THE GOLD PEN — ITS HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 263 



which shows the operation to be complete. Chalk is then added to neutra- 

 lise any of the free srdphuric acid, when the whole liquor above the sedi- 

 ment at the bottom is run off and concentrated to crystallise. This is one 

 of the wonders of chemistry : sugar is now made of corn, by boiling 

 it along with a most virulent acid. 



THE GOLD PEN— ITS HISTORY AND MANUFACTURE. 



In olden times, the man who had ventured to predict the advent of 

 those great improvements which have so largely contributed to the comfort 

 and luxury of the present age, wotdd have been deemed quite beside him- 

 self through excess of knowledge. But, in all ages, progress has constantly 

 served to banish prejudice, and to overthrow obstacles apparently insur- 

 mountable. In no one department have the evidences of vast improvement 

 been more signally and substantially verified than in that of Calligraphy. 



From the earliest period of the history of writing — the first data of the 

 papyrus, the waxen tablets, and the style — to the attainments and facilities 

 of the nineteenth century, is a long and eventful lapse ; wherein might 

 readily be found the material for an entertaining and instructive historic 

 sketch, full of valuable details. These, however, we leave to the professed 

 delver in the curious, the explorer of the hidden mysteries of inventions 

 and inventors, and pass directly to the subject designated at the head of 

 this article. We have thought that a complete but succinct history of the 

 gold pen, from the earliest inception of the idea to the manifold operations 

 of this manufacture at the present day, would possess some degree of 

 interest, and have, therefore, gathered from a variety of sources, of un- 

 doubted authenticity, a series of statements relative to this interesting pur- 

 suit, as full and accurate as it is possible to obtain. A brief summary of 

 the experimental operations which led to the final result comes naturally 

 first in order. 



Mr John Isaac Hawkins, an American by birth, though for nearly forty 

 years a resident of Europe, chiefly of England, and now in the United 

 States in a vigorous old age, claims the original invention of the project of 

 so forming a pen from gold as to render its point or nib thoroughly 

 indestructible. The perfection of his invention dates back to about the 

 year 1834. Mr Hawkins at that time had been for nearly thirty years 

 seeking the hardest material in nature which was capable of being soldered 

 to gold, in quantities so small as to allow of a fine and smooth point, 

 which might be cleansed with the readiness of a quill. He had during 

 many years manufactured specimens of durable pens from various mine- 

 rals and precious stones, but these all proved deficient. Some were 

 made of rubies set in gold sockets ; but here the nibs were chunsy, 



