The maniple was originally worn over the fingers of the left hand. This arrangement was most inconvenient, as it was constantly liable to slip off, and the fingers had to be held in a constrained attitude throughout the service. It was early found more comfortable and convenient to place the vestment over the left wrist; but no definite rule seems to have been formulated, and, indeed, in some parts of France the earlier custom seems to have survived till the middle of the eighteenth century. When placed on the wrist it was either buttoned or sewn so as to form a permanent loop, so that it should not slip off the arm. In a few effigies the maniple is represented on the right wrist. For this there is no liturgical authority, and it can only be attributed to the blundering of the engraver or sculptor.[54] In reference to its original utilitarian purpose, Amalarius assigns to the maniple the significance of the 'purification of the mind.' Pseudo-Alcuin holds it to denote this present life (in qua superfluos humores patimur). It is also said to denote penitence, caution, and the prize in the racecourse. The width of the maniple is the same as that of the stole—the length is given at from three feet to three feet eight inches. VI. _The Dalmatic._—I am unable to find any representation of this vestment older than the ninth century, showing the special features which distinguished it from the other vestments of the mediaeval period. Before that date the dalmatic seems to have been identical with the _alba_, possibly distinguished from it by being a little shorter when, as at Rome, the two vestments were worn together. [Illustration: FIG. 8.—DEACON IN EPISCOPAL DALMATIC. (From Randworth Church.)] [Illustration: FIG. 9.—DEACON IN DIACONAL DALMATIC.] In the mediaeval period, however, this vestment (and its modification, the tunicle) is marked out from all others by being slit up a short distance on either side. These side-slits were decorated with fringes; but here an important theoretical distinction must be observed between the dalmatic of a bishop and that of a deacon. This was often neglected in mediaeval times, and is consequently frequently overlooked by ecclesiologists of the present day. In the dalmatic, as worn by a bishop, the side-slits, the lower hems, and the ends of the sleeves were fringed; in the dalmatic of a deacon there were also fringes, _but only on the left sleeve and along the left slit_.