; 97S On preparing Facsimiles of Coins, fyc. 



of giving a reversed copy of the original, and has other, and those 

 considerable, inconveniences which are troublesome enough in practice. 

 My friend Capt. Kittoe, who has had more experience in this depart- 

 ment of practical archaiology than falls to the lot of many, improved 

 the process greatly by overlaying the sheet of paper upon which the 

 impression is to be taken with another prepared with a proper pigment, 

 and then applying the requisite pressure or friction ; precisely as is done 

 in copying by what is called "carbonic paper." This had the advantage 

 of giving the impression erect : but the following is much simpler, 

 more expeditious and more cleanly ; — Lay the paper upon the inscribed 

 surface and rub it with a large cork primed with powdered plumbago ; 

 wherever the surface resists, the plumbago adheres and may be fixed by 

 freely rubbing in. The excised parts receive no impression. The fac- 

 simile thus prepared may be afterwards improved if necessary by pen 

 and ink. The process, however, is capable of such delicacy and exact- 

 ness, that with fine paper, it may be used to copy in fac-simile the 

 slightly depressed lettering on the back of a book. The powdered 

 plumbago may be kept for the purpose in a wide mouthed phial, the 

 cork of which will always be ready for use. 



