Bridgeton pioneer., 1884-03-13
The National Bottler's Gazette.
ANTIQUITY OF GLASS BOTTLES.

The origin of glass making is burie'
in the profound mysteries of the past
amid which the historian and anti
ouarian may delve and find landmark
to guide them on and on, and foreve
on, until the path is lost in the vagu,
mist that covers the unnumberet
centuries.
The chid's tale ofhow some wrecked
mariners once built a fire by the sea
shore, and from its embcrs drew forth
the melted sand and thus discovered
glass, has long since been relegated to
the fairy stories of the past age OF
credence. Pliny is the reputed author
of this sea sand yarn, and Tacitus re
peats it, both naming the stranded
tars as Ph8nician sailors, and their
discovery on the banks of the Belus.
But Pliny is given to concocting stories
that will not stand the light of to-day,
and modern investigation repudiates
the claim of those antique shellbacks
for the godfathership of glass. There
was excellent sand for the manufac-
ture of glass found at the mouth of
the Belus, and there the Phmnicians
gathered it and made glassware many
centuries before the Christian era,
but the discovery of the art probably
reaches back to the apochryphal times
of old Tubal Cain himself for it is safe
to theorize that metallurgy and glass
making started out at nearly the same
time; and iron and glass have walked
down to us through the aisle of time,
hand in hand, clean to the present
time. 1t has always suggested itself
to Inc that the first glass must have
been foundin the ''slag" of an iron ore
furnace. Probably it was long viewed
as waste product, then curiosity be-
came excited. Experiments followed.
The Stag was manipulated and turned
to this purpose and that, and from its
developments have sprung the great
assindustries of to-day.
This theory would locate the origin of
glass in that land of pre- historic lore.
Egypt. There is glass in existence to-
day that there is every proper reason
to believe was made in Egypt 5000
years before the birth of Christ, or
1000 years ago.
That is certainly long time. Long
enough to put the industry among the
very Oldest of families, and establish
an incontestible claim of pre-eminent
respectability
Undoubtedly-for probably centu-
ries after the first discovery the art of
blo'cing it was not dreamed Oft was
moulded the same as other liquefied
solids. But the art of blowing is also
very ancient, and probably had an
existence over 1000 years before the
shepherds watched their f1ocks on
that eventful night when the Star of
Bethlehem rose upon their startled
vision. The art of blowing is plainly
depicted upon the tumuli of Mastaba
of Tih, at Memphis, and these tombs
were built over 5000 years ago. In
the pictures upon them, the blower.
with tube in mouth, just the same as
at the present day, is seen squatted
before his furnace, and from the de-
tail and perfection of knowledge of
the art evinced in the ancient pictures,
it is readily seen that glass blowing
was no new thing with those slanting-
headed, straight-nosed people of the
olden times. One authority says: "A
picture of glass blowing is among the
half-obliterated scenes in a chamber
of the tomb of Tih at Sakkara, and
dates from the time of the fifth dv-
nasty-a time so remote that it is not
possible, in spite of the most assiduous
searches by Egyptologers, to give it a
date in years" And date that the
antiquarian in Egyptian tombs can
not fix must run back pretty near to
the Garden of Eden.
1t will interest glass manufacturers
to know that these Egyptian furnaces
OF 1000 years ago are represented on
the tomb of Ben Hassan as upright
conical concerns about three feet high.
and not more than a foot and a half
In diameter, The fire was evidently
built on a hearth below, while the
sand and soda were charged through
a round hole at the top. The Egyp-
tan glass-blower squats cross-legged
upon the ground in front of his fire,
and with tube in hand gathers the
molten glass from square hole. The
glass-blowers of those days were evi-
IDENTIFY as close a corporation as the
glass-blowers of to-day, and did not
admit but limited apprenticeship. He
was a magician and wonder-worker
and was looked upon with awe and re-
spect. He made his glass into vases.
beads, ornaments, cups and bottles
Singular asst may appear, bottlemak-
ing is one of the most ancient arts the
world has preserved and ono &c ~