Penman's Art Journal (Volume 2) - Iampeth

fTIie follcnrtog beaatlful poem, by :
e'en u I spoVe, tbe n
' me, rtpplluR past,
aiiytliiugufss. that causes the infatuation,
but its exclusiveDess, and that only.
I interview parties pecuniarily interested
in the introduction of tbifl fystem (properly
speaking, iil)sence of system) of writing,
and they affirm that " being formed upon
tbe principle of the angle instead of the
ellipse, it can be written with far greater
degree of ease and rapidity than the oval
hand." Now the teacher of penmanship
is aware tliat tbe most difficult thing for
himsfU to acquire, or to impart to others
is ability to make straight lines. And we
do uot forget the straight line made by
Appellee, wbi(;b, although drawn more than
two thoiis.iud years ago, still keeps his name
bright oil history's page, when nearly all
else coiieerning him has long since been
THE PENMAN'S ART JOUKNAL.
handwriting under consideration. I refer
to beauty of form. Of course in writing,
viewed solely as a means of conveying in-
telligence, this element is of minor impor-
tance and should not be permitted to ap-
pear, if in any measure it may interfere
with any of the essentials of practical
writing. But will it interfere with the
progress of a pupU to give a model for
imitation, posseting this characteristic
The experience of many of my readers will
warrant a negative answer. They will
member practicing after copies set by
teachers with no qualification for the work
and subsequently after the beautiful mod
els of a master, and they do not forget it
was easier to imitate the latter than the
former. The mind and hand are instinc
tively drawn toward beauty, and although
the mind in its ideal may fall short of absolute
perfection in detail, and tbe baud
be faulty in it.s portrayal of the mental
conception, yet the tendency of all un-
ite a fair hand, that is to say, a legible
baud not wholly devoid of beauty, aud the
jourse pursued by their teacher in awardug
prizes for improvement is somewhat
imusing. It is, briefly, this: At tbe begin-
ning of the year each pupil writes a specimen
of her penmanship, and at the close,
another. Now it not unfrequently happens
that some of the first specimens posese
real merit, and this must of course be
liminated in order to attain to excellence
3 the exclusive hand, aud in proportion to
the sacrifice of merit so ia the premium
awarded, the larger the sacrifice the larger
the premium.
When square months, zigzag noses,
straight hiiir, heads acute angles, trunks
: -
pyramidal, and limbs elongated parallelo
pipedons are thought " just lovely," then
DaboUs Arithm't short of etook
Pat my boy throagh on margins, con
Dr., Cr., ct. pr. ct., cl'r house, Railr'ds, and
Gov'ts yourself and go short on y'r Gr'k
and Lt'n, etc., etc. Their best md'ize for the
Btreel—always iu dem'd here. I mean Dr.
A Cr., etc. WLen term ends please ship boy
A B'ks by N. Y. C. or H. R. A. with B'
L'dg in bat, cons'g'a to B'd &t.
Draw sight d'ft for bill. Money easy— stk's
A short int'rs't cov'rd. Shall I get you long
on 100 L. S., at G7? Boy's tnition do for
Exc'nge e'sy. Yours etc."
Writing and Printing Inks.
Li our last number we published a very
interesting and most reliable article on writ-
ing and writing materials, and that the train
iif thought thus started might he coulinoed
we have taken some pains in looking up the
subject of inks. Prior to the discovery of
writing or printing inks, purely mechanical
methods of writing were necessary, of which
in Europe ond adjoining countries of this art.
First. Papyrus, about two thousand years
before the Christian era, with carbon ink,
such as was used in China and India.
Second. Parchment, with ink made by
boiling down the lees of wine,
Third. Paper, with nutgalls and iron salts
as a writing fiuid.
Ink iu those days was manufactured as at
present from crushed nutgalls with a salt of
, generally a sulphate. In ll!7rt logwood
substituted for nutgalls, and for other
colors different dyestuffs.
In the seventeenth century cochineal, car-
ine and Brazil wood were used.
In tbe eighteenth century bine ink was
made from Prussian blue, which had been
/a before as a pigment and dye.
18(10 analine or coal tar colors were ap-
The metal cobalt is remarkable for tbe fine
bloish-green tint it develops on pnper writ-
ten with a solution of its chloride, while the
acetate of cobalt develops pink when held to
the fire. These all, however, leave some
trace on the paper, so that a close inspection
will show tbe writing, at least iu part.
In India a vegetable juice is used as an indelible
ink, and in the cloths of mummiea
examined in London the marks were thouKbt
to have been produced by the nitrate of sil-
ver, the article which we use.now, the introduction
of which into England took place m
1810 to 1820. The lost form of indelible
ink— analine black, formed on tbe surface of
the cloth—became known in 1SG7.
About the close of the seventh century
printing commenced in China. This necessitated
a change in the inks, the watery
solution spreading over the paper. To obviate
1 his evil an ink was made by mixing
tbe lampblack with a drying oil instead of
thickened water. The art came into Europe
in the fifteenth century.
The early printers used charcoal and chalk,
and later little rods of alloy of tin and lead
nrl rower puUi
oaugUttbe breeze;
biased practice is toward beauty and ex-
« gilded awiftif
bebela her never more.
cellence.
for outlining,
Should we look abroad, outside the the hieroglyphics found on
but it
Egyptian
was not
obe-
until irxJf, that
the
sphere of penmanship, we note that the lisks, temples aud other monuments, and
modern tilack lead pencil,
the
made of the
highest ideals of beauty of form are eugraved plates of lead, bronze and
plumbago or graphite, from
iron
the
sus-
Cumberland
j>ended in public works
mines in England,
of arts, are came in
found in straight lines or tlieir unit
samples.
use. In Ky.")
this article
any angle, but in cuived lines. Examine
The Chinese first used for ink the sticky,
was first ground and moulded
into regular
vificid juice from a wounded
forms.
tree, but
In 184+ solid
this,
blocks
The English Angular Hand.
the works of the artist the sculptor oi
were
on account
formed
of
of this
hardening soon after being
powder by moistening
artificer iu ancient or modern times in proof
Dmingtbe past few years there basbeen,
collected, was repla^ied by
and pressure,
the mucilaginous
which were afterwards cut into
of this assertion. Yea, let us look higher for
the requisite strips
among youug ladies of tbe so-cailt-d better
juice of plauts mixed with some for
mineral
pencils. — Oet/er's
our authority. Throughout the whole realm
Stationer.
c1b,"8 of society, a growing tendency to
dust. During the third century lampblack
of nature we see a preference shown to
adopt a style of writing which witb was ground up with glue or gelatine
all made
its
curved lines. Our earth in its entirety, its
crudity, its inelegance, ita illegibility and
from the skin of the buffalo or the swim- The Metric System Illustrated.
animate and inanimate objects, the heavming bladdt^r^i of large fish until it formed a
its consequent hideooBDeBs, is, wben ac-
The following
enly bodies and
example will
tbe paths through which
show the im-
thick paste of a homogeneous character, and
quired, destined to bo ranked among one's
mense advantaj^e of the metric
tbey move system
are all examples
over
of curved lines. it was separated into little cflkes and dried.
QccomplishmentB.
the old, in all calculations. Let us assume
Where,then, may we find a plausible reason Very little is definitely known of the com-
Thia imported heteroclitical nondescript
that the centimeter corresponds to our inch,
for adopting tbe English angular hand, position of the inks used by the ancients,
was tirst nursed by a few young-lady re-
whde the myriameter is equal to about 6.2
and where may we find it« precedenc. We but it is generally conceded that the use of
presentatives of tbe first families, and of
after-
our miles. Reduce 1264385 centimeters
have gazed with rapture upon tbe countless the stylus indicates also the use of carbon
to
ward dandled by others of the same
myriameters.
slation
Now since each denomina-
worldH, ever moving on in limitless space, inks, nut unlike, probably, tbe China or Intion
contains ten
in life, and thus it became
of
exdustfe,
the
and
next lower, all we
we have looked upon earth and its myriad dia ink, which is still the almost exclusive
have to do is to point off successively
was prouounced "tony," "nobby," "just
one
objects, have studied the works of earth's atrameutal substance used amoug the Chi-
figure for
lovely," "
each denomination (equivalent to
too pretty for anything," etc.,
gifted SODS and daughters, and yet we nese and other Asiatic people. The
find
use of
dividing by ten,) thus :
etc., eto. An experience of several yenrs,
no suggestion of such iron sails is certainly very ancient. Pliny,
a hand. Can it liave
1,2,6,4.3.8,.5
however, as teacher of other
equal
specialties,
to
Dioscorides and other ancient writers
originfded below
give
?
where ihm band is tbe prevailing one, con-
evidence, however, that carbon in 1 the form
myriameter, 2 kilometers, 6 hectometers,
Most of the youug ladies who drift to
vinces uiu that it is not its toniness, its
of lampblack was the essential constituent 4 dekameters, 3 meters, • decimeters, and
igular writing have previously
nobbiness,
learned to
its loveliness, its too-pretty-for-
of ancient inks. There were three epochs 5 centimeters, or equal to 1.264385 myria-
:
—
Now. put in contrast with this brief and
simple operation, the process necessary in a
corresponding reduction under the system
now in use. Reduce 1264385 inches to miI«H.
12)1264385
Opefation.
3)108032 plus 1 inch.
'.i)36010plus 2 feet.
40)G.")47plua 1^ yard.
8)163 plus 27 rods.
20 plus 3 furlongs
20 mileF, li furlongs, 27 rods, H yards,
2 feet, and 1 inch
Answer.
To complete the illustration, let us reverse
'
forgotten. And not only are most pupils
uatiirally disposed to make curved lines
instead of straight, but also to make those
curves of greater breadth than is found in
any modem engraved modfl.s of practical
writing. And in regard to rapidity of
execution being in favor of tbe angular
baud, it is sufficient answer that if it be so,
there invariably results a greater loss of
legibility than gain in rapitUty, And the
lady or gentleman who can write one
hundred words in three minutes and
"make nothing of it," would do well to
take double the time and make something
of it liy writing legibly ; for, I hold it
morally wrong for one person to gain time
ill have arrived in all its glory the milieu
lum of angularity, and then would I feelgly
sing.
Penstook .
Easiness Brevity.
The follomng, laid to be from the comiiercial
column of a western piper, purports
o l>e the reply of a New Yorker to the preeptor
of his bob, who wrote to ask his prefrence
iu the prescribed course of his studies
" WALL STREET. NEW YORK.
plied in this urt, aud ink may be made of alauy
desired color, and tbe variety, richand
permanency of colored inks have
been greatly increased by their application.
L'he brilliant violet ink ie a sample of this
:lass.
In lH7i the most valuable of these came
nto notice, the soluble analine black, which
s a portable ink, water being added to the
dry powder when the ink is required.
Copying inks are only common inks eonntrated,
with the addition of more gum or
sugar, or a portion of glycerine.
Sympathetic inks are those fluids which
when used to write upon paper are invisible
ntil brought out by the heat or the iuflu-
the problem. It is required to reduce 1
myriameter, '2 kilometers, (i hectometers,
4 dekameters, 3 meters. 8 decimeters, and
6 centimeters to centimeters. The operation
ia performed by simply setting down
these numbers in their order, thus
by rapid unintelligible writing, when il
"December 1. 1877.
shall occasion
"Sir :
unnecessary loss of time
Yours to
to
h'd & cent's noted. Don't
rant
the pt'itiou for whom
my sou to
such writing was
study strn'my.
in-
Twon't pay.
No ships mo'g to Btars,
tended. But it is entirely unnei*essary
and
lo
no prospect of
it. All bo8h, if 'twont
enter into an
help
extended argument to prove
trade. Also,
top Latin A Greek. Eoy'll
that legibility or ease
pick
of execution are not
up such
L'tn words as petit larceny A
on the side of angulir
delirium trem-
writing as doubtle-'i.s
ene, Ac. soon uoiigh her in Gold b'd.
tbe facts are already conceded.
I'm bullish on 'rithmfk and sp'k and T'k
Another element of good writing.not un- Bome stock m Gr'm'r too, but I can mak«
worthy a certain degree of attention is money "nough without L'tn and G% etc.
uot found to any ahuming extent in the No use. I'm memb' Sfk Exc'g, Cham' Com',
ace of some chemical agent, Tannin leaves
o sign of writing until brushed over with a
ilution of iron. The juice of certain trees,
hich is sticky encugh to hold fine lampblack
when sifted over the writing. Even
(mentioned by Ovid) will develop visible
characters by beating the paper, or even
by dusting it over with some dark powder.
In li;.");i litharge (oxide of leadj dissolved
vinegar was used, which, when moistened
th a solution of lime and orpiment, boiled
together, became apparent.
:
1264385 centimeters.—jlnawer.
Reduce 20 miles, 3 furlongs, 37 rodw, Ij
yards, 2 feet, and 1 inch to inches. The
operation under the present system is as
follows
i/d. Ji. in.
H
12
1264385 inohoB.—Answer.
With such a comparison of the two systems
before us there can be no doubt which has
the advantage in facility and brevity.— j^duetitivnal
News Olenner.