Monroe City Democrat., 1919-04-11
Strange Sources From Which
Pigments Used by Modern
Painters Are Derived.
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES.
sorude but Effective Processes Employ.
ed by the Egyptians and Greeks Of
Z Pliny's pay-Noah PrudentIy
!, Waterproofed the Ark.

meet desire for beauty is question
'the relative time Of arrival of the
chicken or the egg. 1t was invented,
Though, and it serves both purposes
equally; so whether 1t is an offspring
of beauty remains forever q disputed
question.
The first men, covering under the
ferce "a d glaring suns Of the biblical
countries, constructed rude huts of
wood to shelter them. The perishable
mature Of these structures caused rapid
decay, and It is probable that the oc-
cupants, seeking some artificial means
-ef preservation, hit upon the pigments
of the earth in their search. 1t is per-
haps natural to suppose that it was
the instinct of preservation that led
Enen to the search, although the glories
sof the sunsets and the beauties Of the
rainbow may have created a desire to
initiate those wonders In their own
dwellings.
The earliest record of the applica-
ton of a preservative to wooden
structure dates from the ark, which
was, according to the Bible, pitched
within and without" The pitch was a
triumph Of preservation whatever 1t
lacked as thing of beauty.
Decoration applied to buildings first
comes to light with ancient Babylon,
whose walls were covered with repre-
sentations Of hunting scenes and Of
combat. These were done in red and
the method followed was to paint the
scene on the bricks at the time of
tmanufacture, assuring permanence by
baking. Strictly speaking, this was
not painting so much as it was the
earliest manifestation of our own ia
miliar kalsomining.
The first Hebrew to mention paint
ing is Moses In the thirty-third chap
ter of the book of Numbers he in
zstructs the Israelites, "When We have
passed over the Jordan into the land
of Canaan. then shall ye drive out all
the inhabitants of the land from be-
fore you and destroy all their pic
stureS.
. AT AdleT peFlOuS Tie Jews uuOpteu
many customs of the peoples who sue
cessively obtained power over them
and I'm the apocryphal book OF the
Maccabees is found this alusion to
the art of decorating, "For as the mas
ter builder of new house must care
for the whole building, but he that
undertaken to set 1t out and paint 1t,
must seek out things for the adorning
thereof"
Although Homer gives credit to a
Greek for the discovery of paint, the
,allusions to 1t in the books of Moses,
the painted mummy cases of the Egyp-
'tlsns and the decorated walls of Baby
Ion and Thebes fix It's origin at a
period long antecedent to the Grecian
era. The walls of Thebes were paint
ed 1900 years before the coming of
Christ and 996 years before "'Omer
smote his bloomin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value of
paint as a preservative and made use
of something akin to 1t on their ships.
Pliny writes of the mode of boiling
wax and painting ships with It, after
which, he continues, "neither the sea,
huOr IIle WiIu, uuI. iile SUI Cdn ueSbOy
the wood thus protected"
The Romans, being essentially a
warlike people, never brought the dec
Grafton of buildings to the high plane
It had reached with the Greeks. For
all that the ruins of Pompeii show
many structures whose mural decora-
tions are In fair shape today. The
colors used were glarlng. black
background was the usual one and the
combinations worked thereon red, yel-
low and blue.
In the early Christian era the use of
,mosaics for churches somewhat sup
planted mural painting. Still, during
the reign of Justinian the Church OF
Saint Sophia was built at Constantine
pie and Its walls we're adorned with
paintings.
In modern times the uses Of pain,
have come to be as numerous as its
myriad shades and tints. Paint Il
unique in that its name las no syno
nym and for 1t there Is no substitute
material. Bread Is the stafr of life, bu
paint is the life of the staff,
No one thinks of the exterior of {
wooden building now except In ternl
of paint coated. Interiors, too, from
painted walls and stained furnitur'
down TO the lowlIest Kitchen utensil
all receive their protective covering
Steel, so often associated with celnen
re-enforcIng, is painted before u goe'
TO give soliiity 20 the manufacture,