The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1919-03-28
PRESERVATION OF SURFACES.
Crude but Effective Processes Employ
ed by the Egyptians and Greeks OF
Plinys Day--Noah Prudently
interpreted the Ark.

equally: so whether IL Is an offspring
of mother necessity or an adopted son
of beauty remains forever 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 1t Il. 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 it 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 preservatlve to a wooden
structure dates from the ark which
was according to the Bible, pitched
within and without" The pitch was
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-
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 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,
structs the Isrnelites, when ye 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
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 a new house must care
for the whole building, but he that
undertaketh to set 1t out and paint 1t,
must seek but things for the adjoining
thereof
Although Homer gives credit to a
Greek for the discovery OF paint, the
illusions to 1t in the books of Moses,
he painted mummy cases of the Egyp-
ians and the decorated walls Of Baby
lon and Thebes fix its origin at q
period long antecedent to the Grecian
,ra. The walls of Thebes were paint
ed 1900 years before the coming of
,hrist and 996 years before "Omer
Smote his bloOmin' Tyre"
The Greeks recognized the value of
paint as a preservative and made use
II 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,
,or the wind, nor the sun can destroy
he wood thus protected"
The Romans being essentially a
varlike people, never brought the dec
ration of buildings to the high plane
had reached with the Greeks. For
I'll that the ruins OF Pompeii show
rany structures whose mural decOra
ions are in fair shape today. The
'OlorS used were glaring. A black
background was the usual one and the
combinations worked thereon red, yell
Ow and blue
In the early Christian era the use OF
HOsaiCS for churches somewhat sup
tainted mural painting. Still, during
he reign Of Justinian the Church of
Saint Sophia was built at Constantine
1le and its walls were adorned with
paintings.
In modern times the uses Of paint
nave come to be as numerous as its
myriad shades and tints. Paint is
lnique in that its name has no syno-
AVN and for 1t there iS-Ro substitute
material Bread is the staff Of life, but
,ant is the life Of the staff.
No one thinks of the exterior of a
wooden building now except in terms
Of paint coated. Interiors, too, from
'anted walls and stained furniture
Town to the lowlieSt kitchen utensfl,
Ill receive their protective covering.
Steel, SO often associated with cement
reinforcing. Is painted before 1t goes
10 give sol{dity' to the manufactured
stone. The huge Orders of the sky
Scrapers are daubed an ugly but eff
,.ient red underneath the surface coat
Of black. Perhaps the best example
II the value of paint on steel is found
N the venerable Brooklyn bridge, on
which gang of painters is kept go
ing continually. 1t Is scarce possible
70 think OF single manufactured ar
ticie which does not meet paint some
where in tn, course Of its construc-
ton So has paint grown int the
very marrow Of our lives