Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1906-04-09
Seventy Thousand Amer
leans Wear Glass Eyes
Artificial Optics First Used in Egypt During the Reign of
PtoIemy liza Hayton General Who Insisted That His
False Eye Should be Painted in Patriotic ColorsProc-
esses of Manufacture.


envy II, who grasped the spectre in
Egypt in the fourth century before
Christ. Eyes were at first made OF
metal, either copper or gold or silver.
shaped into fiat disks and paintsd to
initiate nature. In the days Of Am
broise Pare, the celebrated French
surgeon of the sixteenth century, a
painted representation Of the whole
eye and eyelids was fastened in front
of the orbit and held in place by a
steel spring that fitted the upper cir
conference of the head. Eyes have
| been made of wax and celluloid and
vulcanite, and horse, not long ago,
presented an improved appearance
with an eye of horn. Eyes were also
made of porcelain, when that came
into use, and their effect was decided
ly more lifelike
A Haytian general once upon a time
lost an eye in battle with the Span
iards and sent to Paris for another to
replace it. He received an expensive
and choice specimen from the Paris
maker, but because it contained a
suggestion of yellow, which was the
color of the hated Spaniard, the Hay
tian soldier sent it back, swearing he
would wear an eye only that dis
played the colors of his country. The
Partisan artist thereupon made him
one that spOrted the red and green
of Hayti, and this the jealous warrior
wore proudly until the day of his
death.
False eyes were very expensive in
the early stages of the art. A false,
eye ranked with the jewels of a per-
sons possession, and was frequently
diverted from its proper use to shine
as an ornament upon some part Of
the person for which it had not been
destined. AS made today, the cost
of false eye varies from five to ff-
teen dollars. The crux of the art of
its manufacture is in the preparation
of the crystal, which must be careful
ly tempered by a gradual process to
resist heat and cold and the corrosive
secretions of the socket for which it
is intended. The crystal is colored
variously from a blush to a yellowish
white, to simulate the actual cornea
in different stages of youth and age,
the white of the eye showing blue in
youth, and yellowing with age This
enamel which is to form the ground
work of the eye is first blown, at the
end Of glass tube, into the shape of
a closed tulip.
The eye artist is seated at a table
before a small heating apparatus
that contains blow-pipes holding
flames of two different temperatures
from whose heat his face is protected
by small hood over the top Of the
apparatus. He has at hand thin sticks
of pigmented glass, blue, gray, brown
red, yellow and green, in various
shades. Taking up glass tulip,
and holding it in the fame, the artist
applies to its tip with the other hand
the end of a stick of glass, which as
it melts forms the ground color of the
iris of the particular eye he has IN
view. The glass tulip is kept twiri-
ing in the left hand while the tip OF
the colored glass stick is applied, SO
that by degrees the point Of the tulip
is worn away and a gradually en-
croaching circle takes its place and
forms the iris. This, as it tends TO
lump is f1attened every now and then
by patting.
Whenever the glass eye in its max
ing is withdrawn from the fame LOT
even a moment it must again be acs
climated to the intense heat by hfss
it into the lesser flame
This simple precaution neglected.
brittleness will ensue and the eSS
crack on the first occasion Of l.'
meeting the cold air Of winter
day. The fiecks in the iris are cuu
ningly initiated by light, def Stroho'
with the different colored glass SllcAS
all the time the glass bulb reVoF.n7
in the fame, and now and then penn
blown to keep it in proper shape
last when the iris has attained -
prOper diameter and is fecked do
should be, a stick of black enaln9'
plugged into the center, and 1uSeu ~,
when it has reached a certain u0p,
This forms the pupil. Some in ot.
stippling is done to form the Sp0r -t.
about the pupil, then the m.nus
veins are traced on the white Oh -
eve with a stick of red glass |no'
tip is melted and drawn OUT iD 10,
thread. A stick of pure tranS 5L5 n
crystal is then taken and mel.'D me
the fame until it spreads o'ei = me
whole surface Of the eye to give u -
liquid, lifelike look and depth -,
The shell is now ready 10 VI ii
from the bulb, a shell thai Sn l1oced 4
the socket in which it is to DE- PIT, stps q
with the iris in just the Tsn' @rar
ton to prevent a crossed 0! .oto, h.
eve" appearance. The artis' "a Iay g.
pair of measuring divideIs o. d IN
e.o-, Srie oprtain 0'SLoIl0~ \