d in a fruiterer's shop in that city were discovered vessels
full of almonds, chestnuts, walnuts, and fruit of the "carubiere," all
distinctly recognizable from their shape. A loaf, also, still retaining
its form, was found in a baker's shop, with his name stamped upon it. On
the counter of an apothecary was a box of pills converted into a fine
earthy substance; and by the side of it a small cylindrical roll
evidently prepared to be cut into pills. By the side of these was a jar
containing medicinal herbs. In 1827, moist olives were found in a square
glass-case, and "caviare," or roe of a fish, in a state of wonderful
preservation. An examination of these curious condiments has been
published by Covelli of Naples, and they are preserved hermetically
sealed in the museum there.[556]

_Papyri._--There is a marked difference in the condition and appearance
of the animal and vegetable substances found at Pompeii and Herculaneum;
those of Pompeii being penetrated by a gray pulverulent tuff, those in
Herculaneum seeming to have been first enveloped by a paste which
consolidated round them, and then allowed them to become slowly
carbonized. Some of the rolls of papyrus at Pompeii still retain their
form; but the writing, and indeed almost all the vegetable matter,
appear to have vanished, and to have been replaced by volcanic tuff
somewhat pulverulent. At Herculaneum the earthy matter has scarcely ever
penetrated; and the vegetable substance of the papyrus has become a thin
friable black matter, almost resembling in appearance the tinder which
remains when stiff paper has been burnt, in which the letters may still
be sometimes traced. The small bundles of papyri, composed of five or
six rolls tied up together, had sometimes lain horizontally, and were
pressed in that direction, but sometimes they had been placed in a
vertical position. Small tickets were attached to each bundle, on which
the title of the work was inscribed. In one case only have the sheets
been found with writing on both sides of the pages. So numerous are the
obliterations and corrections, that many must have been original
manuscripts. The variety of handwritings is quite extraordinary: nearly
all are written in Greek, but there are a few in Latin. They were almost
all found in a suburban villa in the library of one private individual;
and the titles of four hundred of those least injured, which have been
read, are found to be unimportant works, but all entire