^4 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academij. 



Til. — Ox Re^ttal op MAiftrscEiPTS ox Pakchmext. By R, A^tgits- 

 Smith, Ph. D., F. R. S. 



[Eead, February 26, 1877.] 



HAvnsrG attended occasionally to the manuscripts sent to ine hy Dr. 

 Ferguson, although I am not able to say that I have finished my work,, 

 it may be well to give the results up to this time. I began with the- 

 fullest ignorance, and tried methods long since tried ; and I fear that, 

 even now, I am able to speak only of modifications of old plans. Still, 

 as I am not aware that any one has obtained equally good results, I 

 shall venture to send the following with a hope that it may be thought 

 worthy of being laid before the Royal Irish Academy. 



I tried, as many people have done, tannin, and find that it acts 

 very differently on different parchments. In one case it was fixed 

 with mastic varnish, and a manuscript of a perfectly illegible character 

 has been thus rendered clear and bright. I am not, however, sure that 

 it is unaltered after a year. 



With sulphide of ammonium magnificent dark colours were ob- 

 tained, but it is not easy to dry the ink before it becomes oxidised, 

 and the dull brown returns. Still I have preserved one manuscript of 

 this kind with mastic varnish, and a part with paraffin, very bright for 

 a year. 



I think these processes might be used so that the brightness, if 

 temporary, should give good photographs. They are, however, 

 only imperfect processes. The preservation I found much facilitated 

 by moistening the parchment with water until it was quite soft, and 

 then mounting it on card board. This plan has never, to my know- 

 ledge, been adopted with skins, but it seems to answer perfectly. It 

 preserves, at least, one side from the action of the air, and the varnish 

 preserves the other. The back of the paper could also be varnished. 



This is a question which requires to be reviewed from many sides,, 

 and it is a new one to me, so that I do not say much as yet. 



The use of ferro-cyanide of potassium very naturally occurs to a 

 chemist, and it was with this salt I obtained the best results ; it was, 

 however, used acid. Hitherto this has not been the case, and I believe 

 a certain destruction of the organic matter of the ink may have taken 

 place without a corresponding deposit of the iron compound. The 

 acid first used was acetic. After having, in the usual way, used solu- 

 tions which produced results which, to say the least, could not be re- 

 garded as final, it was with very great surprise that I saw the whole 

 parchment become white as new, and in all probability much whiter 

 than ever it was before. The dark-brown, dirty, and crumpled parch- 

 ment, with illegible marks, was like a sheet of white paper with writing^ 

 perfectly clear and sharp, and when laid on a board, still in a moist 

 state, it was smooth also. This I thought a great triumph, but it 



