serve to taint such remains with a certain degree
of suspicion and doubt. When, however, in the light
of investigation, the materials of which they are composed
are found to approach closely the age they
purport to represent, then it is that such fragments
can be said to have fairly established their own identity.

Taylor asserts:

"The remote antiquity of a manuscript is of ten
established by the peculiar circumstance of
its existing BENEATH another writing. Some invaluable
manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures, and
not a few precious fragments of classic literature,
have been thus brought to light.

"The age of a manuscript may often be ascertained
with little chance of error, by some such
indications as the following:--the quality or
appearance of the INK, the nature of the material;
that is to say, whether it be soft leather, or parchment,
or the papyrus of Egypt, or the bombycine
paper; for these materials succeeded each other, in
common use, at periods that are well known;--
the peculiar form, size, and character of the writing;
for a regular progression in the modes of writing
may be traced by abundant evidence through every
age from the remotest times;--the style of the ornaments
or illuminations, as they are termed, often
serves to indicate the age of the book which they decorate.