The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-31
TIE FIRST INDIA INK.
IT WAS ACCIDENTALLY MADE
 BY 4 CHINESE ALCHEMTST.

Like Many Other Things Which Have
 No Relation Whatever to, Their
 Names, India Ink Has No Connection
 With IudIa.
 For many thousand years india ink has been to the artist and to the artisan the vehicle for the creation of much that is interesting and instructive and beautiful in the world of art, and it has rather extraordinary history.
 Like many other things which have no relation whatever to their names, in- dia ink has no relation whatever to h. dia. The Irish potato, it is said face tiously, is so called because it was first found in Peru. Therefore india ink may have been so named because it was made first in China, where the bulk of it has been made ever since.
 Also. like most other things of prac- tieal utility to mankind, india ink was not an invention, but a discovery-that is to say, the individual who produced it first did so entirely by accident, with out the remotest intention of doing any, thing sensible or useful.
 About three thousand years before the Christian era a Chinese alchemist, Tien-Tschen by name, while experi- menting upon some. nostrums for the eternal preservation of life or upon some formula for converting dirt into gold-it matters not what-accidentaly eoneocted black substance in the form of a liquid paint or Yarnish. This con- eoetion was the first india ink.
 The black pigment which forms the base of the ink was the soot obtained by burning lac and pine charcoal. This soot was powdered finely and mixed with some kind of size or blue. Fish glue, or isinglass, was used as well as bone or horn glue, and sometimes, in making the finer qualities of ink, pearls were boiled in glue. Sometimes dried OK tongue was added to give the ink a purple tint, and the bark of the pepper tree was used to produce tinge or blue. The ink was carefully molded, dried and packed in wormwood leaves with lime or ashes until well seasoned.
 It is not stated whether sepia, the coloring liquid of the cuttlefish, was added to the ink originally or not; but, as the best india ink in use at present has browrish tint, as if mixed with sepia, it is evident that sepia is used now in the manufacture of the ink. Sepia aone is used frequently in China in preference to the black ink.
 As soon as it was discovered that in- 'tlia ink was likely to be serviceable to
 mankind it was perceived by the im- perial diet to be a dangerous innova- tion upon the established custom of "not'' having it to use. The empire had got along very we'll without india ink prior to its discovery, and it was Chinese public policy Ito let we'll enough alone" Therefore the use of the ink was declared to be sacrilegious, and its manufacture was prohibited.
 Apparently there were millions in india ink in those days, for sharp competition in its production arose. and this was the beginning of trouble for artists and draftsmen. The market was glutted with worthless grades. At first the ink was superfine in quality. and the laupblack used in it was ground into an inpalpable powder so fine that it was as colatile as vapor and possessed in itself an odor of musk Later, when competition corrupted its production, coarses and cheaper pig .inents were substituted for the fine ones, and the ink was artificially per- fumed with musk in order to disguise it's irferiority.
 The Chinese are passionately fond of musk, and india ink was used by. them not only as writing material, but also as a. flavor for their choicest beverages. A little india ink rubbed in water was considered then a delicious drink, but modern india ink can hardly be recom- mended as a safe medium for interior decoration of that sort.
 We are informed by the distinguished historian that all good" india ink is inhabited by gods. (In China there are so many gods that it is difficult to find lodgings for them all; they are billeted, therefore, upon any convenient article, such asa stick of india ink.) From this startling disclosure of the histori- an we ightm be justified in presuming that all "bad'' india ink is inhabited by devils. This view of the matter would account for the multitudinous trials and tribulations which bescet the un- happy draftsman who tries to make a drawing with poor india ink, for eer- tainly in unmitigated wickedness and total depravity india ink has few equals and no superiors.-Weekly Bou- quet.