The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-05-12

[ am not alhamed however to declare,
mat my Lnind is not perfectly convinced OF
Inc tendency of this plan to prevent coun-
terfctIng Bank Notes. ihould b. willing
to attribute thcfe doubts in great degree,
to my own ignorance in the art of Engrav-
ing, had not my own opinions been
confirmed by The teItimony OF one or two
artists. Mr. Brooks hinfelf has fuggened
three objections to this plan, which APP
pear 10 have comfortable weight. Had 10
zach iuppolt been given to my own opinion,
ihculd fill have refted my doubts upon
this firnple petition that it is difficult to
conceive why an impreflionupon Gnooth
plane of paper, however diversified in its
| lines and letters, ihould not be transferred
to finooth plate of Copper by fmple
proceis and why this plate, after it has
been etched or engraved, fhould not deli
| yer It's !mpretiion upon other pieces of pa
per. This objection will be found to an
ply equally to Mr.. Brooks's invention Of
BAcK-sTUFF PLATES.
lie adyifes the Engraver to procure plates
! which have iron on the one tide, and good
feel on the other. The iteel-fide receives
the device which is engraved on il in the
common way. 1t is then laid, with its en-
graved fide on block, Eighty ccncaye (:
aud aimall blow with the hammer, is fuf-
tcient TO "crack the feel in a very pecu-
liar manner. Ii willnot break through, be-
caute the iron on the one fde will prevent
IT. hlr.Brooks fuppofes, that no "marl,s
mad with tool or by etching, can even
toierably initiate the very peculiar i'm
prelllon which this broken feel deli
vers. why this irnpreilion is 70 pc
clliar, that no Engraver's art can iIni-
tatate it, ne has aligned not Jingle realon.
mutt repeat my belief in the fimple pro-
petition which have advanced. can con-
ceive thatdiferent ihades6 & lights exhibited
onavery diverffed furface, fhould elude the
iimple art of the engraver; that Mezzotin-
| to and Aquatinta drawings fhould defy the
tool ofhis graver or the unaffifted corroiion
| Of his aqua-fortis. But why any furface
| which is infcribed with Iimple lines and let-
| ters, as Bank Note, fhould be inimitabIe,
is to my mind an uncomfortable petition. /
| have feen the rough fragments of building,
| or the abrupt fractures of rock, admirably
delineated upon paper by the ordinary me-
fhod. In this way the falling columns and
all the magnificent ruins ofRome and Pal
myra, are made to furvive the nowlv advan-
| cling but never-paufng hand of time.-
Should mot have underftood the invention
| of MIR. Brooks, or fhould / have enlarged
the Engraver's art beyond the fphere This
power, ihall be glad to have my errors
| corrected and TO communicate TO the pub
| TIC, any eiiay WHICH may demonftrate the
| advantages of his peculiar dilcovery.
This queition has a claim to examination
A tar beyODd the coturnon r,tIrDofee of a f,;
Hing curiosity.z-If it be the bounden duty
! OF the Legislature topreyent the perpetra-
ton of crimes, where prevention does not
involve the facrfce of more important
rights, it isequally the province ofthe Com
mIiiioners and Stockholders of public
banks, to enquire whether any efe6tual me-
thod can be difcovered, Of preventing the
counterfeiting Of their notes.