Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1891-10-10
THE USE OF GLASS.
ITS First Discovery Is Lost In che Dim
Ages OF the Past.

ITS First Discovery Is Lost IN che Dim
Ages OF the Past.
Since the days when Pliny's tabled
Phenician mariners were supposed to
have discovered the art Of making
glass by burning seaweed on the sandy
shore the art of glass-making has made
enormous strides. But the Phoenicians
were not the discoveries. The Egyp-
tians knew about glass long before
them, as is proved not alone by many
pictures Of glass blowers on the old
tombs and monuments. but by the dis
covery Of the article itself in many
forms in excavations at Egypt, Ninevah.
Troy and Alexandria. The arts of
cutting. grinding. gliding and coloring
glass were practiced $40 years before
Christ Pieces in the forms of lenses,
vases and bottles have been found in
Rome. Pompeii. and Herculaneum, but
no windows. The first glass windows
in England were introduced by the
Abbott Benedict A. ID. GA. The
Venetian glassmakers and glassblowers
were celebrated in the thirteenth CEN
fury as they are celebrated to-day.
The manufacture of glass was one
Of the earliest industries in this coun-
try. and to-day the glass manufacturers
especially the mirror manufacturers
stand among the foremost and best
in the world. The first factory spoken
Of was at Salem, Mass, and was the
property OF one Ananias Conklin, the
position OF his factory is even now
known as Glasshouse Field In 1746
there was IA factory ut jamestown, Va.
and in 1850 there was another at Ger
mantown. Mass But the first Of which
any real history exists was organized
by Robert Hewes OF Boston at Temple,
n. H., 1890.
To begin 10 enumerate the uses to
which glass is put one would have to
enumerate every trade, every kind of
building, every walk and employment
in life, every step in life from the
baby's bottle to the glass covered
wreath upon the grave every science
and scientific experiment; there is not
single movement in the life OF man
or woman, that does not include the
employment OF glass. The great firm
OF Siemens Bros. OF Berlin, have for
many years been ever trying to pro-
duce a glass that shall be strong
enough and flexible enough to act for
railroad sleepers ties and wheels.
Some slight idea Of the vastness of
the amount OF glass used for windows,
says the Recorder, and mirrors may be
obtained when it Is stated that for sew
eral years past the sum OF money an
nually paid in premiums for insurance
has reached close upon 500, 600. a
sum representing glass to the actual
value OF S23, 600. 600. Nor does this
by any means include the whole OF the
glass thus used. for assuredly there
are many people who do not insure at
all and some who only do so partially.
In large hotel now building in New
York city there viii be s, GOO sashes
each about four feet square, without
counting the large windows on the
ground floor A still better idea OF the
quantity Of glass used throughout the
United States may be obtained from
the estimate that during the coming
year there will be manufactured and
imported some SO. 500, 600 square feet
Of plate mirror and sheet glass. In
detail. IL, 000 600 square feet of plate.
40. 600, 600 square feet OF window or
sheet glass 1000, 600 square feet Of
mirrors and ), 600, 900 square feet OF
colored, ceiling floor and roofing glass.
This is all to be manufactured in the
United States. Then there are orders
America amounting to 1000, 600 square
feet OF mirror glass 25. 600. 600 square
feet of window glass and 500, 600 square
feet OF colored, ceiling, flooring and
roofing glass