewhat similar, in the Greek character, is in the possession of the Antiquarian Society, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

It will be perceived that however curious these relics of antiquity may be, they do not bear any connection with the art of printing books. The origin of this invention seems to be quite independent of a preceding knowledge of impressing by means of stamps. What is, however, worthy of remark, the art of printing books, though on a rude principle, was known and in use among the Chinese, at least one thousand four hundred years before it was invented in Europe. The printing of the Chinese has never resembled anything of the kind in this country. From the first it has been conducted without moveable types. Each page has been, and continues to be, a block or cut stamp, which is thus useful for only one subject-so that every book must have its own blocks. No press is used. The paper being thin, when laid on the block receives the impression by being smoothed over with a brush. There is reason to infer that the art of printing, as thus practised by the Chinese, may have originated through a knowledge of the still more ancient Chaldean mode of printing by blocks on clay. But we may expect, from the well-known ingenuity of the Chinese, and their (in general,) having the organ of imitation so fully developed, that they will not much longer continue this primitive method of printing, as an enterprising practical printer has emigrated, with an excellent assortment of presses, types, &c., from Edinburgh, to conduct his business in the celestial empire. We wish him all success.

The discovery of the art of printing with moveable types, which took place in the fifteenth century, in Germany, was considerably aided by a fashion, which had been some time prevalent, of cutting blocks of wood into pictures, or representations of scenes illustrative of Scriptural history, and printing them on paper, simply by the pressure of the hand, a brush, or cushion behind.

One of the earliest of these wood-cuts is still extant, and represents the creation of man, as detailed in the book of Genesis. In the centre of the picture stands a figure, intended for the Divinity, having the appearance of an old man with flowing garments, a venerable beard, and rays proceeding from the head; on the ground, before him, lies a human being, intended for Adam, fast asleep; and from an opening in his side is seen proceeding the slender figure of a female, meaning Eve, who is taken by the hand by God, and is apparently receiving His blessing. The execution of this, and cuts of a similar nature, is of the rudest description, and is a striking testimony of the low scale of art at the time. Pictures of this nature, which were bound up into books, nevertheless, were the immediate forerunners of the great invention itself. Books of prints, it will naturally be imagined, would soon be found imperfect, for want of descriptive text; this, therefore, urged on the great discovery. The manufacturers of the books, at first, cut single sentences or words, and stamped them below the pictures; but this not conveying a sufficient idea of the subject represented, an anxiety arose to give a lengthened description on the opposite pages. This it seems was, at length, accomplished; still the sentences were all cut in a piece, and the notion of having separate letters, so as to form words at pleasure, was unknown at that period. We will now proceed to the introduction of the modern art of printing.

Ever since the typographic art has been...