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much as might have been expected, and that the cha-racters were as fixed as could be desired, for they couldnot be washed out without rubbing off part of the sub-stance of the paper itself.

All these inks must be now and then stirred or shakenduring the time of use, to mix up the black powder,which settles by degrees to the bottom: those with oilmust be well shaken also, though not used, once a day, orat least once in three or four days, to keep the oil unitedwith the water and gum; for if once the oil separates,which it is apt to do by standing at rest for some days, itcan no longer be mixed with the thin fluid by any agi-tation. But though this imperfect union of the ingre-dients renders these inks less fit for general use than thosecommonly employed, I apprehend there are many occa-sions, in which these kinds of inconveniences will not bethought to counterbalance the advantage of havingwritings, which we may be assured will be as lasting asthe paper they are written upon. And indeed the incon-venience may be in great measure obviated by using cotton,in the ink-stand, which, imbibing the fluid, prevents theseparation of the black powder diffused through it.

It has often been remarked, that the inks used informer times were far more durable than those of lateryears; many modern records being more decayed thanthe manuscripts of much greater antiquity. CamiiloPaderni, in his letters from Herculaneum published inthe Philosophical Transactions for the years 1753 and 1754,speaking of the ancient Roman and Greek volumes dis-covered there, written on the Egyptian papyrus, com-plains of the paper being so much decayed and rotten,that they have been able to unroll only a few pieces, butmakes no complaint of the ink having anywhere faded,,all the parts that have been unrolled seeming, from what