Posted on 03/02/2021 4:04:54 PM PST by BenLurkin
More than 600 years ago, someone intricately folded, sealed and posted a letter that was never delivered. Now, scientists have digitally "unfolded" this and other similarly locked letters found in a 17th-century trunk in The Hague, using X-rays.
For centuries prior to the invention of sealed envelopes, sensitive correspondence was protected from prying eyes through complex folding techniques called "letterlocking," which transformed a letter into its own secure envelope. However, locked letters that survive to the present are fragile and can be opened physically only by slicing them to pieces.
The new X-ray method offers researchers a non-invasive alternative, maintaining a letterpacket's original folded shape. For the first time, scientists applied this method to "locked" letters from the Renaissance period, kept in a trunk that had been in the collection of the Dutch postal museum in The Hague, The Netherlands, since 1926.
Locked letters used different mechanisms to stay securely closed, including folds and rolls; slits and holes; tucks and adhesives; and a variety of cleverly constructed locks, according to a study published online March 2 in the journal Nature Communications.
To penetrate the layers of folded paper, the study authors used an X‐ray microtomography scanner engineered in the dental research labs at Queen Mary University of London (QMU). Researchers designed the scanner to be exceptionally sensitive so that it could map the mineral content of teeth, "which is invaluable in dental research," study co-author Graham Davis, a QMU professor of 3D X-ray imaging, said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I don’t understand all of these complaints about the US postal system.
I’ve used it routinely for more than 3 score years. I think I’ve only had two items ever ‘lost’ in the mail.
“Trusty Plan!”
Off-topic, assuredly:
I once knew a guy in the upper echelon of the postal workers union. He was quite chatty and hated management, his motivation for the job. He said the only thing he despised worse than management were all the losers who used the union to protect their jobs. There was no accountability, only deadlines and raw numbers.
Carriers know they’ve got it made if they can make retirement. If that means dumping mail to make their numbers - or if they’re just lazy - they really don’t give a shit.
I’m sure there are exceptions. There always are.
Show me an instance of a postal worker whistleblower ratting out his coworkers. You can’t.
The money-losing, bloated bureaucracy of a ‘postal service’ needs to be abandoned, especially in this technology era. Private enterprise will fill the void, as will innovation.
And I just looked up his bio. He and I share a birthday
I shall alert the media.
Regards,
I like that post!
“Drink more Ovalteen.”
The Brits have Dental Research?......................
Dental science is a big priority in the UK, right behind culinary arts. /rimshot
Heaven:
The police are British
The cooks are French
The engineers are German
The administrators are Swiss
The lovers are Italian
Hell:
The police are German
The cooks are British
The engineers are Italian
The administrators are French
The lovers are Swiss
It only took five posts.
Of the stuff you’ve sent, you mean? ;^)
I think palimpsests were usually made using parchment
(leather). I think paper and papyrus were probably too fragile.
Two I’ve sent - and those only recently - and one I should have received. The last arrived weeks late, and looked like it had fallen into a mud puddle.
Stuff happens.
Did you know that Ben Franklin (my favorite of the Founders) was instrumental in establishing our postal system?
I think that the lack of actual addresses and a reliable and regulated postal system is one of the things inhibiting progress (capitalism) in many developing countries.
I like the idea of a national postal service, and if we retain it, people who don’t like it have other options. (I didn’t like the abolishment of Ma Bell, either. It seems that as long as good sense and honor are exercised, some things are better as ‘monopolies’. YMMV.)
http://www.history.com/news/us-post-office-benjamin-franklin
The use of lemon juice or urine could fade out ink on papyrus and paper. Paper in Rome was a thick product and there was also ‘bark sheets’ to write on. Roman ‘garrison lists would sometimes arrive on bark sheets which were reused by putting a mild acid on the ink to fade it out. Much later underlying ink stains would come up into the above inks. Sheep skins were the most expensive to write upon but very durable for reuse.
I went to a restaurant that had a sign, “Breakfast Served Anytime”.
So, I had French Toast during The Renaissance.
-Steven Wright
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