Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-04-18
Seventy Thousand Amer
leans Wear Glass Ewes
Artificial Optics First Used in Egypt Duringhe Reign of
Ptolemy liza Haytion General Who Insisted That His
False Eye Should be Painted in Patriotic ColorsProc-
of Manufacture

| presented an improved appearance
with an eye of horn. Eyes We're 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 1t contained a
suggestion OF yellow, which was the
color of the hated Spaniard, the Hay
tan 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 we're very expensive in
the early stages of the art. A false
eye ranked with the jewels of per-
sons possession, and was frequently
diverted from it's proper use to shine
as an ornament upon some part of
| the person for which it had not been
destined. AS made today, tine cost
of false eye varies from i've to If
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 following with age. This
enamel which is to form the ground
work of the eye is first blown, at the
end OF a glass tube, into the shape of
d closed tulip.
The eye artist is seated at a table
before small heating apparatus
that contains blow-plpes 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 a glass tulip,
fused at one end of small glass pipe,
| and holding it in the fame, the artist
| applies to its tip with the other hand
| the end of 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 twirl-
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 wCrn away and a gradually en-
croaching circle takes its place and
/ forms the iris. This, as it tends to
lump is tlattened every now and then
/ by patting
Wheney er the glass eye in its MAX
/ ing is withdrawn from the flame for
even monent it must again be ac-
climated to the Intense heat by first
introducing it into the lesser flame.
| This simple preeaution neglected,
| brittleness will ensue and the eye
crack on the first occasion of its
meeting the cold air of a winters
/ day. The fecks in the iris are cum
ningly initiated by light, deft strokes
with the different colored glass sticks,
all the time the glass bulb revolving
in the flame, and now and then being
blown to keep it in proper shape. At
| last when the iris has attained the
proper diameter and is fecked as it
should be, 4 stick of black enamel is
| plugged into the center, and fused off
when It has reached a certain depth.
| This forms the pupil Some more
| stippling is done to form the specks
about the pupil, then the minute
veins are traced On the white of the
eye with a stick of red glass whose
tip is melted and drawn out into a
thread A stick of pure transparent
crystal is then taken and melted in
the flame until it spreads over the
whole surface of the eye to give it the
| liquid lifelike look and depth.
The shell is now ready to be cut
from the bulb, a shell that shall fit
! the socket in which 1t is to be placed,
with the iris in just the right situa-
ton to prevent a crossed or wall
eye" appearance. The artist takes a
pair OF measuring dividers and lays
off from the iris certain distances on
the cornea to correspond with the ac.
tual width of the vacant orbit. Put
ting the globe again into the fame he
introduces a pointed instrument to
it's surface and begins to trace the
contour of the orbit, the glass peeling
away in strip as it follows the path
of the instrument. The edges are
then polished and the glass eye is
| ready to be inserted
ROMANCE OF WHALE HUNTING.
| san Francisco ArgOnaut.-The whal-
| ers are in anu are again fitting out tor