THEconsiderationoftheeffectoftheuseofinkuponcivilizationfromprimitivetimestothepresent，aswehaveseen，offersamostsuggestivefieldandcertifiestotheimportanceofthemanufactureofhonestinksasnecessarytothefutureenlightenmentofsociety。Thatithasnotbeenfullyunderstoodorevenappreciatedgoeswithoutsaying；apropergeneralizationbecomespossibleonlyinthelightofcorroborativedataandtheexperiencesofthemany。
Historyhasnotgivenusthenamesofancientinkmakers；butwecanbelievetheremusthavebeenduringaperiodofthousandsofyearsagreatmany，andthatthekindsandvarietiesofinkswerewithoutnumber。ThoseinkswhichremaintousaretobefoundonlyaswrittenwithonancientMSS。；theyareofbutfewkinds，andincompositionandappearancepreserveaphenomenalidentity，thoughbelongingtocountriesandepochswidelyseparated。Thisidentityleadstothefurtherconclusionthatinkmakingmusthavebeenanindustryatcertainperiods，overlookedbycarefulcompounderswhodistributedtheirwaresoveravastterritory。
“Gall“inkand“linen“paperasalreadystatedareAsiaticinventions。BothofthemseemtohaveenteredEuropebywayofArabia，“handinhand“attheveryendoftheeleventhorbeginningofthetwelfthcenturiesandforthenexttwohundredyears，notwithstandingthefactthatchemistrywasalmostanunknownscienceandthesecretsofthealchemistsknownonlytothefew，thiscombinationgraduallycameintogeneralvogue。
Inthefourteenthcenturywefindoneorbothofthemmoreorlesssubstitutedfor“Indian“ink，parchment，vellumand“cotton“paper。Itwas，however，themonksandscribeswhomanufacturedfortheirownandassistants’use“gall“ink，justastheyhadbeeninthehabitofpreparing“Indian“inkwhenrequired，whichsofarasknownwasnotalwaysacommodity。
AsanindustryitcanbesaidtohavedefinitelybegunwhentheFrenchgovernmentrecognizedthenecessityforone，A。D。1625，bygivingacontractfor“agreatquantityof’gallink’toGuyot。”whoforthisreasonseemstooccupytheuniquepositionofthefatherofthemoderninkindustry。