PARCHMENT, the skins of animals so prepared as to render them proper for being written upon, or used in covering books. The skins of most animals are adapted to the manufacture, but as the better kinds are used in making leather, sheep-skins are preferred. The finer kind of parchment, known as vellum, is from the skins of calves, kids, and dead-born lambs. The stout parchment of drum-heads is from the skin of the wolf, although that of the ass or calf is sometimes used; the parchment of battledores is from the skin of the ass; and that used for sieves from the skin of the he-goat.
The word parchment comes from the Latin pergamena, the ancient name of this manufacture, which is said to have been taken from the city of Pergamus. Eumenes, the king of that place (who reigned B.C. 197-159), has the honour of the invention; although, in reality, that prince appears rather to have been the improver than the inventor of parchment. According to Diodorus, the Persians of old wrote all their records on skins; and the ancient Ionians, as we learn from Herodotus, made use of sheep and goat skins in writing many ages before the time of Eumenes. Nor need we doubt that such skins were dressed for the purpose after a manner not unlike that in which our parchment is prepared, though probably not so artificially.
The manufacture of parchment is begun by the skinner, and finished by the parchment-maker. The skin having been stripped of its wool and placed in the lime-pit, the skinner stretches it on a wooden frame, called a herse, consisting of four bars perforated with holes, in each of which is a peg. Pieces of twine, extending from the edges of the skin to the pegs, retain the skin in an extended state, in which the skinner pares it with a knife, called, from its shape, a half-moon knife. This being done, it is moistened with a rag; and powdered chalk being spread over it on the flesh side, the skinner takes a large pumice-stone, flat at the bottom, rubs over the skin, and thus scours off the flesh: this is called grinding. He then goes over it again with the knife, moistens it as before, and rubs it again with the pumice-stone without any chalk underneath, by which means the flesh side is considerably smoothed and softened. He then again passes the knife over it, which is called draining. The flesh side being thus drained, by scraping off the moisture, he in the same manner passes the knife over the grain side, and then scrapes the flesh side again. This finishes the draining; and the more it is drained, the whiter it becomes. The skinner now throws on more chalk, sweeping it over with a piece of lamb-skin which has the wool on; and this smooths it still farther. It is then left to dry, and when dried, taken off the frame by cutting it all round. The skin, being thus far prepared by the skinner, is taken out of his hands by the parchment-maker, who first, whilst it is dry, pares it on a summer, or calf-skin stretched in a frame, with a sharper instrument than that used by the skinner; and, working with the arm from the top to the bottom of the skin, takes away about one-half of its thickness. The skin, being thus equally pared on the grain side, is again rendered smooth by being rubbed with the pumice-stone on a bench covered with a sack stuffed with flocks, which leaves the parchment in a
Pardon
Parablitz.
condition fit for writing upon. Should any small holes appear in the skin, they are stopped by cutting the edges thin and laying on small pieces of parchment with gum-water. The parings taken off the skins are used in making glue, size, and the like.
The green parchment used in book-binding is coloured by means of verdigris, for which purpose thirty parts of crystallized verdigris, and eight parts of cream of tartar, are boiled in 500 parts of distilled water; when the solution is cold, four parts of nitric acid are added. The parchment is moistened with a brush; the colour is spread evenly over it; and, when dry, polish is given by means of white of egg or gum-arabic. (c. r.)