The implements used for writing necessarily varied in the different
ages and diverse civilizations according to the character of
the materials successively used and the nature and stage of
the civilization. When inscriptions were made in stone of any
sort--sand-stone, marble, granite, basalt, or other stone--or in wood,
a _chisel_ was the tool. When the material used was lead, ivory,
wax, or plastic clay,--bricks, tablets or cylinders--a _stylus_ was
used. The stylus was made of bone, ivory, or metal, according to the
requirements or tastes in the case. When the writing was with ink, upon
leather, parchment, papyrus, paper, and kindred substances, a _pen_--of
silver or from a reed or quill--was employed as in modern times. Pens
of bronze have been found in tombs. _Brushes_, too, as in China, were
used in recording literature. The "_pen-knife_," for fashioning pens
from reeds or quills; the _pumice_ stone, for erasures and smoothing
the material to be written upon; the _ruler_ and _compasses_, for
indicating the lines of writing; _scissors_, _sponge_, and _ink-stand_
(the "writer's ink horn," Ezekiel 9:2, 3), sometimes double for
different colored inks; and the _palette_, containing small hollows
for the various kinds and colors of inks used, were all paraphernalia
of the copyist's profession.