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