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第74章

forty centuries of ink-第74章

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The face and internal surfaces of the orbits had

been painted white; which pigment I ascertained

to be finely powdered chalk。〃



 〃I am a scribbled form; drawn with a Pen

 Upon a Parchment; and against this fire

 Do I shrink up。〃

                         KING JOHN; v; 7。



 〃With much ado; his Book before him laid;

 And Parchment with the smoother side display'd;

 He takes the Papers; lays 'em down agen;

 And with unwilling fingers tries his Pen;

 Some peevish quarrel straight he tries to pick;

 His Quill writes double; or his Ink's too thick;

 Infuse more Water; now 'tis grown too thin;

 It sinks; nor can the characters be seen。〃

                         Persius; translated by Dryden。



INKS CALLED SYMPATHETICAL (Seventeenth Century)。



〃These operations are liquors of a different nature;

which do destroy one another; the first is an infusion

of quick…lime and orpin; the second a water turn'd

black by means of burned cork; and the third is a

vinegar impregnated with saturn。



〃Take an ounce of quick…lime; and half an ounce of

orpin; powder and mix them; put your mixture into

a matrass; and pour upon it five or six ounces of water;

that the water may be three fingers breadth above

the powder; stop your matrass with cork; wax; and a

bladder; set it in digestion in a mild sand heat ten or

twelve hours; shaking the matrass from time to time;

then let it settle; the liquid becomes clear like common

water。



〃Burn cork; and quench it in aqua vitae; then dissolve

it in a sufficient quantity of water; wherein you

shall have melted a little gumm arabick; in order to

make an ink as black as common ink。 You must

separate the cork that can't dissolve; and if the ink be

not black enough; add more cork as before。



〃Get the impregnation of saturn made with vinegar;

distilled as I have shewn before; or else dissolve

so much salt of saturn as a quantity of water

is able to receive: write on paper with a new

pen dipt in this liquor; take notice of the place

where you writ; and let it dry; nothing at all will

appear。



〃Write upon the invisible writing with the ink

made of burnt cork; and let it dry; that which you

have writ will appear as if it had been done with common

ink。



〃Dip a little cotton in the first liquor made of lime

and orpin; but the liquor must be first settled and

clear; rub the place you writ upon with this cotton

and that which appeared will presently disappear; and

that which was not seen will appear。



ANOTHER EXPERIMENT。



Take a book four fingers breadth in bigness; or

bigger if you will: write on the first leaf with your

impregnation of saturn; or else put a paper that you

have writ upon between the leaves; turn to t' other

side of the Book; and having observed as near as may

be the opposite place to your writing; rub the last leaf

of the book with cotton dipt in liquor made of quick…

lime and orpin; nay and leave the cotton on the place

clap a folded paper presently upon it; and shutting

the book quickly; strike upon it with your hand four

or five good strokes; then turn the book; and clap it

into a press for half a quarter of an hour; take it out

and open it; you'll find the place appear black; where

you had writ with the invisible ink。 The same thing

might be done through a wall; if you could provide

something to lay on both sides; that might hinder the

evaporation of the spirits。



REMARKS。



〃These operations are indeed of no use; but because

they are somewhat surprizing; I hope the curious will

not take it ill; that I make this small digression。



〃It is a hard matter to explicate well the effects I

have now related; nevertheless I shall endeavour to

illustrate them a little; without having recourse to

sympathy and antipathy; which are general terms; and

do not explicate nothing at all; but before I begin; we

must remark several things。



〃The first is; that it is an essential point to quench

the coal of cork in aqua vitae; that the visible ink may

become black with it。



〃Secondly; that the blackness of this ink does

proceed from the fuliginosity or sooty part of the coal

of the cork which is exceeding porous and light; and

that this fuliginosity is nothing but an oil very much

rarefied。



〃Thirdly; that the impregnation of saturn; which

makes the invisible ink; is only a lead dissolved; and

held up imperceptibly in an acid liquor; as I have said;

when I spoke of this metal。



〃Fourthly; that the first of these liquors in a mixture

of the alkali and igneous parts of quick…lime with

the sulphureous substance of arsenick; for the orpin

is a sort of arsenick; as I said before。



〃All this being granted; as no body can reasonably

think otherwise; I now affirm; that the reason why the

visible ink does disappear; when the defacing liquor is

rubbed upon it; is that this liquor consisting of an

alkali salt; and parts that are oily and penetrating;

this mixture does make a kind of soap; which is able

to dissolve any fuliginous substance; such as burnt

cork; especially when it has been already rarefied and

disposed for dissolution by aqua vitae; after the same

manner as common soap; which is compounded of oil;

and an alkali salt; is able to take away any spots made

by grease。



〃But it may be demanded; why after the dissolution

the blackness does disappear。



〃I answer; that the fuliginous parts have been so

divided; and locked up in the sulphureous alkali of

the liquor; that they are become invisible; and we see

every day that very exact solutions do render the thing

dissolved imperceptible; and without colour。



〃The little alkali salt which is in the burnt cork

may also the better serve to joyn with the alkali of

the quick…lime; and to help the dissolution。



〃As for the invisible ink; it is easy to apprehend

how that appears black; when the same liquor; which

serves to deface the other; is used upon it。 For whereas

the impregnation of saturn is only a lead suspended by

the edges; of the acid liquor; this lead must needs revive;

and resume its black colour; when that which held it

rarefied is entirely destroyed; so the alkali of quick…

lime being filled with the sulphurs of arsenick becomes

very proper to break and destroy the acids; and to

agglutinate together the particles of lead。



It happens that the visible ink does disappear by

reason that the parts which did render it black have

been dissolved; and the invisible ink does also appear

because the dissolved parts have been revived。



〃Quick…lime and; orpiment being mixed and digested

together in water; do yield a smell much like

that which happens when common sulphur is boiled in

a lixivium; of tartar。 This here is the stronger; because

the sulphur of arsenick is loaded with certain salts

that make a stronger impression on the smell。 Quick…

lime is an alkali that operates in this much like the

salt of tartar in the other operation; you must not

leave the matrass open; because the force of this

water doth consist in a volatile。



〃The lime retains the more fixt part of the arsenick

and the sulphurs that come forth are so much the

more subtile; as they are separated from what did fix

them before; and this appears to be so; because the

sulphurs must of necessity pass through all the book to

make a writing of a clear and invisible liquor appear

black and visible: and to facilitate this penetration the

book is strook; and then turned about; because the spirit

or volatile sulphurs do always tend upwards; you must

likewise clap it into a press; that these sulphurs may

not be dispersed in the air。 I have found; if that these

circumstances are not observed; the business fails。

Furthermore that which persuades me that the sulphurs

do pass through the book; and not take a circuit

to slip in by the sides; as many do imagine; is

that after the book is taken out of th

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