Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-10-20
.IET. !.


1t is now about two years since this little
| word has become quite prominently associa-
ted in the popular mind with the female toi-
| let One can indeed hardly peruse an arti-
Gle on the fashions of the day without meet
ing Il at least half dozen times, and every
/ lady out shopping seems In quest of Jet but
/ tons, bracelets, brooches, pins, &c. But
when we ask what this jet really is, whence
1 it comes, who invented it, few are able to
| give satisfactory reply. Ii may therefore
not be amiss to explain here the nature OF
this important and popular article.
Jet, be it known, is natural, not an arti-
| fetal substance Externally it ranks next to
! lava or polished coal, being in fact a species
! of earth coal, nearly related to the brown,
| although some natuf c yeart oneunce ii to be
| hardened pitch. il bdfas very readily, gives
out greenish fame, and ditfuses resinous
odor on combustion Extremely fragile and
brittle, it weighs somewhat heavier than
water, and is found in France and Spain in
the lower, and in England in the upper stra-
ia of the Jura formation, usually between
or In the immediate vicinity of brown coal
deposits. The substance is brought to the
surface in large blocks, whose handling Is
very difficult on account of its brittleness.
The blocks are carefully sawed into pieces
approaching in size pretty closely the OBJ
lects for which they are to be used. By
means of finely pointed steel the outline
Of the shape into which the piece is to be
carved is then traced on the surface, and the
work proceeds to completion with knife and
chisel, like any ordinary wood carving
Last of all comes the polishing process, by
which the substance, originally of brown
ish color, receives the bright black lustre
that has rendered it so very popular with
the ladies as an article Of ornament.
But az, according to SOLOMON, there is
nothing new under the sun, SO jet no nov
city. 1t was known to the ancients, who
used it for the same purposes as ourselves.
jet ornaments have frequently been discov-
cred in Roman and in ancient British tombs.
Among the articles lately exhumed in POM
pen were brooches, bracelets, and chains of
jet, so artistically wrought as to defy modern
imitation. England has since remote times
been the chief depository of jet, and manu-
factures of the article fourished in that
country long ago. In the days of Queen
ELIZABETH the town of Whitley had already
established quite reputation for the extent
OF It's jet manufactures In a manuscript
dated 1870, entitled: 1.-THE Journey of
Portuguese Merchant, Don MANUEL Con-
ZALEs, in Great Britain, the author speaks
of a jet being found in Yorkshire. In the
course of the last century the use of the
substance for ornaments appears to have
rapidly declined, and it was left to the capri
cious rumor of fashion to raise its reputa-
ton cnce more in popular esteem.
The manufacture of jet is of no small i'm
portance to the places that have engaged in
it as a regular branch of industry. The
town of Whitley continues of considerable
note to the present day, and exported last
year over e30, 900 sterling worth of Jet or
Raments. Its manufacturers got up an ex-
hibition last fall, when the beauty, variety,
and finish of the articles exhibited received
enthusiastic praise from artistic and indus
trial sources. In Oviedo, in the Spanish
province of Asturia, jet is also manufac-
tured, but its products do not appear to
command such high prices as the English.