The Arabian methods of making ink (alchiber) were
more complex. Lampblack was first made by the
burning of oil, tar or rosin, which was then commingled
with gum and honey and pressed into small wafers or
cakes, to which water could be added when wanted for
use.

About 1200 years before the Christian era, the Chinese
perfected this method and invented "Indian Ink,"
ostensibly for blackening the surface of raised hieroglyphics,
which "was obtained from the soot produced
by the smoke of pines and the oil in lamps, mixed
with the isinglass (gelatin) of asses' skin, and musk
to correct the odour of the oil." Du Halde cites the
following, as of the time of the celebrated Emperor
Wu-Wong, who flourished 1120 years before Christ:


"As the stone Me (a word signifying blackening
in the Chinese language), which is used to blacken
the engraved characters, can never become white;
so a heart blackened by vices will always retain its
blackness."

That the art of dyeing was known, valued and applied
among early nations, is abundantly clear. The
allusions to "purple and fine raiment," to "dyed garments,"
to "cloth of many colours," &c., are numerous
in the Bible. In a note to the "Pictorial Bible, after