Chapter Indian File to Ink-pot of I by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Indian File to Ink-pot

Indian File (In). One by one. The American Indians, when they go on an expedition, march one by one. The one behind carefully steps in the footprints of the one before, and the last man of the file obliterates the footprints. Thus, neither the track nor the number of invaders can be traced.

"Each man followed his leader in Indian file."
- Captain Burnaby: On Horseback through Asia
Minor.

Indian Red Red haematite (peroxide of iron), found abundantly in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. It is of a deep, lakey hue, used for flesh tints.
   The Persian Red, which is of a darker hue with a sparkling lustre, is imported from the island of Ormuz in the Persian Gulf.
   The Romans obtained this pigment from the island of Elba. "Insulam exhaustis chalybum generosa metallis." (Ovid.)

Indian Summer (The). The autumnal summer; generally the finest and mildest part of the whole year, especially in North America.

"The gilding of the Indian summer mellowed the pastures far and wide. The russet woods stood ripe to be stript, but were yet full of leaf. The purple of heath-bloom, faded but not withered, tinged the bills ... Fieldhead gardens bore the seal of gentle decay; ... its time of flowers and even of fruit was over." - C. Brontë: Shirley, chap. xxvii.

Indians American Indians. When Columbus landed at Cat Island, he thought that he had landed on one of the Indian islands, and in this belief gave the natives the name of Indians.
   India proper is so named from Indus (the river), in Sanskrit Sindhu, in Persic Hind, whence the Greek Hindus. Hindustan is the tan or "country" of the river Hindus.

Indiarubber A substance made from the sap of various tropical plants, and used for erasing pencil marks, and many other purposes. Pronounce Indirubber.

"He was a man with an indiarubber coat on. Indiarubber shoes, an indiarubber cap, and in his pocket an indiarubber purse, and not a cent in it." - Cyclopædia of American Biography (Charles Goodyear), vol. ii. p. 684.

Individualists Individualists hold that as little as possible should be done for its subjects by the State, as much as possible being left to free individual initiative.
   Socialism tends to treat the individual as merely a part of the State, holding his possessions (if any) simply by its permission, while Individualism regards the state as a collection of separate units, with rights of life and property independently, which the State does not confer but merely guarantees.
   Extreme individualists hold that all government is an evil, though it may be a necessary evil, and the "anarchists" profess the extremest form of the creed.

"Individualism rests on the principle that a man shall be his own master." - Draper: Conflict between Religion and Science, chap. xi. p. 295.

Indoors In the house. Virgil makes Dido sit "in foribus divæ. " (Æneid, i. 505.)

Induction (Latin, the act of leading in). When a clergyman is inducted to a living he is led to the church door, and the ring which forms the handle is placed in his hand. The door being opened, he is next led into the church, and the fact is announced to the parish by tolling the bell.

Indulgence (3 syl.), in the Roman Catholic Church, is the entire or partial remission of punishment due to sin either in this world or in purgatory. It is supposed that the Church is the bank of the infinite merits of Christ, and can give such indulgences like cheques on a bank. (Latin, indulgentia.)

Inertia That want of power in matter to change its state either from rest to motion, or from motion to rest. Kepler calls it Vis inertiæ. (Ars in Latin is the Greek arete, power or inherent force; In-ars is the absence of this power.)

Inexorable Logic of Facts (The). This was Mazzini's happy expression: "Nella genesi dei fatti la logica è inesarabile."

Infallibility (of the Church of Rome) is the doctrine that the Church of Rome cannot at any time cease to be orthodox in her doctrine, and that what she declares ex cathedrâ is substantially true. The doctrine is based on the Divine promise to the disciples, "Howbeit when the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide