Note 15 — BOOK XXIV. THE REMEDIES DERIVED FROM THE FOREST TREES.
John Bostock translation
“Atramentum.” By this passage, Fée says, it is clearly proved that the ink of the ancients was soluble in water, and that it contained neither galls nor salts of iron. What it really was made of is still a matter of doubt; but it is not improbable that the basis of it was spodium, or ashes of ivory.