History

• The first ink was used in China about 5000 years ago; it was essentially used to define raised stone surfaces, and wasn't used on paper until about the 4th century BC. This was used in ancient India and eventually became the most popular of inks even today; "India ink" is considered the standard of inks. In medieval Europe, they used to beat, dry, and boil hawthorn branches for ink used on sheepskin.
  
  

Significance

• The development of ink hearkens the advent of the popularization of the written word, which is really an exciting marker of society. Additionally, developments in ink also changed the way that documents were written and preserved; for example, papyrus was a popular document form for a long time despite its fragility.
  
  

Function

• Ink has actually taken an interesting turn in terms of popularity; with the advent of gel writing materials and ball point pens, ink was very uncommon in the average American household (and therefore had a lack of purchase history by the average American consumer) for a long time. It was almost exclusive to fountain pens and novelty items. However, in the last few years, computers of course have needed extensive amounts for their printers which has created an entirely new market for the product.
  
  

Identification

• Inks can be made of very different things; historically, there were inks made from nuts, bits of trees, beans, seeds, and ink-bearing creatures like squid or cuttlefish. Today, inks are made from chemical compounds, frequently polyvinyl pyrrolidone, and then are doctored with additional things like charged electrons in order to properly adhere to paper.
  
  

Misconceptions

• Apparently the misconception that ink is not hazardous began circling the Internet; this is decidedly false; while rarely fatal, the ingestion of ink can be severely damaging to the body's health and chemistry. Under no circumstances should you ingest ink of any kind.