Coptic

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

pertaining to the people called Copts, or to their sect; the remnants of the once numerous Church of Egypt - that which had the celebrated school at Alexandria. It broke off from the body Catholic in embracing the Monophysite doctrine, viz., that not two natures, but only one, existed in Christ, a view from which it has never since departed. About 250,000 Copts still exist in Egypt, mostly in its upper province. The Coptic language was the language not of the old Egyptians who built the pyramids and covered monuments and temples with hieroglyphics, but of their successors subsequent to the introduction of Christianity. It continued till the 10th century, when it was in large meas. ure superseded by Arabic. By the 17th it had ceased to be spoken, and existed only as a written dialect. While it lived three dialects were recognized, the Sahidic, in Upper Egypt; the Bahiric or Memphitic, in Lower Egypt; and the Bashmuric, in the Delta. COPYING MACHINES AND PROC- ESSES, the various methods of producing duplicates of written or typed copy without transcription may be divided into two general classes-those in which the copies are made at the same time as the original, and those in which the copies are made after the original is completed. The most common of the first methods is the use of carbon paper between sheets of thin writing paper. This method can be used on a typewriter, and anywhere from one to ten satisfactory copies can be made with little additional effort. Of the second type, a common method is to write the original with special heavy ink. The original is pressed against a gelatinous surface which absorbs some of the ink. Copies of the original may be made by pressing sheets of paper against the surface. In another system a stencil is cut by a typewriter or with a special stylus in waxed or other specially prepared paper. This stencil is placed on a roller, and inked from the inside, and will produce an almost unlimited number of copies, when paper is passed over its surface. This is the mimeograph apparatus and was said to be invented by Thomas A. Edison in 1878. It has since been subject to many changes and improvements. In recent years the photostat system of direct photograph has been used for. securing copies of valuable papers, and the blue-print process is still the most used method of reproducing engineers' drawings, architects' plans, etc.