Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1852-08-04
Gkass Making.

ION which Will Well repay perush:
The invention of glass is one Of The far-
eSs present. Providence has bestowea on
mao. Science and genius here lay no
.,ai,n; and we are not OF the schooi W"ic"
would ascribe to chance the merit OF m IN
vept;on destined by the Almighty 10 De OF
s,ch service 70 his creatures. 1t Is sew
,nnn,s;ble 70 trace it to its origins II seems
Jrpo.t "a old as the keen and brilliant OBJ
,iaian-.hat volcanic glass when .ne nrr
h,elchns mountains have been FORMING
SINCE the world began. Egyptian hiero'
,,lyphics, coeval, it is thought, with the de-
scent of Jacobs family to the Nile, repre-
zen, the process of glass blowing. Be ads
nave been found engrayeh with the name
y the monarch whom moderns make the
Pharaoh of the Exodus, while those vast
receptacles of The dead which cover both
Upper and Lower Egypt, furnish from their
l1u;nmy cases, vases, wine bottles, orlnX-
Aas cups, and trinkets Of glass. -,
Coming, then, 10 the period OF books the
Oldest of all-Job, written in the deserts OF
Arab,a-compares it with gold; and He
brew scholars find illusions TO glass vessels
in the books of Moses. This does not Tx
the period of its INV ,ntion, but 1t explodeS
the fable by which Pliny accounts for ITS
invention. "a merchant ship" says he.
"laden with natron. being driven on the
coast at the mouth of the Belus IN tenn
pestuous weather, the crew were compelled
70 cook their victuals ashore; and having
x,laced humps Of natron on the sand,to sup
mort their kettles, found to their surprise
masses Of transparent stone among the Gnu
aers. The sand of this small stream OF
Galilec, which runs from the foot OF Mount
Carmel, was in consequence supposed TO
possess peculiar virtue Tor making glass
and continued for ages to be sought alter
and exported to distant countries for this
purpose" 1t is a fact that glass was at
yerv early date known to the Pheniclans
and for a long time constituted an article
Of trade peculiar TO that people, as the III
gredients-nitre, sand and hme-abounc
upon their coast. Natron, a kind Of soda
a obtained from the waters of many lake:
10 that country, aud takes its names iron
the lake ''Natron."
According to Pliny and Strabo, the glass
works of Sidon and Alexandria were Ia
,pous down to their days, for the beautiful
articles which they produced, cut, engrav
cd, gilt, and stained of the most brillan
color. so as to rival precious stones. Otae
class factories were then IN successful ope
Grafton in Gaul Italy aud Spain, and drink
ing cups Of glass had at Rome entirely 81
perseded those of metal, as they could b,
had at every price, ranging from cent It
thousands of dollars.
Numerous specimens Of beautiful glas
vessels have reached us, principally tn
s2oils of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Tht
Museo Borbonico, at Naples alone contain
2,400 specimens. The most beautiful OF al
are, however, the celebrated Portland vase
now in the British museum, which, whel
discovered in a tomb near Rome, was Ion!
considered by antiquaries to be real sor
donyx, and cup in the possession OF th'
Trlvulsi family. The former Is OF dark blu
glass, with the delicate relieves in white
enamel; the latter as cup OF all the hue
Of opal, set in a sort Of net work OF blu'
glass, and connected with it by stems o
glass, while around the rim in relieve o
green glass, are the words "Bebe, viva
multos." From marks on it, there can b,
no doubt but that the whole was not cast
but cut out Of a solid mass. Two cups,ap
parently like this, were presented to tht
Emperor Adrien by an Egyptian priest.
The uses to which glass may be applied
are various, and require different modes o
preparation. The chief are glass ware
window glass, looking glasses, and we may
add, building glass. Of the use of glass
vessels, we have already spoken. Window
glass was not unknown to the Romans. In
the tepedarum of the public baths at Pom
peii, bronze lattice came to light with
some of the panes still inserted in frame
and wing the manner in which they
were secured. The glass must have been
blown by methods analogous to those now
in use. Glass windows must have been,
however, very rare, as pure transparent
glass was extremely expensive. Instead
of glass, windows were generally glazed
with Thin sheets Of mica, or horn-glasS
having come into general use only since
the fifteenth century. During the Crusades
the Venetians studied the process of glass
working in the factories of the East, and
introduced il into Europe. Nor is this the on
~ benefit derived from those much decried
expeditions. The culture Of silk also pas
sed over 10 Venice, thence to France, du-
ring these expeditions, to which we are al
so indebted for the introduction of the su-
gar cane, several domestic animals, and
many fruit trees and medicinal plants.
On their return from Asia, the VenetianS
founded a glass factory on the island OF
Murano, near Venice and this establish
nsnt has continued its operations to our
days. 1t was at this factory that the art OF
silveripg was discovered, by which a SIM
pie amalgam Of mercury and tin transforms
the plate of glass into polished mirror,
which no rust can din. The factories cf ST.
don had never attained this-a thin plate
Of metal covered with glass was their near
est approach; but these were not esteem
cd. The mirrors of the ancents were oil
polished metal-brass, steel, silver,or some
composition found better suited TO their
purpose.
For four centuries Venice enjoyed the
monopoly of glass mirrors, and supplied all
Europe; but in 1865, Colbert, the great
Minister OF Louis XIV, determined TO en-
rich France by this beautif i art. He at
tracted workmen from Venice by the prom
iss Of great privileges, and founded .he royal
MIRROR factory, which soon surpassed Mu-
rano itself, and has since renamed unri-
vailed. Then, however, the glass for mir
rors was blown, as bottles are still. and the
size was consequently very much limited.
In 1888, Abraham Thevard invented the
method of casting plate glass in the same