Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-11-22
GLASS IN CHINA AND JAPAN.
Allusi"n to Its Manufacture Many Csntur-
les BefS:. the Christian Era-Ths Treas
ures Of the Nikadr-.

The extreme antiquity o! civilization
in China is proved of proof be wanted)
by the fact that parts Of the ''Shoo
King Were undoubtedly written more
than two thousand wears b. C.. when
the Chinese were already acquainted
with writing. In these books are al
lustons to glass. which Weld unmIs-
taxable evidence of Is antiquity. Thus
we find it stated that the Emperor
Shun, on receiving the crown from
iaou. who abhicated 2I4j B. C.: '.ex-
amlned the gem adorned turning
sphere and the gem transverse tube.
that he might regulate the seven di-
rectors. or regularly governed bodies :"
The writer Of this msst have had some
constructed instrument connected with
astronomy in his minds eve. The
"ShoO King is full Of evidence of a
very high state Of civilization in China:
| thus in one book we are told the wild
| tribes brought trIbut" of oyster pearls
and strings of pearls not quite round.
to Iu. 2oOi Il. {. Ii the Chinese un-
| derstood glass making thcv would soon
begin to copy these pearls: and We find
under Gu ii. about liu +. C.. a manu-
factory where false pearls were made
of en- u, IA species of glass made from
an herb. probably fern. Our great
ignorance OF ancient Chinese literature
makes it difficult to collect true inform
alton on MANY po ntS. We know they
understood the art of glazing pottery
at very early date. and on this ac-
count We're possibly more careless
about glass making. Porcelain was in
vented. It is supposed. about lS5 Il. c..
the writing on the bottles found in
tomb> was used in the century before
our era. The MARTYR god of porcelain
was a potter who threw himself into
the furnace one dav. when from want
of fuel the falling tre would have
spoiled the contents of the kiln-an
uneNampled instance of devotion to his
art. The celebrated patra or aims
bowl of Buddha is alluded to bv Chi
nese writer of 1850. quoted by Mr.. Nes-
bitt: In front of the image of Bud
dha is a sacred bowl. which is made
neither Of copper nor iron; il is of
purple color and GLOSSY. and when
struck it sounds ke glass" This bowl
may have been brought from the west
to tevIon. but it proves an acquaint-
ance with glass on the part of the Chi
nese wr ter. \ Portuguese traveller in
China, G.. da Cruz. wr NJ to Sebastian,
King Of Portugal, about 1850. saws al
banquet given by a very rich merchant
..th,, hons. ,ya- b,,il, Nth l,f
very faire. with many faire windows
and easements. and all of it was a mir
ror; what the mirrors were made of
he does not explain, nor if the case
ments Were filled with glass. but this
is one of the earliest notices concerning
life in China, as the Arab FL Edrisi.
ll5i. does not seem to have been him
self in China. He SAYS: "Djan kon is a
celebrated city, the Chinese glass is
made there Dian kon has not been
satisfactorily identified with anv exist
ing city, but the passage shows that
Chinese glass was supposed to exist.
Nj. Iabarte thinks it probable that fine
porcelain, and not glass. is really
meant by Fl Edrisi. but an Arab of the
twelfth century is unlikely to have
made any confusion between
the two substances. with which
ne must hav. been perfectly familiar
MIR. Nesbitt, who has collected together
MANY allusions to glass in the writings
of the early Jesuit missionaries, says
the words ''po IL were in Use for q
glass at a very early time. Nearly all
French writers on glass allude to the
tale of 4 piece of crystal being taken
in China for the real material of which
heaven is made. The original narrator
of this account is Father Ricci. who
left Europe 1858 A. ID. and spent some
years in China. he states that he gave
a prism of glass to native convert,
one thuItaso. who put it into a silver
case with gold chains. and adorned it
further with 4 writing that it WAS
fragment of that matter whereof the
heavens cons st. One was sad to
offer him five hundred pieces of gold
soon after fo- it. which TIL Father
Matthew had presented his to the King
he would not sell; after that he set a
higher price and sold it." We NAV
suppose from this that colorless bril-
liant glass was unknown to the Chi
nese. The Russian ambassador. f.
ldeS. who went to China in 1898, saws
he was taken bv command of the En-
peror to see various sights. among
them some ''iugglers. who, after manv
other diverting tricks. played with
round balls of glass as large as a mans
head at the point of 1 sharp stick. toss
ing them several WAYS without break
ing them or letting them fall, 50 it was
realizing surpriSing.' He was also
taken to the markets and to various
shops. especially TO a toyshop; the
owner had 4 fine garden, and among
other things showed him "a large
globe full of fish about a fin
ger long. whose scales appeared
as if made of gold, but when
the scales fell oil they were a beautiful
crimson Japan has so long been
sealed book to us that it is nearly i'm
possible to find any information as to
glass made there. Captain John Saris,
who sailed 1908 (Purchas' Pilgrim
mes advises that merchants should
take to Japan drinking glasses of all
sorts. cans and cups. beer glasses. gilt
beakers. and looking glasses of the
largest sorts" This would lead us to
infer that those articles were not made
in the country. kaempfer, who pub
lished his history of Japan in 1927.
does not mention glass beyond that re-
quired for glazing the porcelain. which
he describes as most priced when nearly
transparent. The labor required to
achieve this transparance was 50 great
- to give birth to the old saying that
human bones are kneaded into China
ware He gives a singular account
of some very curious ancient tea bot
ties called ''maatSubO' (beSt of YES
sels0 they are shaped like small bar
rels with 4 short neck. are transparent
very thiH. and of wh te color tinged
bn Ial,