INK. 



the offender punished. Legislation nml adjudication 



MI injuries to honour lire matters of much delicacy, 

 beyond the limits of the English law, which makes 

 reparation only in cases where llic offence has pro- 

 duced, or is directly calculated to produce injury, to 

 a man, in his character or business. 



INK, WKITIXU. This material can be prepared 

 of various colours, but black is the most common. 

 Doctor Lewis gives the following receipt : In three 

 pints of white wine, or vinegar, let three ounces of 

 gall-nuts, one ounce powdered logwood, and one 

 ounce green vitriol be steeped half an hour ; then 

 tuld one ounce, and a half gum Arabic, and, when the 

 gum is dissolved, pass the whole mixture through a 

 hair sieve. Van Mons recommended the. following 

 preparation : Let four ounces gall-nuts, two ounces 

 and a half sulphate of iron, calcined to whiteness, 

 and two pints water, stand in a cool place 24 hours ; 

 then add one ounce and a quarter gum Arabic, and 

 keep it in a vessel open, or slightly stopped with 

 paper. Another recipe is this : Take one pound 

 gall-nuts, six ounces gum Arabic, six ounces sul- 

 phate of iron, and four pints beer, or water ; the gall- 

 nuts are broken, and stand as an infusion twenty-four 

 hours ; then coarsely-pounded gum is added, and suf- 

 fered to dissolve ; lastly, a quantity of vitriol is intro- 

 duced, and the whole passed through a hair sieve. 

 It is generally observed, that unboiled inks are less 

 likely to fade than others. A good red ink is 

 obtained as follows : A quarter of a pound of the 

 best logwood is bulled with an ounce of pounded 

 alum, and the same quantity of cream of tartar, with 

 half the quantity of water, and, while the preparation 

 is still warm, sugar and good gum Arabic, of each 

 one ounce, are dissolved in it. Solutions of indigo 

 with pieces of alumina, and mixed with gum, form a 

 blue ink. Green ink is obtained from verdigris, dis 

 tilled with vinegar, and mixed with a little gum. Saf- 

 fron, alum, and gum water, form a yellow. It is not 

 well ascertained how soon the present kind of writing 

 ink came into use. It has certainly been employed 

 for many centuries in most European countries ; but 

 the ancient Roman inks were, for the most part, of a 

 totally different composition, being made of some 

 vegetable carbonaceous matter, like lamp-black, 

 diffused in a liquor. The Chinese, and many of the 

 inks used by the Oriental nations, are still of this 

 kind. Sometimes the ink of very old writings is so 

 much faded by time as to be illegible. Doctor Blag- 

 den (Philosophical Transactions, vol. Ixxvii.), in his 

 experiments on this subject, found that, in most of 

 these, the colour might be restored, or, rather, a new 

 body of colour given, by pencilling them over with a 

 solution ot prussiate of potash, and then with a dilute 

 acid, either sulphuric or muriatic ; or else, vice versa, 

 first with the acid, and then with the prussiate. The 

 acid dissolves the oxide of iron of the faded ink, and 

 the prussiate precipitates it again of a blue colour, 

 which restores the legibility of the writing. If this 

 be done neatly, and blotting paper laid over the let- 

 ters as fast as they become visible, their form will be 

 retained very distinctly. Pencilling over the letters 

 with an infusion of galls also restores the blackness, to 

 a certain degree, but not so speedily nor completely. 



China or Indian Ink. The well known and much 

 admired Indian, or China ink, is brought over in 

 small oblong cakes, which readily become diffused in 

 water by rubbing, and the blackness remains sus- 

 pended in it for a considerable time, owing to the 

 extreme subtilty of division of the substance that 

 gives the colour, and the intimacy with which it is 

 united to the mucilaginous matter that keeps it sus- 

 pended. Indian ink does, however, deposit the 

 whole of its colour by standing, when it is diffused in 



* OOOSkfenible quantity of water. Doctor Lewis, on 



examining this substance, found that tiie ink con- 



.ed of a Mack sediment, totally insoluble in water, 

 which appeared to be of the nature of the finest 

 lamp-black, and of another substance soluble in 

 water, and which putrified by keeping, and, when 

 evaporated, left a tenacious jelly, exactly like glue, 

 or isinglass. It appears, probable, therefore, that it 

 consists of nothing more than these two ingredients, 

 and probably may be imitated with perfect accuracy 

 by using a very fine jelly, like isinglass, or size, 

 and the finest lamp-black, and incorporating them 

 thoroughly. The finest lamp black known is made 

 from ivory shavings, and thence called ivory black. 



Printers' Ink. This is a very singular composi- 

 tion, partaking much of the nature of an oil varnish, 

 but differing from it in the quality of adhering firmly 

 to moistened paper, and in being, to a considerable 

 degree, soluble in soap-water. It is, when used 

 by the printers, of the consistence of rather thick 

 jelly, so that it may be distributed over the types 

 readily and thinly, when applied by rollers made of 

 a composition of glue and molasses; and it dries 

 very speedily on the paper, without running through 

 to the other side, or passing the limits of the letter. 

 It is made of nut oil, boiled, and afterwards mixed 

 with lamp-black, of which about two ounces and a 

 half are sufficient for sixteen ounces of the prepared 

 oil. Other additions are made by ink-makers, of 

 which the most important is generally understood to 

 be a little fine indigo in powder, to improve the 

 beauty of the colour. Red printers' ink is made by 

 adding to the varnish about half its weight of vermi- 

 lion. A little carmine also improves the colour. 

 (Encyclopedic, Arts et Metiers, vol. iii. page 518.) 



Coloured Inks. Few of these are used, except red 

 ink. The preparation of these is very simple, con- 

 sisting either of decoctions of the different colouring 

 or dyeing materials in water, and thickened with 

 gum Arabic, or of coloured metallic oxides, or inso- 

 luble powders, merely diffused in gum- water. The 

 proportion of gum Arabic to be used may be the 

 same as for black writing ink. All that applies to 

 the fixed or fugitive nature of the several articles 

 nsd in dyeing, may be applied, in general, to the use 

 of the same substance as inks. Most of the common 

 water-colour cakes, diffused in water, will make suf- 

 ficiently good coloured inks for most purposes. 



Sympathetic Inks ; liquids without any observable 

 colour ; any thing may be written with them invisibly, 

 and made visible at will by certain means. Even 

 Ovid informed maidens who were closely watched, 

 that they might write to their lovers whatever they 

 pleased with fresh milk, and when dry sprinkle over 

 it coal-dust, or soot. In modern times, chemistry 

 has taught the preparation of many improved inks oi 

 this nature : Form a solution of green vitriol in 

 water, and add a little alum, to prevent the yellow 

 iron precipitate from sinking, which always rises in 

 case the acid does not prevail ; this solution forms a 

 sympathetic ink, which appears extremely black 

 when it is moistened with a saturated infusion ot 

 gall-nuts. A sympathetic ink may likewise be 

 formed from common black ink. For this purpose, 

 the colour must be destroyed by a mixture of nitric 

 acid. Any thing written with it becomes visible on 

 moistening it with a solution of some volatile alkali. 

 The famous ink, invisible in the cold, and visible at 

 a moderate temperature, may be prepared without 

 much difficulty. (See Cobalt.) Any writing with 

 this ink is invisible; but, on the application of a cer- 

 tain degree of heat, it becomes a beautiful greenish 

 blue. As soon as it cools again, the colour vanishes; 

 and thus, by alternately heating and cooling it, the 

 writing can be made visible or invisible. Care must 

 be taken not to heat it more thar is required to make 



