The organ of the temperance reform. (Cincinnati, O. [Ohio]) 1852-1853, 1852-08-13
GLASS MAKING,
| Prenarod for the Hernld.l


are not Of the school which would subscribe
to chance the merit of an invention destined
by the Almighty to be Of such service to his
creatures. 1t is now impossible TO trace it to
its origin; It seems almost as old as the keen
and brilliant obsidian-that volcanic glass
which the fire belChing mountains have been
forming since the world began. Egyptian
hicroglyphics, cOeval, it is thought, with the
descent Of Jacobs family to the Nile, repre-
sent the process Of glass blowing. Beads have
been found eugrayen with the name of 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 mummy cases,
vases, wine bottles, drinking cups, and trim
kets of glass.
Coming, then, TO the period Of books, the
Oldest OF all-Job, written in the deserts of
Arabia-compares it with gold and Hebrew
scholars find allusion to glass vessels in the
books Of Moses This does not fix the period
of its invention, but it eXplodes the fable by
which Pliny accounts for its invention. "A
merchant ship, says be, " laden with Ratr0R,
being driven upon the coast at the mouth OF
the Belus, in tempestuOus weather, the crew
were compelled to cook their victuals ashore,
having placed Jumps of aatr08 on the sand, to
support their kettles, found to their surprise
The sand of this small stream Of Galilee, which
runs from the foot Of Mount Carmel, was, in
consequence supposed to possess peculiar vir-
tue for making glass, and continued for ages
to be sought after and exported to distant
countries for this purpose 1t is fact that
glass was at very early date known to the
Phmnicians, and for a long time constituted
an article of trade peculiar to that people, as
the Ingredients -nitrC, sand and hme--abound
upon their coast. AatrOa, a kind OF soda, Is
obtained from the waters Of many lakes in that
country, and takes its name from the lake
" NatrOn.
According to Pliny and Strabo, the glass
works Of SidOn and Alexandria were famous
down to their days, for the beautiful articles
which they produced, cut, engraved, gilt,
and stained of the most brilliant COlOrs, so as
to rival precious stones. Other glass factories
were then in successful oparatiou IN GauI,
Italy and Spain and drinking cups OF glass
had at Rome entirely superseded those OF
metal, as they could be had at every price,
ranging from a cent to thousands Of dollars.
Numerous specimens of beautiful glass YES
sells have reached Us, principally the spOlls OF
HCrculaneum and PUmpGL. The Museo BOr-
bOuico, at Naples, alone contains ., 400 speci-
mems The most beautiful Of all are, however
the celobrated Portland vase, now in the Brit
ish museum, which, when discovered in q
tombucar Rome. was long considered by anti
uuaries to be a real sardouyx and a cup in the
possession of the Tryulsi family. The former
is Of dark blue glass, with the delicate rclie-
vos in white enamel; the latteris a cup of all
the hues Of opal, set in sort Of net work OF
blue glass, and connected with it By stems OF
class while around the rim in relieve Of green
glass, are the words BCbe ylyas multos an |
nos From marks on 1t, there can be no
doubt but that the whole was not cast, but cut
out of solid mass. Two cups, apparently
like this, were presented to the Emperor Ad-
rien by an Egyptian priest.
The uses to which glass may be applied are
various, and require different modes OF pre-
paration The chief are glass ware, window
glass looking glass, and we may add, building
glass. OF the use OF glass vessels, we have al
ready spoken. Window glass was not un-
known to the Romans. in the tepCdarum OF
the public baths at POmpeii, bronze lattice
came to light with some oi the panes still IN
serted in the frame. and showing 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 ol
glass windows were generally glazed with the
thin sheets of mica, or horn-glass having
come into general use only since the fifteenth
century. During the Crusades the Nenetlans
studied the process OF glass working IN the
factories 0f the East, and introduced II INTO
Europe Nor is this the only benefit derived
from those much deCriCd expeditions. The
culture Of silk also passed over TO Venice, and
thence to France, during these expeditions, 10
which we are also indebted Tor the introduC-
ton OF the sugar cane, several domestic AMI
mails, and many fruit trees and medical plants
On their return from Asia, the Venetiaus
g,nnIrd a Glass factory ON the island of Mura.
ma near Venice. and this establishment has
continued its opcration to our days. 1t was at
IIis fartory tbsf thc arr of silvcriug was dis
covered bv which asimpc amalgam OF mer.
curv and tin transforms the plate oil glass in
to a polished mirror which no rust can dim.
The factories Of Sidon had never attainedt this
"a thin plate Of metal covered with glass was
their nearest approrch; but these were not es-
TENED. The mirriors OF the ancieuts were Of
polished uetal-brass, steel, silver, or some
composition found better suited to their pur-
pose
For four centuries emce enjoyed the mo-
uopoly Of glass mirrors and supplied all Eu-
rope but in 1860, Colbert, the great Minister
Of Louis XIV, determined to enrich France
with tins beautiful art. lie attracted work :