class="smcap">To Make a Carmine.

Take 9 ozs. carbonate of soda and dissolve in 27 quarts of rain-water, to which add 8 ozs. of citric acid. When boiling, add 1½ lbs. of best cochineal, ground fine, and boil for one and a quarter hours. Filter and set the liquor aside until cool. Then boil the clear liquor for ten minutes with 9½ ozs. of alum. Draw off, and allow the mixture to settle for two or three days. Again draw off the liquor, and wash the sediment with clear, cold, soft water, and then dry the sediment.

Violet Ink.

To make violet ink:—Put 8 ozs. logwood into 3 pints of water, and boil until half the water has gone off in steam. The rest will be good ink, if strained, and supplemented by 1½ ozs. gum, and 2½ ozs. alum. Chloride of tin may be used instead of alum. Another plan is to mix, in hot water, 1 oz. cudbear (a dye obtained from lichen fermented in urine) and 1½ ozs. pearlash; let it stand 12 hours; strain; add 3 ozs. gum and 1 oz. spirit.

Indelible Ink.

A cheap indelible ink can be made by the following recipe:—Dissolve in boiling water 20 parts of potassa, 10 parts of fine-cut leather chips, and 5 parts of flowers of sulphur are added, and the whole heated in an iron kettle until it is evaporated to dryness. Then the heat is continued until the mass becomes soft, care being taken that it does not ignite. The pot is now removed from the fire, allowed to cool, water is added, the solution strained and preserved in bottles. This ink will flow readily from the pen.

How to Remove Ink-stains from the Hands.

Ripe tomatoes will remove ink or other stains from the hands.

Treatment of India Ink Drawings.

An easy method for rendering drawings in Indian ink insensible to water, and thus preventing the ink from running when the drawing has to be colored and the lines are very thick:—To the water in which the ink has to be rubbed, is added a weak solution of bichromate of potash of about 2 per cent. The animal gum contained in the Indian ink combines with the bichrome, and becomes insoluble under the influence of light.

Black Ink.

To make a black ink for fountain pens, add 1 part of nigrosein to 50 parts of hot water; agitate well at intervals; let it cool, and after twelve hours filter through a fine linen cloth, and add a few drops of carbolic acid to each pint. This may be diluted with three times its volume of water, and still form a good ink for ordinary pens.

Ink for Rubber Stamps.

Aniline (red violet), 16 parts; boiling distilled water, 80 parts; glycerine, 7 parts; molasses, 3 parts.

Cardinal Ink.

Improved cardinal ink for draughtsmen is made as follows:—Triturate 1 gram of pure carmine with 15 grams of acetate ammonia solution and an equal quantity of distilled water, in a porcelain mortar, and allow the whole to stand for some time. In this way a portion of the alumina which is combined with the carmine dye is taken up by the acetate acid of the ammonia salt and separates as precipitate, while the pure pigment of the cochineal remains dissolved in the half saturated ammonia. It is now filtered and a few drops of pure white sugar syrup added to thicken it. In this way an excellent red drawing ink is obtained, which holds its color a long time. A solution of gum arabic cannot be employed to thicken this ink, as it still contains some acetic acid, which would coagulate the bassorine, one of the natural constituents of gum arabic.

An Article for Labeling Bottles.

A very useful article for labeling bottles containing substances which would destroy ordinary labels consists of a mixture of ammonium fluoride, barium sulphate and sulphuric acid, the proportions for its manufacture being: barium sulphate, 3 parts; ammonium fluoride, 1 part; and sulphuric acid enough to decompose the fluoride and make a mixture of semi-fluid consistency. This mixture, when brought in contact with a glass surface with a common pen, at once etches a rough surface on the parts it comes in contact with. The philosophy of the action is the decomposition of the ammonium fluoride by the acid, which attacks the glass; the barium sulphate is inert, and is simply used to prevent the spreading of the markings. The mixture must be kept in bottles coated on the inside with paraffine or wax.

How to Remove Aniline Ink from the Hands.

Aniline inks are now in common use, especially in connection with the various gelatine tablets for multiplying copies of written matter. Upon the hands it makes annoying stains, difficult of removal by water or acids. They may be easily washed out by using a mixture of alcohol 3 parts, and glycerine 1 part.

An Ink which Cannot be Erased.

An ink which cannot be erased from paper or parchment by any known chemical solvent, and will retain its original color indefinitely, and last as long as the material on which it is written, is made as follows:—Make a solution of shellac in borax, to which add sufficient lampblack to give the requisite depth of color.

To Make Black Ink.

Lactate of iron, 15 grains; powdered gum arabic, 75 grains; powdered sugar, half a drachm; gallic acid, 9 grains; hot water, 3 ounces. (Lactate of iron is a novelty in ink-making, and the above formula may possibly suit those who have a taste for writing with mucilaginous matters instead of limpid solutions.)

Black Ink for Stencils.

The following is commended for the preparation of a black ink or paste for use with stencils:—Boneblack, 1 lb.; molasses, 8 ozs.; sulphuric acid, 4 ozs.; dextrine, 2 ozs.; water sufficient. Mix the acid with about two ounces of water, and add it to the other ingredients, previously mixed together. When the effervescence has subsided, enough water is to be added to form a paste of convenient consistence.

Marking Ink.

Put two pennyworths’ lunar caustic (nitrate of silver) into half a tablespoonful of gin, and in a day or two the ink is fit for use. The linen to be marked must first be wet with a strong solution of common soda, and be thoroughly dried before the ink is used upon it. The color will be faint at first, but by exposure to the sun or the fire it will become quite black and very durable.

Blue Marking Ink for White Goods.

Dissolve the