The Washington times., 1901-07-07
DAWN OF AN AGE OF GLASS.
The Prediction of Jules HenrivauX,
the French Scientist.

He Claims That the Brittle Substance
Is the Best known Material for
Every Kind of Structural Purpose
Some of Its Present Uses
That the world is about to see the. in
| auguration of an age of glass is the
prediction of Jules HenrivauX, till late
Iy the director of the great glass man
ufactory at st. Gobain, and one of the
greatest French chemists.
NJ Henrivaux is an enthusiast on
glass. He believes it to be the ma
terial of the future. He does not pre-
tend that we can look for glass cannon
| or glass men-'o-war or glass grey
hounds of the ocean, nor does he con-
template the substitution of vitreous
machinery for that which we now en-
ploy in our various processes of manu-
facture, but he does claim that glass is
| the best substance known to us for
! every kind of structural purpose, and
! especially for dwelling houses. In short,
if the visions of NJ. Henrivaux are
realized we shall all be living in glass
houses before long.
The point of the idea is found in the
| inexhaustible supply of the materials
| from which glass is made, in its adap-
liability to all shapes and forms, its
durability, and its cleanliness. With
regard to the second point, it is OBJ
vious that glass can be shaped. colored
and decorated to an extent of which no
other material IS capable, and it is upon
! this aspect of the idea that NJ. Henri
vaux lavishes his imagination.
There are six ways in which glass
can be manipulated. 1t can be cast into
window panes, paving stones. panels,
| etc. 1t can be nodded into cornices,
states, wall decorations, and even
statues. 1t can be blown into bottles.
tumblers, vases, and all the utensils
| comprised under the name of glass
! ware" 1t can be blown and ground
! into crystals, lenses, prisms, and other
| objects of art and utility. 1t can be
drawn into the finest threads and made
! into pipes, baskets. and dress ma
! terial. 1t can be turned into mosaics
and enamels, and can be brought into
the closest imitation OF most of the pre-
cious stones.
| Imagine, with NJ. Henrivaux, the con-
struction of glass house. The founda-
tions and the walls would be construct
| ed of a variety of glass, recently in
/ vented, called stone glass" which has
already successfully withstood the
severest tests. When crushed it gives
a resistance three times as great as
granite. When subjected to heat or
cold it is found less sensitive than steel.
When submitted TO friction it shows
less wear than porphyry. Shock, as of
a hammer blow, il resists to a degree
twenty-five times as severe as that
which would fracture marble. The test
of tension has practically no effect on it
whatever.
The walls, then, would be built of
glass held together by angle-iron so as
to permit Of a hollow space through
which pipes could pass (the pipes
themselves being glassworB), convey
ing hot air, hot and cold water. gas,
electric wires, drains, and everything
needed for the health and comfort OF
the inhabitants. Stairs and balus-
trades, ceilings, and wall decora tions,
manteIpieces and freplaces, would all
Henrivaux's conceptions in the way of
decorations, in which the glass is made
Opaque or tinted with brilliant colors,
or made silver and golden, or arranged
in prisms and crystals with facets like
diamonds, are perhaps too fanciful to
be taken seriously, but through them
all there runs the same enthusiasm, the
same belief that glass, as Theirs once
said of Louis Napoleon, is capable of
anything.
Our chairs and tables, in the new
glass age. wiz be made of vitrified ma
terial, toughened to the strength of oak
and mahogany. our cooking utensils,
our plates. and cups and saucers, viii
be made of the same substance. Even
our knives and forks viii have glass
handles, if not glass blades.
The new glass house viii be absolute
ly clean and practically indestructible.
The whole of its surface can be washed
from the top story to the basement,
without trace of humidity being left.
Dust cannot collect on its polished face.
and the spider Will find no place on
which to hang it's cobwebs.
They have already begun to pave the
streets of Paris with glass, and it is
found that the substance, while prac-
tically indestructible, is admirably
suited to the feet of both men and
beasts. and as 1t neither holds nor
makes any dirt, il is absurdly easy to
clean. Its only fault is that it some
what increases the noise of the traffic,
but even this might by and by, be
overcome.
One of the features Of last years ex-
hibition was the Palais Lumineux, or
the Palace Of Light, built entirely of
glass. II was to some extent the reali-
zation of III. Henriyauxs ideal Not
only was it of solid construction, but
the adaptability of glass To every class
of decoration in form and color, aided
by its various degrees of opaqueness
and transparency. enabled its builders
TO raise a structure which as far trans
cended London's Crystal Palace as a
diamond outshines the imitation.
The question Of cost has not been left
out of account. Glass can be made out
of almost anything amenable TO the in
fiuence of fire. The stone glass to
which reference has already been made