The great common error of general historians, ancient and modern, (with a very few exceptions among the moderns,) has been, that they have given to the world little else than narrations and descriptions of wars and treaties, of governmental changes and political events, omitting to record the often far more important facts in the history of literature, science, and the arts of utility, by which the progress of civilization and the development of the human race in its higher capacities have been effected or aided. The great “Instaurator of the Sciences” was the first to call attention to these omissions and deficiencies in all previous histories, and to indicate the duty of historians to avoid these errors,—setting a good example in that respect, in the specimen, or model work, which he produced as a pattern,—his history of the reign of Henry the Seventh. Since his time, many special histories of inventions and of the arts of utility have been written; and the numerous cyclopaedists have largely contributed to this object; still, however, leaving many vacancies to be filled in this department of human knowledge, of which the one before us can not be considered the least worthy of the labor needful for its investigation.
The word INK has been variously defined by lexicographers, cyclopaedists and chemists; but the following terms may be taken as fully expressing the common qualities and essential specific characteristics of all substances included under the name.
INK is a colored liquid employed in making lines, characters or figures on surfaces capable of retaining the marks so made. The Encyclopaedia Britannica, (vol. xii. p. 382, 1856,) gives the following definition: “INK.—The term ink is usually restricted to the fluid employed in writing with a pen. Other kinds of ink are indicated by a second word, such as red ink, Indian ink, marking ink, sympathetic ink, printers’ ink, etc. Common ink is, however, sometimes distinguished as writing ink.”
As to COLOR,—black is and has always been preferred in ordinary uses. For ornamental purposes and for occasionally useful distinctions, various other tints have been and are adopted—as blue, red, green, purple, violet, yellow—and so on, according to the fancy of the maker, or purchaser, or consumer.