The rolls, or papyri, are said to have become known in Europe through the French expedition into Egypt in 1798, and specimens were reproduced in print by one Cadet in 1805. The making of papyrus is mentioned by Philostratus as a staple manufacture of Alexandria in A. D. 244, and it continued to be used in Italy until the twelfth century. The extent to which it was employed may be judged by the fact that nearly 1,800 rolls were unearthed in the ruins of Herculaneum, about the year 1753. The durability of this substance added greatly to its value, and it is claimed that the ancient papyrus manuscripts that have been properly preserved are almost as serviceable to-day as when first made. It is doubtful whether a similar statement can be made four thousand or even two thousand years hence in regard to many of the books printed on nineteenth-century paper. Chicago has the largest collection of ancient papyri west of the Atlantic, consisting of three hundred complete pieces and hundreds of fragments, which were discovered by an Arab sheik while digging along the banks of the Nile. ♦Parchment a substitute for papyrus♦ Following the making of papyrus came the manufacture of parchment, the use of which in diplomas and certain public documents continues to the present time. As the story runs, the invention of the new writing material was due to the spirit of rivalry between two cities of the ancient world. Attalus, king of Pergamus, was anxious to establish in his capital a library that would excel the splendid collection at Alexandria, but Egypt, having a monopoly of papyrus, refused to sell to him. But no monopoly of that day or this could ever control all the means of supplying man’s needs. Nature is resourceful, and man, when driven by necessity, soon learns that her treasures are practically limitless. When the supply of one article is for any reason curtailed, she furnishes something as good or better to take its place. If all the paper in the world to-day were owned by a monopoly that refused to sell, something would speedily be found to take its place. So the inhabitants of Pergamus, being refused papyrus, set about manufacturing a substitute, which came to be known among the Romans as “pergamena,” from which comes our word parchment. ♦Manufacture of parchment♦