Pounce, powdered rosin, or some gum-resin such as mastic, sandarach, or copal, and also the powder of cuttle-fish bones, formerly used for sprinkling over freshly-written writing to prevent blotting; fine sand was often substituted for pounce.
Pounce
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 8: Peasant to Eoumelia, p. 373
Source scan(s): p. 0382