The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-11-01 00:00:00

MOST EXTRAORDINARY INVENTION.

(From the French Correspondent of the Times.)
We are about having in France, and afterwards in England,
a revolution of a most extraordinary character. .The discovery
of a simple preparation, by which the writing with all sort of
ink,(except India ink used for drawing) can be effaced, so as
not afterwards to be known that it has been so, is about to be
made known to the public. The moment this discovery is made
known, their will be no security fur any one against having his
simple signature to a letter being made a signature to a bill of
exchange, or obligation for a large sum of money. For this
discovery which has been made has this peculiar characteristic
about it, that a portion of the writing may be effaced, and such
portion as the effacer thinks fit preserved, and yet the.portion
of the paper from which the writing has been effaced looks pre-
cisely the same colour and appearance, and can be just as easily
written upon as if it had never been effaced at all. The dis-
-coverers of this terrible secret have already played off some
most extraordinary tricks on. the government and on the mer-
chants and bankers of this city—in order, hot to defraud them,
but simply to open their eyes to the appalling situation in which
this discovery • places the whole of society. The other day
one of them applied at the prefecture of police for a passport:
it was duly filled up and sealed. The next day one of these
gentlemen went with the passport to M. Gisquet, and said to
him, " Well M. Gisquet your people have given a passport
without beipg filled up ;" and showing him the passport, horri-
fied the prefect by the production of a passport en blanc. "No
wonder," ' continued the gentleman, " that Don Carlos can go
through France to Spain, when such tricks as these are played
off, and such negligence shown at the prefecture of police."
M. Gisquet was confounded. He called the secretary ; he
vowed that he had never delivered any passport duly signed as
this was, without it being filled up. Olerk after clerk was ex-
amined, and dismissals were talked of, when the gentleman
explained, that by the simple washing of the passport vitth this
newly discovered liquid the writing had been effaced, and the
passpott restored to its original state as before written on. M.
Gisquet then examined fully the subject, and came finally
to the conclusion " that from henceforth passports would be
useless, and that the police would be unable to do its duty."
Another anecdote was yesterday related towing of a merchaut of
eminence in this city, who refused to believe that the discovery
could be the means of defrauding to any extent. In order to
open his eyes to the state of danger in which society is now
placed by this discovery, and by its promulgation, one of the
gentlemen effaced all the writing of a letter which had been ad-
dressed to him the previous day by his banker, except his sig-
nature, and the day of the month and year. These were left as
signed. Then over this signature, on the place where the letter
had been written, he mote an order, as though coming from the
merchant to his cashier, ordering him to pay the bearer one
hundred francs. The gentleman presented the order to the
cashier, and duly received the money. He afterwards proceeded
to the merchant's house, told him what he had done, asked him
to examine his cashier and the order, and to say how he could
avoid being drawn on to any amount 'by this means ? The
merchant was horrified at his position, and admitted that he
might be thus ruined in a few days. The discoverers of this li-
quid, which will take out all inki, (except Indian ink,) are the
inventors of papers called papier de surete, which is very little
dearer indeed than the ordinary paper, and which, if written on,
cannot possibly be washed without changing the colour of the
paper, so that the fact of its having been washed would be at once
detected. The ink cannot be washed off this paper as well as
off other paper,—but when so washed, all must be washed off or
none, for the fact of the washing is evident. This papier de su-
rete is, now, of course,.the general discussion at Parts, and when
once the secret of washing all other papers shall be known, it
will follow that no one will write on any other but this. The
French Government has at once ordered it to be used in the
government offices. I have been told, that in consequence of
this.discovery, the French government has lost nearly a million
of francs iiti. the sole article of stamps during the past year:
for• persons wash old bills of exchange and promisory notes,
which have been paid and done with at.so much per dozen, so
perfectly, and make them look completely the .same as when
new, that instead of purchasing new stamps for bills and notes,
and even for deeds, the old ones are used, after the paper is
'washed over and over again. The French government, to pre-
vent the continuance and increase of this fraud, will be obliged
to pass a law that the stamps shall always bear the date of the
month and year in which they are purchased, and must be used
in that same month and year. Unless something of this sort
be speedily done, the moment the method of washing shall be
universally known, the stamps would not produce more than
one-half of what they have hitherto done. I will keep you ail
courant as to this matter, which appears to me as likely to lead
to little short of a social revolution over the world, unless a dis-•
covers, be made of ink which cannot be extracted by any simple
process like that which is now applied with so much success.
Ihe inventors of this washing liquid defy the patentee of all
existing inks in the world, (except Indian ink, which cannot be
used for general purposes on account of its sediment,) and main-
tain that no ink hitherto invented can resist their discovery.
The subject will, I think, very soon occupy the public atten-
tion to the exclusion of all others.