s represented as brushing or carding a tunic
suspended over a rope. Another man carries a frame and pot, meant
probably for fumigation and bleaching; the pot containing live coals
and sulphur, and being placed under the frame, so that the cloths
spread upon the latter would be fully exposed to the action of the
pent-up vapor. The person who carries these things wears something on
his head, which is said to be an olive garland. If so, that, and the
owl sitting upon the frame, probably indicate that the establishment
was under the patronage of Minerva, the tutelary goddess of the loom.
Another is a female examining the work which a young girl has done
upon a piece of yellow cloth. A golden net upon her head, and a
necklace and bracelets, denote a person of higher rank than one of the
mere workpeople of the establishment; it probably is either the
mistress herself, or a customer inquiring into the quality of the work
which has been done for her.

These pictures, with others illustrative of the various processes of
the art, were found upon a pier in the peristyle of the Fullonica.
Among them we may mention one that represents a press, similar in
construction to those now in use, except that there is an unusual
distance between the threads of the screw. The ancients, therefore,
were acquainted with the practical application of this mechanical
power. In another is to be seen a youth delivering some pieces of
cloth to a female, to whom, perhaps, the task of ticketing, and
preserving distinct the different property of different persons, was
allotted. It is rather a curious proof of the importance attached to
this trade, that the due regulation of it was a subject thought not
unworthy of legislative enactments. B.C. 354, the censors laid down
rules for regulating the manner of washing dresses, and we learn from
the digests of the Roman law that scourers were compelled to use the
greatest care not to lose or to confound property. Another female,
seated on a stool, seems occupied in cleaning one of the cards. Both
of the figures last described wear green tunics; the first of them has
a yellow under-tunic, the latter a white one. The resemblance in
colors between these dresses and those of the male fullers above
described may perhaps warrant a conjecture that there was some kind of
livery or described dress belonging to the establishment, or else the
contents of the painter's color-box must have been very limited.

The whole pier