Once upon a long time ago, a mistake went on for centuries, even though almost everyone knew it was a mistake. Pencil lead is still a commonly used expression, while it is widely known to be a misnomer.
The truth is, the familiar small wooden writing tools have at their core a blend of graphite and clay.
Graphite is the first victim of this unfortunate mistake. Its resemblance to lead is to be blamed. When discovered in England in 1560, it was named “plumbago”. The term is still in use in industry and refers to pure graphite. The color is really the only trait that graphite shares with the toxic heavy metal. In 1779, a Swedish chemist ultimately let the world know that graphite was made of carbon, not a metal. Almost twenty years later, French chemist Nicholas Jacques Conté patented the process used to make the pencils we know to this day.
We must acknowledge that the error in naming graphite was made in good faith. The fact that writing tools made of lead had been in use from Antiquity through the Middle Ages likely contributed to the mistake.
While it can be justified and forgiven, setting things right is no less the thing to do. So, let’s stop using an expression which we know to be misleading. My pencil is not toxic. What about yours? Find more about pencils by visiting the California Cedar Products website. For an in-depth, illustrated book about writing tools in Antiquity, see Anna Willi’s book, Manual of Roman everyday writing tools, Vol. 2, accessible Research Gate.
