Theclassofsubstancestowhichparchmentandvellumbelonghasalreadyreceivedsomeconsiderationbutisasubjectwellworthsomefurtherdiscussion。
Allusionsarefoundinsomeoftheclassicalwriterstoinscriptionswrittenontheskinsofgoatsandsheep；ithas，indeed，beenassertedbysomescholarsthattheBooksofMoseswerewrittenonsuchskins。
Dr。Buchananmanyyearsagodiscovered，intherecordchestofsomeHebrewsatMalabar，amanuscriptcopyofthegreaterpartofthePentateuch，writteninHebrewongoat’sskins。Thegoatskinswerethirty-seveninnumber，dyedred，andweresewntogether，soastoformarollforty-eightfeetinlengthbytwenty-twoinchesinwidth。Atwhatdatethiswaswrittencannotbenowdetermined，butitissupposedtobeextremelyancient。
TheHebrewsbegan，earlyaftertheinventionofparchment，towritetheirscripturesonthismaterial，ofwhichtherollsofthelawusedintheirsynagoguesarestillcomposed。
Scriptural，likemanyotherclassesofMSS。originatingprevioustotheeighthcenturyandinkwritteneitheronparchmentorvellum，orboth，areincapitalletterswithoutspacesbetweenwordsandexceedinglyrare。ThemoreimportantandvaluableofthemwhichapplytotheNewTestamentarerespectivelyknownastheSinaitic，theVaticanandtheAlexandrian，manyofwhosevarioustranslationsandreadingsareincorporatedbyTischendorfinhisLeipzigeditionoftheEnglishNewTestament。Thestoriesrelatingtothediscoveryandobtainingoftheserelicsofthefirstcenturiesofoureraarestartlingones。Thereputationandstanding，however，ofthediscoverers，andtheinvestigationssubsequentlymadebyknownscholarsoftheirtime，servestoinvestthemwithacertaindegreeoftruthfulness。