From: john1@s145802280.onlinehome.fr   
      
   On 18/02/2021 19:41, Ruth Wilson wrote:   
   > Snipped   
   >>   
   >>> ensure that all returns were completed to the same standard, too.   
   >>   
   >> I'd have thought they'd have preferred ink, though.   
   >>>   
   >>> * I don't know what a pencil cost in 1841 but I bet it was much more   
   >>> than they cost today.   
   >>   
   >> Agreed.   
   >>   
   >> (Just had further thought: elsewhere in this thread someone's said   
   >> it's graphite, and therefore more inert than ink. But in 1841, how   
   >> many would have been [real] lead instead? [Not that that's any more   
   >> ert.] And which sort would the government-supplied one be? Discuss!)   
   >   
   > There used to be such a thing as 'puce pencil' that was pretty indelible   
   > and used for official documents. I remember us having them in our tin of   
   > odds and ends and drawing on the back of my hand. My mum told me it was   
   > poisonous so I cried myself to sleep expecting to die!!!   
   > I recently Googled it, and the Victorian ones were poisonous, but the   
   > later ones used something different. I think clerks used to suck the end   
   > to dampen them and get them to work more efficiently, which was the   
   > problem.   
   > I don't know about indelible pencil, but it's certainly an indelible   
   > memory (and be careful what you say to sensitive children)   
   >   
   > Ruth   
      
   See the Wikipedia entry on pencils https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pencil   
   They never contained lead. They have a graphite/clay core. The problem   
   with poisoning from ordinary pencils in the past was the lead in the   
   exterior paint.   
      
   For indelible pencils see this Wikipedia entry   
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copying_pencil   
   They contained a graphite/clay core usually containing a water-soluble   
   aniline dye. That dye was poisonous so licking the pencil to give a   
   stronger mark was dangerous. They are still used in some countries for   
   ballot papers, etc.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)