SUPREMACY OF BRITISH GLASSWARE

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 288, 31 August 1921, Page 9

SUPREMACY OF BRITISH GLASSWARE

One direction in which Continental manufacture used to be regarded as not only supreme, but unassnllnbly, so was tho production, of the beakers, test-tubes, and other glassware used by chemists' in their laboratories. '“Jena glass,” for example, was once claimed to he practically perfect, and this claim was so vigorously made and repeated that experimenters all over the world had reached the point of accepting it in a'sort of blind faith. There was something Tike consternation in Groat Britain and other countries when the nr cut off all the Continental supplies of chemical glassware. It was thought impossible that any efficient could be produced within many ’months or even/years. Remarkable results were, however, reached when the problem was tackled with British skill and thoroughness. Careful and impartial tests were first made to determine the exact qualities of Continental chemical glassware—its resistance to corrosion by . strong chemicals, and so on. Similar testa were made with British glassware and nroved that while the much vaunted Jena/ glass took a very low place, the first? place was held by British glass. This result was attained by the British manufacturers in an astonishingly s’liort space of time, and it represents a greater triumph than the layman can perhaps fully appreciate. In another department of glass manufacture—that of ornamental glass—Great Britain has also made conspicuous progress.-- Designers have been encouraged to leave the beaten track and produce effects which are as artistic as they are novel. One fascinating type of ware has been based on an adaptation of Egyption mythological figures and hieroglyphics. r The bold free outlines of Egyptian themselves exceedingly well to reproduction in' crystal glass, and the British designer has produced a series of models which are certain to be treasured by the connoisseur. Thus, in both science and art. British glass is taking the loading Tank.