INK

(Germ, dinte.) The colouring matter of common ■writing ink is the tan no gallate of iron, which is suspended in water by gum arable; a little logwood is generally added to deepen and improve the colour, A good writing ink is made as follows: — Take six ounces of finely bruised galls, four ounces of gum arable, four ounces of green vitriol, and six pints of soft water. Boil the galls in the water; then add the other ingredients; and mixing the whole well together, keep it in a well-corked bottle, occasionally shaking it. In two months' time carefully pour ofF the ink from the residue into gla bottles, which should be well corked; a few cloves or a drop or two of creosote put into each bottle prevent moulding. The addition of a little sugar to ink gives it a glo , and prevents its drying rapidly and perfectly; so that it is generalljr used in what is called copying ink, from the writing with which copies may be taken by pre ure. Indian ink is a compound of very fine lampblack and size. It cannot, like common writing ink, be removed by acids; but as it does not bite or sink into the paper, it rnay generally be wiped off with a moist sponge. Printing ink is made with boiled linseed or nut oil and lampblack. Red ink is a solution of alum coloured with brazil wood. Boil two ounces of brazil wood, half an ounce of gum arable, and a quarter of an ounce of alum in a pint of water for ten minutes; strain the decoction, and set it aside to clear. Sympathetic inks are compounds which when written with will remain invisible till heated: solutions of cobalt thus become blue or green, lemon juice turns brown, and a very dilute sulphuric acid blackens. Marking ink is made as follows: — Di olve one drachm of lunar caustic (fused nitrate of silver) in half an ounce of water previously thickened with a little sap green: write with this upon the linen previously prepared for its reception by the application of a weak solution of carbonate of soda thickened with a little gum arable, and suffered to drv upon the linen. INLIDANS, Ir.lidte. The name of a family of Myriapods, having the inlus or gally-worm as the type. INNOCENTS' [s. 613]