The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-09
BURNING FOR CENTURIES.
THE ~PERPETUAL" LAMPS OF THE
ANCIENTS.

beginning of INSTRUMENTATION
COIOred Glass Bottles and Vases
From the Boston Herald.
The earliest traces Of glass are found
among the ruins Of Memphis. built by
Menes. FIRST King OF ali Egypt, who reigned
900 years before Christ. In the west pyra-
mid that OF Chephren. built 20 B. c. II
is said there were - treasures hiled with
stores Of riches and utensils. instruments
OF iron and vessels Of earth. and with arms
which rust not, and with glass which
might be Bonded and yet not broken"
The painting on the walls Of the rock
tombs OF Beni-Hassan. representing the
process OF glass-blOwing dates from some
time IN the twelfth dynasty, z5l b. c. This
was long considered the earliest Indication
OF the art, but the discovery OF the sculp-
tured glass blowers in the more ancient
tomb OF l1h proves that the knowledge Of
glass belongs TO still earlier times.
The British museum possesses a great
variety OF objects In glass for inlaying,
and there are some boards of blue glass
paste, one in the coffin Of a priest of Ho-
rus. who has also blue inlaid eyes Many
blue boards and wigs were found, and it Is
said that the Egyptians so hated red hair
that they killed children born with II.
one OF the earliest proofs Of the domes-
tic use Of glass may be found in the fres-
Goes Of Thebes. where glass bottles hold
ing wine are represented about 1900 B. c.
{ a tOAoAtu glass bottle mas been found,
bearing the name of a King 1900 B. c.
Moulding glass was practised in Egypt,
as We md figures and ornaments evil
IDENTIFY cast In a mould. This art was lost
till reinvented by Lehman OF Prague in
the seventeenth century, A. d.
Pliny, in his Oft-quoted story of the
invention OF glass. says that some mer-
chants having landed at Belus. and max
Ing fire on the strand to cook their food
and as there might not be any stones
convenient for raising their cauidrOns
they placed beneath them Jumps of salt
petre from their ships, and these being
| ignited when the sand OF the shore mixed
with them, there flowed from thence a
| transparent stream OF new and yet I'M
known substance. and this was the ORR
| gin Of glass"
Merret, as a practical worker, ridicules
| this story, and says no nation ever did
/ or ever will make glass by burning in
/ the open air kali. or any other plant or
I material proper to make it; however
/ strong the fire may be, the extreme heat
| of a furnace only can produce It, and
/ he SCOTS at the idea that merchants trad
/ ing in saltpetre should not have known
| better than TO take blocks OF so infam-
/ mable a substance to support their pots
/ on, far more likely in the heat to melt
and upset the pots than to support them
/ Very likely they did take from thence
/ a quantity Of sand and kali (glassworD,
/ plant which grows there, used in maxi
ing glass;. and were possibly the. first
! merchants In glass, or more probably
/ they We're carrying saltpetre from Egypt
! (where it abounded) to some of the al
ready established factories.
! AS NJ. Sanzoy observes, that a heat of
/ 1000 to 800 degrees is required before the
/ materials of which glass is composed can
enter into fusion, It might well be doubted
whether the production of glass in the
| open air Is possibility.
on the other hand, Mr. Nesbitt an
| Englishman, has in his possession a
lump OF impure weak glass. which he
| says was formed by the burning of a
| stack OF wheat in Lincolnshire.
| The favorite means of adjoining build
| ings during the middle ages in Persia must
| nave been by mirrors. says Dunlop judg-
ing by the specimens left at Tabreez. Ispa-
| nan and other places; and it is still Per-
| sian custom to fix plaques of glass to walls
az a decoration. Nearly all the best works
| OF Persian art are attributed to the time
| OF the great Shah Abbos. 1855, and many
dated objects bear out that theory His
superb palace at Ispahan, with the mag
| nihcent group of buildings, attached TO II
! remains to attest the splendor of his court
| and the encouragement he gave to the
| arts. The celebrated Chabar Bagh flour
gardens) belonging to this palace, APP
preached by bridge of 40 arches is COM
| posed OF terraces filed with large plantain
| trees and marble tanks. on each side are
| -FOUR paradises. with eight magnificent
| kiosks profusely adorned with paintings in
gold and silver. and mirrors. In front lies
| me square 700 feet long. 1t was till the
| last century the great market of Persia
On one side stands a large mosque with
] q SpAEnulu gateway ana mosaic door. the
| ground azure. the patterns in gold silver
| red. white and green. Never was seen any,
| thing so fine as these patterns and copies
OF them would give thousand designs for
| embroidery On the other side is the en-
| trance to a large bazaar, which was the
| finest in Persia. 1t is now half ruined. The
approach to the Chehel Setoor or palace
/ of 40 pillars itself, is thus enthusiastically
described by SO r. Porter: when we
| turned into the grand avenue, and the pal-
ace broke on us, thought description was
| put 10 silence; words can give but a faint
| idea OF the wonderful object in sight The
| exhaustless profusion of the splendid ma
| tertals reflected not merely their own COL
( den or crystal lights on each other but all
me Variegated colors of the garden. so
that the whole surface seemed formed of
| pollshed silver or mother of pearl set with
| precious stones. The entire front of the
building Is open to the garden, the roof
1 supported on a double row of 20 columns
A large tank In front reflects these 20. and
/ gives the name of Forty Pillars to the pal-
| ace. These columns, about 80 feet high are
covered with glass mirrors from top to
| bottom. Each column shoots up from the
united backs of four white marble lions
! FheSe shafts, rising from their singular
bases, are covered with Arabesque patterns
4 ana Foliage, in gliding and painting on the
I glass surface. The ceiling is equally iris
hued with flowers fruits, birds, butterflies
and even crouching tigers in gold, silver
and painting, amid hundreds of informing
| ling compartments of glittering mirrors"
lie Well thinks the art of glass MAX
ing. still practiced in Persia. dates from
the remotest times. AT Shiraz thew
made the best glass of all the east, and
they knew how to unite broken bits like
/ porcelain
The very oldest mention of a glass mir
/ ror is found in the Chinese classics in a
book dated more than 1000 years B. C.
Concave mirrors, whether of glass or
| metal, We're much used in sacred temples
/ Among the Japanese the metal mirror
holds most prominent place, and is
thought so important as to be almost an
object of worship. 1t is considered an
emblem of the soul of woman, and two
at least are included in every brides
! trouSSeau.
The ancient Egyptians seem not to have
used windows, their climate not requiring
/ such defense against cold, though as
they made plakues for ornamental pur-
poses they could doubtless have made
I window glass had IL been required II
/ was probably introduced by the Romans
whose more rigorous climate demanded
some kind Of protection from the weather.
/ Though glass was used in Rome for win
dows, linen, shells, alabaster and mica
were more commonly employed
Windows of glass for large buildings
1 came into use in France in the third
! century, and became more general in the