Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1919-05-16
Strange Sources From Which
Pigments Used by Modern
- Painters Are Derived.
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES.
Crude but Effective Processes Employ.
ID BY the gsyptlsns and Greeks Of
Ptlny's oay--Neah Prudsntiy
Watsrpreofsd the Ark.

su0et y ucssre TOT beauty ID question
fully ~ knotty as the ancient one about
the relative time Of arrival Of the
chicken or the egg. 1t was invented,
though, and It serves both purposes
equally; so whether II Is an offspring
OF mother necessity or an adopted son
Of beauty remains forever a disputed
question.
The frst men, covering under the
nerce 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 1t is probable that the &C.
cupants, seeking some artificial means
of preservation. hit upon the pigments
Of the earth in their search. II is per-
haps natural to suppose that II was
the instinct Of preservation that led
men 10 the search, although the glorIes
Of the sunsets and the beauties Of the
rainbow may have created desire to
initiate those wonders In their own
dwellings.
The earliest record Of the appllca-
don Of preservative to q 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 thing of beauty.
Decoration applied to buildings first
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
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 Israelites, "When ye 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. :"
At later periods the Jews adopted
many customs Of the peoples who sue
cessively 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 new house must care
for the whole building, but he that
undertaken to set It out and paint It,
must seek out things for the adjoining
thereof"
Although Homer gives credit to a
Greek for the discovery Of paint, the
illusions to II 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 a
period long antecedent to the Grecian
era The walls of Thebes were paint
Cd 1900 years before the coming of
Christ and 098 years before "'Omer
smote his bloomin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value of
paint as preservative and made use
Of something akin to II on their ships.
PlIny writes OF the mode of boiling
wax and painting ships with II. after
which. he continues, neither the sea,
nor the wind, nor the sun can destroy
the wood thus protected"
The Romans, being essentially 4
warlike people, never brought the dec
Grafton OF buildings to the high plane
II had reached with the Greeks. For
all that the ruins of Pompeii show
many structures whose mural decOra-
lions are In fair shape today. The
colors used were glaring, A black
background was the usual one and the
combinations worked thereon red, yell
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 were adorned with
paintings.
In modern times the uses OF paint
have come to be as numerous as iti
myriad shades and tints, Paint Il
unique In that its name las no syno
nym and for IL there Is no substitute
material. Bread is the staff OF life, bu
>aint IL the life of the STAFF,
NO one tniukS VI Tue SAlcIloi W
wooden building now except In terms
Of paint coated. Interiors, too, iron
painted walls and stained furniture
down TO the !owliest kitchen utensil
all receive their protective covering
Steel, so often associated with cemen
reinforcing, Is painted before II goe
to give solidity to the manufacture
stone. The huge Orders OF the sky
scrapers are daubed an ugly but eff
Client red underneath the surface Goa
Of black Perhaps the best eyampl
of the value of paint on steel Is foun
in the venerable Brooklyn bridge, o
which a gang of painters is kept 20
ing continually. II Is scarce possibl
to think OF a single manufactured al
ticle which does not meet paint some
where in the course OF Its constru'
tion. so has paint grown. into tn
very marrow OF our lives.