This section is from the "Henley's Twentieth Century Formulas Recipes Processes" encyclopedia, by Norman W. Henley and others.

I

Shellac....... 40 Parts

Sandarac..... 20 by

Spirit of wine. 940 weight.

II

During the Civil War, when both alcohol and shellac often were not purchasable, and where, in the field especially, ink was almost unknown, and sized paper, of any description, a rarity, men in the field were compelled to use the pencil for correspondence of all sorts. Where the communication was of a nature to make its permanency desirable, the paper was simply dipped in skim milk, which effected the purpose admirably. Such documents written with a pencil on unsized paper have stood the wear and rubbing of upward of 40 years.