The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-04-04
HISTORY OF THE MIRROR.
introduced Early In History-its In
ventor Unknown.


Whatever the origin, IL is known at
least that mirrors arrived very early
in the worlds history. Cicero traced
them to Esculapius, that mythical
medico of ages ago and antiquarians
have II that we owe them to the
stone age. In Japan the shrine OF
Ise, where the first mirror was given
to the creator of the empire of Japan
by a sun goddess. is as sacred spot
to every loyal citizen OF the land OF
the Chrysanthemum as Mecca Is to
the Mohammedan.
The records of the anclents tell OF
them. The Perusans had them OF
silver, copper, brass and polished
black stone; in Greece's buried ruins
are found pieces of bronze thinly
coated with silver; In Egypt tombs
are found relics of crude mirrors, and
early Roman writers say that It was
the aim and ambition of every woman
to possess a silver mirror.
Glass ones were not known so
widely, but even these were found
among early peoples, and in the Ro-
man, Gaelic, Thracian, Byzantine or
Egyptian tombs mirrors of glass In
varied kinds have been discovered.
One of the earliest forms OF these was
a blown-glass bubble cut in a curve
like a watch crystal, with melted lead
poured In the shell. There we're some
OF these with a plaster pentagonal
frame with triangular piece cut un-
derneath which was a lead line OF
glass surrounded by fragments OF
glass set in plaster for ornament.
mirrors-and some Of them are used
today in Italy and the Orient-is that
they are affected by dampness.
The fifteenth century brought forth
the mirrors as we understand them
today. 1t was then that in Venice
glass surface backed by an amalgam
of mercury and tin would reflect well;
and these quicksilver mirrors held
sway until the nineteenth century,
when in 1855 Pettejean patented the
present process of silver mirrors,
which reflect 25 per cent more light
than those before known.
Artistic effect has characterized
mirrors from the first. The first
beautiful styles were from Venice.
and the fair danes there We'd with
each other as to which could carry
at her girdle the most handsomely
adorned little glass. From France
came most Of the ideas OF the mirror
makers, and the work on the French
mirrors from the first was so exquisite
that 1t stands uneXcelled in this art.
In the reign of Louis XIV to the time
of Louis XVI, the workmanship was
such that It has never been equaled
both for beauty of design and comDi
nation of color. In this era in France
it was the royal taste for mirrors to
be used as part of the paneling Of the
walls, with richly carved wood frames,
gilded or highly colored. Famous
artists of the time contributed to the
beauty of these mirrored walls, by
painting pictures at the top. Boucher,
Watteau, Lencret Pater and Fran
gonnard have all appeared in the
lists Of the painters whose work is
on some of these frames.
The English can claim the dstinc-
tion Of introducing detached mirrors
and those above bureaus and dress
ing tables, and It was in the eight
hpt G,.e,t
peared. But no nation has been
vainer than the French, and during
the empire there ,cablnetmakers and
builders made use Of mirrors in every
possible spot. The gay beau or belle
who was carried in the sedan chair
of the ting had the pleasure of view
Ing his or her own countenance in
the close surrounding walls Of the
chair.
The modern manufacturing posi-
bilities have made it comparatively
easy today to reproduce some of these
old-time beautiful styles, and today
many a housewife proudly displays an
ancestral looking-glass that perhaps
cannot boast of more than a three
year record There are close copies
Of the old Colonial period, particularly
the triple mirror with the severely
simple style, a relief from the tawdry
ornateness of the work of a few
decades ago There are reproductions
OF the old French and Italian art with
penal pictures of Aurora or prints
of old-tome bellies and beaux.