The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-11-20
POINTS ABOUT MIRRORS.
what They Used to BE and How They
Came to Be What They Are.


among the Israelites in the time OF
Moses. That gentleman, as recorded
in the Bible, commanded in a certain
emergency that these articles should be
transformed into wash basins for the
priests. They were made of brass.
Doubtless similar utensils of this and
other materials were in use long before
that At that same period black glass
was employed for the purpose, as well
as transparent glass with black foil on
the back. 1t is related that the Span
iards found mirrors of polished black
stone, both convex and concave, among
the natives of South America
The mirrors of the ancient Greeks
and Romans were thin disks of bronze,
highly polished and usually fashioned
with handles, though sometimes they
were set upright on stands. Later on
silver was used, and the first mirror of
solid silver is said to have been made by
Praxiteles in the time of Julius Caesar.
subsequently silver mirrors took the
place of brass or bronze ones almost al
together, though steel, copper, and even
gold were also employed. Looking
glasses" of metal were employed every
where up to the fifteenth century.
From the twelfth to the fifteenth
century small mirrors carried in the
pocket or attached to the girdle were
regarded as Indispensable adjuncts to
ladies toilets. The pocket mirror was
circular plaque of polished metal fixed
in a shallow box and covered with a
lid. Ivory was usually the material of
such cases, and, as rule, they were
carved in relief with representations of
love, domestic scenes, hunting sports,
and the like Gold, silver, enamels,
and ebony were likewise used as ma
terials The sort of mirror worn at the
girdle had no cover, but was provided
with short handle.
In the middle ages, when steel and
silver mirrors were almost exclusively
used, a method of backing glass for the
same purpose with thin sheets of metal
was known. Small convex mirrors of
glass were made in Germany before the
sixteenth century and were in demand
until comparatively modern times.
They were produced by blowing small
glass globes, into which, while they
were hot, was passed through pipe a
mixture of tin, anthony and resin.
When the globe was coated inside it
was allowed to cool and was afterward
cut into convex lenses, which formed
small but well-defned images.
Early in the sixteenth century a
mandatory of glass mirrors was first
established on commercial scale in
Venice, and the republic enjoyed a
monopoly of this profitable business for
one hundred and fifty years. The
makers of looking-glasses formed an
important corporation among them
selves and were allowed unusual privi-
leges. Their process was to blow cylin-
ders of glass, which were afterward
flattened upon Il stone, carefully pol
ished, and silvered on the back with an
almalgam. In this way quite large
ones were produced, sometimes meas
uring as much as four feet in length.
The secret was carefully guarded, and
the laws were enforced which declared
that any workmen at the trade who
carried his art to foreign state must
return upon requisition on penalty of
Imprisonment for bis nearest relatives.
If, Notwithstanding this penalty, he re-
fused to return, emissaries were sent
to kill him. Nevertheless in 1865, Col
bert, at that time prime minister to
France, imported from Venice twenty
makers of looking-glasses, who set up
their business in the Fauberg St An
tome. Before long the French mirrors
excellcd the Venitian, and q fresh inn
pulse was given to the art in 1851 by
plate glass From that time to this the
looking-glasses made in France have
been the best in the world.
Hand mirrors of metal are still in
common use in oriental countries. In
China and Japan they are usually made
of bronze, slightly convex, and about
twelve inches in diameter. The Japan
ese woman who is so fortunate as to
own mirror regards it as the most
precious of her possessions. There is an
ancient myth to the effect that the ia
panese sun goddess once became angry
and shut herself up in her cave SO that
all the earth was dark. To entice her
from her concealment the other gods
tried various articles, but all in vain
until it occurred to them to construct a
mirror which, when the sun goddess
saw her face in it, she was drawn forth
through jealousy and curiosity. When
the Japanese empire first came into eX-
istence the sun goddess gave the mirror
to her grandson, saying: Look upon
this as my spirit, keep it in the same
house with yourself, and worship it as
if it were my actual presence" This
mirror is to this day the most important
article in the imperial regalia of Japan
Some Japanese mirrors are supposed
to possess magic quality, which has
rendered them objects of supersttio us
reverence for centuries, and, in fact, it
has even puzzled modern science not a
little. When a strong beam of light is
SO reflected from one of them as to be
thrown upon a screen there appears
upon the screen an image in delicate
tracery perfectly reproducing the pat
tern engraved in relief on the back of
the mirror, which of course is alto
gether hidden from the light. Inas-
much as the face OF the mirror presents
surface that is perfectly smooth APP
parently, the re. for this phenome-