Forty Centuries of Ink: Or, A chronological narrative concerning ink and its backgrounds, introducing incidental observations and deductions, parallels of time and color phenomena, bibliography, chemistry, poetical effusions, citations, anecdotes and curiosa together with some evidence respecting the evanescent character of most inks of to-day and an epitome of chemico-legal ink.Carvalho, David Nunes
History
Forty Centuries of Ink: Or, A chronological narrative concerning ink and its backgrounds, introducing incidental observations and deductions, parallels of time and color phenomena, bibliography, chemistry, poetical effusions, citations, anecdotes and curiosa together with some evidence respecting the evanescent character of most inks of to-day and an epitome of chemico-legal ink.
Carvalho, David Nunes
Ink
If, however, "chemical writing fluid" is first treated
by exposure to the fumes of an ammoniacal gas, a
"browning" of the ink occurs, not only of the pen
tracks but of the entire ink mark. If examined now
with a lens, the ink is found to be thin enough to permit
the fibre of the paper to be seen through it, thus indicating
artificial age. Furthermore, if a 20 per cent
strength of hydrochloric acid be applied, the "added"
color (usually a blue one) is restored to ITS original
hue; alike experiment on "time" aged ink gives
only the yellow brown tint of pure gall and iron
combinations, the "added" color having departed caused
by its fugitive characteristics. Again, if a solution of
chlorinate of lime or soda be applied, the ink mark
is instantly bleached, where in the case of honest old
ink marks, it takes considerable time to even approximate
a like result.
To confirm the chemical tests which may be employed
in the determination of the artificial aging of
ink marks, photographs made by permitting light to
transmit through the paper and to interfere with its
rays by filtering them through a "color" screen containing
orange and some green, will indicate the presence
of a fugitive substance in the ink, usually the
"added" color employed in its manufacture.
The process of bleaching or "removal" of ink marks
from paper is frequently employed in the attempted
eradication of words or figures and the substitution
of others on monetary instruments, commonly called
"raising." Its purpose is usually a criminal one and
some observations as to the modus operandi and its
chemistry are not out of place here.
Ink marks made with a compound consisting of the
combination of iron and an infusion of galls or its
equivalent (a tanno-gallate of iron ink), as treated
with certain chemicals, change from a compound with
color to a chemical compound, with no color. Nothing
has in fact been absolutely removed or eradicated,
but it is a mere change of form, a sort of re-arrangement
of the particles, the ingredients which formed
the original color being still present, but in such a
condition that they are invisible to the eye. A restoration
of the invisible ink marks so that they can
be observed, becomes possible by the use of chemical
reagents and is the reverse of the one of erasure or
bleaching, and changes the constituents again into a
compound which has color from the one which had
none. It does, not, however, reproduce the exact composition
originally existing. Such a reagent simply
goes to the basis of the material as first used, takes
up what was left and reforms the particles sufficiently
to make them abundantly recognizable. An apt
illustration of these chemical changes of color is found
in what is known as the phenolphtalein test solution,
which is colored deep purplish-red by alkali hydrates
or carbonates, and then by the addition of an acid
rendered colorless, to be again reddened by an over-
plus of the alkali and so on ad infinitum.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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