iI4 USEFUL NOTICES. 



saving, either in machinery, labour, or skill, is much to be 

 desired. Under the present head, I have a few observations 

 and facts to offer, relative to manuscript writing. The cele- 

 brate James Watt, about thirty years ago, obtained a patent 

 for a copying machine, for making copies of the description, 

 James Watt's known by the name of counterproofs. His apparatus, consist- 

 clune"*' ma " m & of a portable rolling press, a receptacle for keeping very thin 

 unsized paper in a due state of wetness, and a peculiar ink 

 more mucilaginous and less speedy in drying than common 

 writing ink, is at present in general use, particularly in mer- 

 chants' counting houses. In a former Journal it was remarked, 

 that sugar or treacle, added to ink, gives it the disposition to 

 come orTupon wet paper, and that if the paper be well soaked, 

 so as not to shine and yet to be considerably transparent, a very 

 light pressure, such as that of a warmed flat iron, would pro- 

 duce the copy. 



It is to be regretted, that this ingenious application shoul 

 require as much apparatus and skill as it does j though its 

 requires pre- value is undoubtedly very great. The following process is less 

 apparatus, ^ neaf > °ut ITia y be practised wherever a round ruler and gauze pa- 

 per, or blotting paper, can be had. I have availed myself of it on 

 a journey ; in which it first occurred to me as an expedient 

 for copying' letters. 



The process. — Roll a piece of guaze paper upon a small 



sound ruler, and place the ruler, thus covered, upon the sheet of 



Another pro- paper intended to be written upon, in such a manner as that. the 



bet rlcdsedln ™ ler shal1 be J ust above > and parallel to the intended first line, 

 a! I situations, and the outer edge of the gauze paper on the same side as the 

 upper edg? of the paper. Then write the first line, and imme- 

 diatelyupon concluding the same, roll the ruler just upon it j 

 and the gauze paper will receive a print of that line. Return 

 the ruler to its first position, write a second line, and take a 

 print of that as before, — And in this manner the whole letter 

 maybe copied while writing. I found a little awkwardness at 

 first, in bringing myself into the habit of this manipulation j 

 which requires the writer to recollect, at the end of every line, 

 that he is to apply the gauze paper j but this was soon over- 

 come. And it may also be observed, that for a very light hand, 

 wfcich dries quickly, it would probably be needful to apply the 

 ruler at shorter intervals. My hand writing, which is neither 



heavy 



