48 
On the Composition of Writing Ink * 
when kept in their own original pickle ; their value con- 
sists in their softness and flavour; it is this mode of cur- 
ing herrings that used to be the pride of the Dutch, and 
this is the kind which supplied their home consumption, 
and were so much esteemed by all classes of people in 
Holland. 
In order, as far as is possible, to give a proof of the 
correctness of the above assertion, I shall state a fact for 
the information of the Society. During the last year, I 
employed a number of Dutch fishermen, prisoners, and 
others, with Englishmen, in gypping and curing herrings ; 
and at one time, my agent at Yarmouth was offered four 
pounds per barrel for all the herrings he had cured there, 
by a Dutch captain, in order to their being taken to Hol- 
land, while ungypped herrings were worth only thirty-six 
shillings per barrel. The herrings now under considera- 
tion of your Society, are part of the quantity for which 
that offer was made. 
NO. 11. 
Report made to the Institute on a Memoir , by M. Tarry, 
on the Composition of Writing Ink. By Messrs. Ber* 
thollet, Vauquelin, and Deyeux.* 
The object proposed by M. Tarry in his memoir is to 
explain : 
1. The processes employed for discharging writing 
from paper. 
2. The processes for reviving writings which have been 
apparently obliterated. 
8. The best way to improve common ink. 
Tilloeh* voL xxxviii, p. 34. From Annaies de Chimie, tome lxxv # p. 
