Doremus.] *^ (April 10, 



A characteristic feature of the aniline colors is a surface iridescence, 

 distinguishable even in the thinnest layers. 



The beetle bronze is unmistakable. The iridescence is frequently com- 

 plementary to that of the color — thus green to red. 



Many of these inks also show fluorescence. This is especially developed 

 in very dilute solutions. Highly attenuated solutions of fluorescein 

 behave differently to light from concentrated ones. The dichroism of 

 concentrated solutions is quite distinct from the fluorescence obtained by 

 dilution. 



Concentration appears to destroy fluorescence. This is also true of 

 glass. Glass containing ten per cent, of uranium oxide would not be 

 recognized as the uranium glass whose greenish yellow fluorescence is so 

 well known. 



The writer was led to investigate many of tliese properties in connec- 

 tion with a case tried in New Jersey in 1891.* The circumstances were 

 briefly as follows : Mr. George P. Gordon, of printing press fame, left a 

 large estate by a will dated 1873. This will was rejected because the sub- 

 scribing witnesses would not swear to the execution of it. Tlie case 

 became one of intestacy and was taken in charge by the Public Adminis- 

 trator of Brooklyn. Tlie estate was then settled with the parties named 

 in the will. The widow and a daughter by a first wife were the chief 

 beneficiaries. The daughter died in 1890 and her will was off'ered for 

 probate in New York city. A contest took place. The contesting attor- 

 neys received a letter from a party stating that he had seen a notice of the 

 contest in the daily press and that they would hear something to their ad- 

 vantage should they communicate with him. This led to the finding (?) 

 in a garret of a will purporting to have been executed by George P. Gor- 

 don in 1868. The subscribing witnesses to this document were all dead. 

 The wife and daughter had also died before this alleged will was brought 

 to light. This document was proved ex parte in New Jersey and ancillary 

 probate was allowed in New York. The instrument was also filed in 

 Trenton. The legal representatives of the heirs of the wife and daughter 

 contested the genuineness of this will. The proponents were parties con- 

 testing the daughter's vpill to whom was joined Henry C. Adams, who 

 claimed to have drawn the will and who would be benefited should it be 

 established. For a time the litigation was conducted on the part of the 

 contestants in attempts to prove by the handwriting that tlie signature of 

 tlie testator was a forgery. The case to this point rested entirely upon 

 expert testimony, when Adams brought forward a draft of the will pur- 

 porting to have been made in July, 1868, and offered it in evidence. This 

 draft was interlineated and amended with red ink. When submitted to 

 expert chemists they pronounced the ink one of some aniline color and 

 from general appearances eosine. The controversy then centred on the 



*The Prerogative Court of the State of New Jersey in tlie matter of tlic Probate in 

 solemn Form and the Last Will and Testament of George P. Gordon, deceased. Jersey 

 €ity News Press, 1S91. 



