Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1919-12-30
Strange Sources From Which
Pigments Used by Modern
Painters Are Derived.
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES
Crude but Effective Processes Employ
ed by the Egyptians and Greeks Of
Piinys Day-Noah Prudently
Waterproofed the Ark.


fully as knotty as the ancient one about
the relative time of arrival OF the
chicken or the egg. 1t was invented,
though, and 1t serves both purposes
equally; so whether 1t is an offspring
of mother necessity or an adopted son
of beauty remains forever a disputed
question.
The first men, covering under the
fierce and glaring suns OF the biblical
countries, constructed rude huts of
wood TO shelter them. The perishable
nature of these structures caused rapid
decay. and it is probable that the oc-
cupants, seeking some artificial means
of preservation, hit upon the pigments
of the earth in their search. 1t is per-
haps natural to suppose that 1t was
the instinct of preservation that led
men to the search, although the glories
Of 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 a wooden
structure dates from the ark, which
was. according to the Bible, pitched
within and without" The pitch was a
triumph of preservation whatever It
lacked as a thing of beauty.
Decoration applied to buildings frst
comes to light with ancient Babylon,
whose walls were covered with repre-
sensations 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
manufacture, assuring permanence by
baking. Strictly speaking, this was
not painting so much as 1t 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
structs the Israeltes, when We have
passed over the Jordan into the land
Of Canaan. then shall We drive out all
the inhabitants of the land from be-
fore you and destroy all their pic
lures.
many customs of the peoples who sue
cessvely obtained power over them
and in the apocryphal book of the
Maccabees is found this allusion to
the art of decorating, For as the mas
ter builder of a 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 adjoining
thereof"
Although Homer gives credit to q
Greek for the discovery OF paint, the
illusions to it in the books of Moses,
the painted mummy cases of the Egyp-
tians and the decorated walls of Baby
Ion and Thebes fix its origin at O
period long antecedent to the Grecian
era. The walls of Thebes were paint
ed 1000 years before the coming oil
Christ and 900 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,
nor the wind, nor the sun can destroy
the wood thus protected"
The Romans, being essentially q
warlike people, never brought the dec.
grafton OF buildings to the high plane
: 1t had reached with the Greeks. For
all that the ruins OF Pompei show
many structures whose mural decora.
lions are In fair shape today. The
! trlo rff A 10 al.
background was the usual one and the
, combinations worked thereon red, vel
low and blue.
In the early Christian era the use OF
mosaics for churches somewhat sup
J planted mural painting. STILL during
the reign of Justinlan the Church o.
Saint Sophia was built at Constantine
pie and Its walls were adorned will
) paintings.
In modern times the uses of pain
: have come to be as numerous as II,
myriad shades and tints. Paint Il
unique in that its name 1as no syno
nym and for It there is no substitut,
} material. Bread is the staff of life, bu
paint is the life of the staff.
40 one thinks OF the exterior of
wooden building now except In term
of paint coated Interiors, too, iron
painted walls and stained furnitur
down to the lowliest kitchen utensil
all receive their protective covering
: Steel, so often associated with cemen
reinforcing, is painted before 1t goe
TO give solidity TO the manufacture
stone. The huge Orders OF the sky
scrapers are daubed an ugly but eff
cient red underneath the surface Goa
: Of black. Perhaps the best exampl
OF the value OF paint on steel is foun
In the venerable Brooklyn bridge, O
which a gang OF painters is kept &c
ing continually u Is scarce possibl
10 think OF a single manufactured al
ticle which does not meet paint some
where In the course of its constru,
ton. SO has paint grown into tn
veg marrow of our lives