Question

Read the excerpt from “Tools of the Spymaster."

James Jay's invisible ink did not become visible by heating. As he described it, his ink "would elude the generally known means of detection, and yet could be rendered visible by a suitable counterpart." Jay's invisible ink consisted of two chemicals. An agent used one chemical to write an invisible message. To read the message, the reader had to brush a second chemical on the paper; that chemical made the message visible. The two-bottle system, supplied by Jay, gave Washington the secure form of writing that he wanted.

Which statement best expresses the central idea of the excerpt?

A. James Jay was a spy for the Americans and had knowledge of chemistry.

B. James Jay’s invisible ink system allowed Washington to write secret messages.

C. James Jay believed secret messages that became visible because of heat were not secure.

D. James Jay’s system required two chemicals for writing and reading invisible ink messages.

Answer 1

D) James Jay’s system required two chemicals for writing and reading invisible ink messages.

Step-by-step explanation:

James Jay's scheme needed two chemicals to read and write words in invisible ink. The central idea is mostly about James Jay's invisible ink method, which needed two chemicals to make writing safe. Jay's job as a spy, his science skills, and his ideas about other invisible inks are not explored.

This part of the story also shows how well Jay's invisible ink system works by saying that words created this way were almost impossible to read without the second chemical. As you can see, this shows how private and safe Jay's method was, which made it a useful tool for secret contact.

The extract also says that many other spies used Jay's two-chemical method, which shows that it was widely accepted and worked well in the field of spying.