few exceptions record inks, and the so-called modern
paper, is the motive for the writing of this book.
The numerous color products of coal tar, now so
largely employed in the preparation of ink, and the
worse material utilized in the manufacture of the hard-
finished writing papers, menace the future preservation
of public and other records. Those who occupy
official position and who can help to ameliorate this
increasing evil, should begin to do so without delay.
Abroad England, Germany and France and at home
Massachusetts and Connecticut have sought to modify
these conditions by legislation and our National Treasury
Department only last year, in establishing a standard
for its ink, gives official recognition of these
truths.

There is no "History of Ink;" but of ink history
there is a wealth of material, although historians have
neglected to record information about the very substance
by which they sought to keep and transmit the
chronicles they most desired to preserve. From the
beginning of the Christian era to the present day,
"Ink" literature, exclusive of its etymology, chemical
formulas, and methods of manufacture, has been confined
to brief statements in the encyclopedias, which
but repeat each other. A half dozen original articles,
covering only some particular branch together with a
few treatises more general in their ramifications of
the subject, can also be found. Seventy lines about
"writing ink" covering its history for nearly four