16. There is much on this subject in Empire and Communications by Harold Innis, as well as in his The Bias of Communication . In the chapter on “The Problem of Space” in the latter book [pp. 92­131] he has much to say on the power of the written word to reduce the oral and magical dimensions of acoustic space: “The oral tradition of the Druids reported by Caesar as designed to train the memory and to keep learning from becoming generally accessible had been wiped out.” And: “The development of the Empire and Roman law reflected the need for institutions to meet the rise of individualism and cosmopolitanism which followed the breakdown of the polis and the city state.” [p. 13] For if paper and roads broke up the city states and set individualism in place of Aristotle’s “political animal,” “Decline in the use of papyrus particularly after the spread of Mohammedanism necessitated the use of parchment.” [p. 17] On the role of papyrus in the book trade and Empire alike see also From Papyrus to Print by George Herbert Bushnell and especially Ancilla to Classical Learning by Moses Hadas.
