60 
I N K 
lion, -1 French inode of fpeech, not now in ufe. — C aft nig oft' 
the refpefts fit to be continued between great kings, he 
fell to bitter inveftives againft the French king ; and 
fpake all the ivwrics he could devife of Charles. Bacon, 
To INJURY, v. a. [formerly ufed in poetry for] To 
injure: 
Sure I ftiould injury my own content, 
Or wrong thy love to ftand on compliment. W. Browne. 
INJU'ST, adj. [from in, Lat. contrary to, and jujlus, 
juft.] Unjuft. 
INJUSTICE, f [Fr. from injujlitia, Lat.] Iniquity; 
wrong.—Cunning men can "be guilty of a thoufand in- 
jufiiccs without being difcovered, or at leaft without being 
punilhed. Swift. 
INJUST'LY, adv. Unjuftly. 
INK, f. A liquor ufed in writing, generally black, and 
compofed of an infufion of galls, copperas, and gum ara¬ 
ble ; but occafionally of other colours. An oily compo¬ 
fition ufed in printing, of which there are two kinds, 
differing chiefly in confidence ; the thickeft of which is 
ufed for letter-prefs printing, the other for copper-plates. 
A compofttion ufed for fecret writing, called fympathetic 
ink. 
Of WRITING-INKS. 
The properties required in good Writing-ink are, i. To 
flow freely from the pen, and fink a little into the paper, 
that the writing be not eafily difeharged. 2. Avery deep 
black colour, which ftiould be as deep at firll as at any 
time afterwards. 3. Durability, fo that the writing may 
not be fubjefl to decay by age. 4. Ink fliould be defi¬ 
nite of any cqrrofive quality, that it may not deftroy the 
paper, or go through it in fuch a manner as to render 
•the writing illegible. No kind of ink, however, has yet 
appeared which is poffeffed of all thefe qualities. The 
ink ufed by the ancients was poffeffed of the fecond, 
third, and fourth, qualities above-mentioned, but wanted 
the firft. Dr. Lewis 'difcovered its compofition from 
fome paffages in ancient authors. “ Pliny and Vitruvius 
(fays he) exprefsly mention the preparation of foot, or 
what we now call lamp-black, and the compofition of writ¬ 
ing-ink from lamp-black and gum. Diofcorides is more 
particular, fetting down the proportions of the two in¬ 
gredients, viz. three ounces of the foot to one of the 
gum. It feems the mixture was formed into cakes or 
rolls; which, being dried in the fun, were occafionally 
-tempered with water, as the cakes of Indian ink are among 
us for painting.” 
The formation or compofition of inks is a chemical 
procefs; accordingly the mode of making common writ¬ 
ing-ink is given in the article Chemistry, vol. iv. p. 300. 
Mr. Delaval, in his Treatife on Colours, p. 37. acquaints 
us, that, with an infufion of galls and iron-filings, he had 
not only made an exceedingly black and durable ink, but 
by its means, without the addition of any acid, dyed filk 
■and woollen cloth of a good and lafting black. This kind 
of ink, however, though the colour is far fuperior to that 
of any other, has the inconvenience of being very eafily 
t^ifeharged, either by the'fmalleft quantity of any acid, 
or even by Ample water ; becaufe it does not penetrate 
the paper in fuch a manner as is neceffary to preferve it 
from the inftantaneous afiion of the acid or of the wa¬ 
ter. During the aflion of the infufion of galls upon 
the iron in making this kind of ink, a very conlidera- 
bie effervefcence takes place, and a quantity of air is 
difeharged, the nature of which has not yet been exa¬ 
mined. 
The materials ufually employed for the making of ink 
are, common green vitriol, or copperas, and galls ; but 
Slmoft all of them are deficient in durability, which is a 
property of fuch importance, that Dr. Lewis thought 
the fubject of ink-making not unworthy of his attention.. 
From experiments made by that author, he infers, that 
Ahe decay of inks is chiefly owing to a deficiency of galls; 
INK’ 
that the galls are the moft perifhable ingredient, the 
quantity of thefe, which gives the greateft blacknefs at 
firft (which is about equal parts with the vitriol), being 
infufficient to maintain the colour; that, for a durable 
ink, the quantity of galls cannot be much lefs than 
three times that of the vitriol ; that it cannot be much 
greater without leffening the blacknefs of the ink ; that, 
by diminifhing the quantity of water, the ink is rendered 
blacker and more durable; that diftilled water, rain-wa¬ 
ter, and hard fpring-water, have the fame effects ; that 
white wine produces a deeper black colour than water ; 
that the colour produced by vinegar is deeper than that 
by wine; that proof-fpirit extracts only a reddifh-brown 
tinge ; that the laft-mentioned tinCture finks into, and 
ipreads upon, the paper; and hence the impropriety of ad¬ 
ding fpirit of wine to ink, as is frequently directed, to 
prevent mouldinefs or freezing; that other aftringents, as 
oak-bark, biftort, floe-bark, &c. are not fo effectual as 
galls, nor give fo good a black, the colour produced by 
moft of thefe, excepting oak-bark, being greenifh ; that 
the juice of floes does not produce a black colour with 
martial vitriol; but that, neverthelefs, the writing made 
with it becomes black, and is found to be more durable 
than common ink ; that inks made with faturated folu- 
tions of iron, in nitrous, marine, or acetous, acids, in tar¬ 
tar or in lemon juice, were much inferior to the ink 
made with martial vitriol ; that the colour of ink is de¬ 
praved by adding quicklime, which is done with an in¬ 
tention of deftroying any fuperabundant acid which may 
be fuppofed to be the caufe of the lofs of the colour of 
ink ; that the heft method of preventing the effects of this, 
fuperabundant acid is probably by adding pieces of iron 
to engage it; and that this conjecture is confirmed by an 
inftance the author had heard, of the great durability of 
the colour of an ink in which pieces of iron had been 
long immerfed ; and laftly, that a uecoftion of logwood, 
ufed inftead of water, fenfibly improves both the beauty 
and deepnefs of the black, without difpofing it to fade. 
The fame author obferves, that the addition of gum arabic 
is not only ufeful, by keeping the colouring matter fuf- 
pended in the fluid, but alfo by preventing the ink from 
fpreading, by which means a greater quantity of it is 
collected on each flroke of the pen. Sugar, which is 
fometimes added to ink, is found to be much lefs effeftual 
than gums, and to have the inconvenience of preventing 
the drying of the ink. The colour of ink is found to be 
greatly injured by keeping the ink in veffels made of 
copper or of lead, and probably of any other metal, ex¬ 
cepting iron, which the vitriolic acid can diffolve. 
The foregoing experiments point out, for the beft pro¬ 
portions of the ingredients for ink, One part of green 
vitriol, one part of powdered logwood, and three parts of 
powdered galls. The beft menftruum appears to be vine¬ 
gar or white wine, though for common ufe water is fuf- 
ricient. If the ink be required to be of a full colour, a 
quart, or at moft three pints, of liquor, may be allowed 
to three ounces of galls, and to one ounce of each of the 
other two ingredients. Half an ounce of gum may be 
added to each pint of the liquor. The ingredients may¬ 
be all put together at once in a convenient veil'd, and well 
fhaken four or five times each day. In ten or twelve days 
the ink will be fit for ufe, though it will improve by re¬ 
maining longer on the ingredients. Or it may be made 
more expeditioufly, by adding the gum and vitriol to a 
decoction of galls and logwood in the menftruum. To 
the ink, after it has been feparated from the feculencies, 
fome coarfe powder of galls, from which the fine duft has 
been fifted, together with one or two pieces of iron, may 
be added, by which its durability will be fecured. 
I11 fome attempts made by the doftor to endow writ¬ 
ing-ink with the great durability of that of the ancients, 
as well as the properties which it has at prefent, he firft 
thought of ufing animal glues, and then of oily matters. 
“I mixed both lamp-black (fays he) and ivory-black 
with folution of gum arabic, made of fuch confiltence as 
J juft 
