Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1875-06-17
A woNDT11UL DISC0vmY.

Absolute discoveries are rare ehin8A Progress |
Q for the most part the result Of series Of allow
md patient steps In the direction Of psrfsctaon.
zach movement Of apparently little account, Of
ten indeed SCARCELY distnguishabis. In saying |
" the world moves" We mean that we realize In |
their entirety these almost unconscious stsps Of
increasing intelligence. The radical, startling |
discoveries have Of course been numerous, but
they appear to bs comparatively few. Such
addition to knowledge - the demonstza-
ton Of the laws Of gravitation, steam
and electricity, the invention Of printing,
&C., are epochs In the worlds history, elabora-
tons Of any one Of which might All the patent
Offices Of every land. little reflection will en-
able anyone to convince himself that the very
great majority Of the things We call inventions
are merely applications in now and ingenious
forms, and for wider purposes Of usefulness,
Of principles already established But now
and again the inventive genius Of man
o1en the world something entirely now, and 1t
such exceptional period, We recognize the differ
encs between discovery and elaboration. Ono
Of these new departures, il current report 10 to
be trusted, has Just been reached. We refer to
the process discovered by the French Scientist
n. La Bastie for the toughening Of glass, by
xhich means this invaluable product 10 given
strength nearly equAling that Of metal, while its
familiar properties are left unimpaired. 1t Will
be admitted that il the claim here made can be
substantiated the effect upon the worlds indus
tries must be Of the highest Importance. The
manufacture Of glass, in its rudest form, marked
an immense stride in human progress. 1t liter
ally let light in upon mems Anaira, and 1t ia hard
ly extravagaat to say that with all the talent and
culture possible We should without it have been
hundreds Of years in the rear Of our present ad-
vancsd position. 1t revolutonized the art Of
living 1t made the homo possible. Equally
self-evident is it that il We find this
precious agency has the power Of
resisting heat and shock we give it = value, not
equivalent to be sure to its original importance,
but one increased to an incalculAble extent.
Experiments show that LABastie's toughened
glass has resisting power almost equal to cast
iron. Heavy glass Of the ordinary kind, used
for vault lights, &C., an inch and half in thick
ness gives way under a shock which tempered
glass a quarter OF All inch thick with
stands. Even more remarkable than it,
strength 10 its quality Of resisting heat. Water
VAL Uc pOllou III y Nobeol CUIbLTuCteu VI lLs DuCu
vessel may be allowed to s'boil dry" and such
is its strength that upon cold water being poured
in the heated receptacle the unnatural shock
which We know will burst metal vessel-has no
effect upon it. One clear deduction from this
valuable property is that in case Of fire in .
building, windows made Of this glass would not
readily give way. thus creating air drafts fatal
in their results 1t is ssid the " tcughening IL
obtained by treating glass at q red heat to bath
Of certain fatty substances. The composition
Of this bath ia vet the invantnrs' secrat
though il the discovery makes its claim good il
is not to be supposed that such secret can bt
long kept. For here is discovery almost equa
in itself to that Of new metal, and adding i'm
measurably to the usefulness Of an article MOI
lees valuable to man than wool or corn. Sup
posing the claim to be true the name OF La Bias
tie will rank with those OF the great helpers Of
the race,