SAFE FROM PRYING EYES.

North Otago Times, 8 January 1908, Page 2 (Supplement)

SAFE FROM PRYING EYES.

Even with the mostunromantlc of us •' occftßions sometimes ariso when wo should like to make sorao memorandum, or writo some letter which cannot bo read oxcept by thoso wo wish to do so,. Hero is a simplo method:

Souk a sheet of notcpnper in cold water, and lay it perfectly flat' upon a pane of gilass, Placo above it another sheet, dry this time, and on the upper sheet write your messago with a fairly sharp pencil. You now destroy the dry paper, and allow all the moisture to evaporate from tho wet piece. Don't hold it to tho firo, hut let it dry naturally. If you then examine it closely you will see not the faintest trace of writing, but if you moisten tho papc.r once moro and hold it up to the light, you can read quite plainly nil yo'J wrote. It will show up liko tho watermark .on a postage-stamp, This method 1 , by the way, is sometimes adopted by cqnvlcts; they uso their gruel-cans instead of glass, and a sharp picco of wood for a pencil. Another way is less dirty, and even moro effective. Lay several sheets of paper on a flat Biirfacc, and write upon the top one. Then remoMß|}ho bottom sheet, on which no impression appears. If you hold this in the vapour of iodine, however, the writing will turn brown, and bo quite legible. The explanation is quite plain, Tho notepapor contains starch, which, on being pressed turns to hydramide, a substanco which is acted on by iodine in the manner described.