ORIGIN OF GLASS.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 59, 21 February 1843, Page 2

ORIGIN OF GLASS.

The precise period when the art of glassmaking- was first discovered, is unknown ; but it is certain that the knowledge of the art is of the highest antiquity, having long- preceded the Christian eta. This fact is established by many circumstances, and among others, by that of glass beads and other ornaments having been found adorning the bodies of Egyptian mummies, which are known to have been upwards of 3,000 years old. Glass, is .also mentioned by the Greek poet Aristophanes, 400 years before the birth of Christ. The first manufactories of glass of which we have any account, were erected in Tyre, an ancient Phoenician city on the coast of Syria. The art afterwards extended to the towns of Sidon and Alexandria, which places also became famous for their glass ware. From Syria the art of glass-making found its way to Greece and from thence to Rome, where a company of glass manufacturers established themselves in the reign of Tiberius. The seat of the art of glass-making in process of time changed from Rome to Venice, or rather to Murcano, a small village in the vicinity of that city. For many years the Venetian glass, in its various forms, supplied nearly the whole of Europe for that description of ware. From Venice the art of glass-making found its way to France, where an attempt was made to rival the Venetians in the manufacture, of mirrors in the year 1634; but subsequent attempts and improvements at length enabled the French speculators not only to rival, but excel the Venetians ; and about the end of the seventeenth century, they succeeded in casting plates of glass for mirrors, of a size which had been thought unattainable. At what period the manufacture of glass was first introduced into England is uncertain, but there is reason to believe that glass was made so early as the beginning of the fifteenth century. This appears from a contract, dated 1439, between John Pruddle, of Westminster, glazier, and the Countess of Warwick, to embellish a magnificent tomb for her husband, in which Pruddle is bound to use “ no glass of England, but glass from beyond the seas.” Glass windows, according to Bede, were first introduced into England in the year 647, to glaze the church and monastry of Weremouth. Another authority attributes the introduction of this luxury to Bishop Winifred, who died in 711; it seems, therefore, probable, that glass windows were first introduced into England about the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth centuries. Previous to this, and for many centuries afterwards, the use of window glass was confined entirely to buildings appropz'iated to religious purposes, until the close of the twelfth century, when glass windows became common in England. In 1557, the finer sort of window glass was manufactured at Crutched Friars, in London. The first flint glass was manufactured at Savoy House, in the Strand, and the first plate-glass for mirrors, &c., was made at Lambeth' in 1673, by Venetian workmen, brought over by the- Duke, of Buckingham. The date of the introduction of the art of glass-making into Scotland took place in the reign of James VI., in the •vear 1610.

At what period the art of simply staining, tinging, or colouring glass, was first, discovered, is uncertain, but tradition says, that it was discovered by an Egyptian king; it is, however, • certain, that the art was known in Egypt several thousand years since, the most beautiful imitations in glass of precious stones of all colours manufactured there, and of this antiquity, being still extant. The first painted glass done in England was in the time of King John. Previous to this period, all glass of this kind was imported from Italy ; but as early as the reign of Henry 111., England boasted of several eminent artists in glass-painting.— Glazier s Manuel. Wealth is whatever men can realize from nature for their sustenance and enjoyment; labour is what realizes it; ■prudence saves from it, and the savings become capital. The nearest of the fixed stars yet observed, is supposed, on good grounds, to be not less than forty-one billions and forty thousand miles distant. As the workmen were digging a new paintpit at Dlanlinna, near Amlwych, they discovered within three feet of the surface a stone urn, on opening which they found a human skeleton in a high state of preservation, measuring the extraordinary length of seven feet six inches. The urn appears to have been made from the Aberdovey limestone, and had the appearance of being much corroded by time. From the rude nature of this urn or coffin, it seems probable that the body had been first laid in the grave, and limestone placed round its sides and on the top only, which, from the length of time they had laid under ground, had become cemented together. — Welch Paper. Salt Mines. —A large proportion of the salt used in England, and nearly the whole of what is consumed in the United States of America, is derived from salt springs, which issue forth at various places far removed from the sea. In Cheshire and Worcestershire are the chief salt-springs in England. At Norwich, in the former county, where there are also salt mines, the trade of manufacturing salt from springs is carried on to a great extent, and has been so ever since the reign of Charles 11. The water is generally impregnated with salt to the extent of twenty-four per cent. All over the back settlements of America there are numerous salt springs, which are there called salt liks. Salt is frequently found in a solid shape, either on the surface of the earth, or in subterranean beds. On both sides of the Atlas mountains, in the north of Africa, there are plains covered thickly with salt, several miles in width. In Abyssinia there is a plain of salt four days’ journey across. In North America, large prairies near the sources of the Arkansas river, and on both sides of the Rocky Mountains, are found covered with a cake of salt several inches thick. In Spain, salt is found most generally in masses above the general surface. At Cordova, there is a mountain 300 feet high, which consists to the amount of fourfifths of salt. At La Mancha, there is a similar mass, 210 feet in diameter ; and near the river Ebro, there is a whole chain of hills, consisting of salt mixed with layers of limestone. The salt mines of Tyrol are also in a mountain. In Peru, there are salt mines on mountainous situations, no less than 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. The beds in Cheshire occur from thirty to forty yards beneath the surface, and are from twenty to thirty yards thick. It is dug, like coal, by pick-axes and wedges, and sometimes is blasted by gunpowder. There are similar salt mines in various parts of Germany and Hungary; but the most wonderful are those of Poland, which have been wrought ever since the fifth century. The entrances to the pits are a few miles from Cracow'; but the city is completely undermined, and is suspended upon pillars of" salt. The vaults are uncommonly large and spacious; some of them contain chapels, of w'hich that of St. Anthony is thirty feet high. The roof is supported, either by masses of salt or by timber posts. The whole are dry and healthy, and the miners, who work six or eight hours at a time, attain the ordinary length of human life. Magnificent Clocks. —Two very extraordinary clocks were, some time ago, presented by the East India Company, to the Emperor of China, being entirely manufactured by British artists. The Chinese entertain a peculiar prejudice, that all works of art,- and ornamental objects,, should be in pairs; a pair of pictures, with them, must not merely represent similar subjects, but they must be exactly alike in every detail, except that they will sometimes allow them to be reversed, as a copper-plate would be compared with an impression taken from it. They will not buy a single watch, but must have two exactly alike; one hanging at each side of them : and the same whim extends to shells and almost every object esteemed for beauty or ornament, whether natural or artificial. In conformity with this puerile taste , it was necessary to present his Celestial Majesty, f . ..with two clocks. They were in the form of chariots, each of w'hich contained a lady seated,, leaning her right haYid on a part of the chariot, under which was a clock, little larger than a

shilling, that struck, repeated, and went for eight days without requiring winding up. A bird was on the lady’s finger, finely modelled, and set with diamonds and rubies, with its wings expanded as if to fly, and which was made to flutter for a considerable time, on touching a diamond button. The body of this curious bird, which contained the machinery which animated it, was less than the sixteenth part of an inch. In the lady’s left hand was a golden tube, with a small round box on the top, to which was fixed a circular ornament, set with diamonds, which went round in three hours. A double umbrella was over the lady’s head, supported by a small fluted pillar, and under which was a bell that struck the hour, though apparently unconnected with the clock ; and at the lady’s feet was a golden dog, before which were two birds, set with precious stones, and apparently flying away with the chariot, which, from another secret motion, is contrived to run in any direction; while a boy appears to push it forward. There were also flowers, ornaments, and a flying dragon, all set with precious stones, or formed of them ; and the rest wm made of gold, most curiously executed, and presenting a wonderful specimen of ingenuity and talent.

ANCIENT CUSTOMS, &C. A.D. 961. —Land about Shrewsbury sold for Is. an acre. The price of an ox was 2s 6d; a cow, 2s; a sheep, Is; a swine, Bd. 1347. —Price of a fine horse, Gs 8d ; the best fed ox, 4s ; a cow, Is ; a steer or heifer, 6d ; a wether, 4d; a ewe, 2d; a lamb, 2d; a hog, sd. 1427. —A bye-law was made against swine wandering about the town, under pain of cutting off an ear [the pig’s, of course] for each of the two first offences, and forfeiture for the third. 1454. —Corn was so plentiful, that a quarter (8 strikes) of wheat was commonly sold for 12d, or 14d; rye for lOd ; malt for 16d or 17d. 1492.—Wheat sold 6d a bushel. 1519. —Brewers were ordered not to use hops in their brewings, under the penalty of 6s Bd. Hops were in use some time before this, for in 1428 the Parliament was petitioned to prevent the use of them, a being a wicked weed. 1535. —Ordered that no one should sell ale for more than one penny per gallon; and the meaner sort, for no more than a farthing. 1536. —Agreed to call the burgesses of the town before the bailiffs, to know whether they will serve the town with flesh at the following rates, viz.; pork, beef, mutton, and veal, at a farthing a pound, or else they would find other persons to do it.—Ordered that the brewers sell the best ale at one penny farthing a gallon. 1669. —Ordered that a ducking stool be erected for the punishment of all scolds.

Coaches. —Taylor, the water-poet, says that “ one William Boonen, a Dutchman, first brought the use of coaches here; and the said Boonen was Queen Elizabeth’s coachman : for indeed a coach was a strange monster in those davs, and the sight of them put both horse and man into amazement.

The Vinegar Bible. —An edition of the Bible, remarkable for its magnificence, but more so for a singular erratum, was printed by Basket, at the Clarendon press, in 1717, in two vast volumes. The ridiculous mistake is in the running title to the 20th chapter of St. Luke, in which “Parable of the Vineyard” is printed “Parable of the Vinegar;” and on that account the edition is generally known by the name of “ the Vinegar Bible.”

LOVE AND MARRIAGE. ’Tis sweet to have the women court one, Or fair, or brown, or large, or small; Silly is he who weds a short one— And wise, who never weds at all.

Progress and Disasters of Steam Navigation.—A French writer has recently compiled an interesting summary of the number of steam-vessels possessed by this country at different periods, and the annual amount of accidents that have occurred from 1817 to 1838. The information is said to be derived from reports prepared some time since by order of the British Admiralty. “ In 1817 there were fourteen steam vessels running; one took fire and was burnt; the boilers of another exploded; nine persons perished in this year. 1818 — 19 steamers; no accident. 1819 — 24 steamers; no accident. 1820 — 34 steamers; one burnt; nobody suffered. 1821— 59 steamers ; no accident. 1822 — 85 steamers ; no accident. 1823 — 101 steamers; no accident. IS24 —116 steamers ; the boilers of two exploded ; deaths three. 1825 — 153 steamers; one wrecked; two—the Comet and Ayr —came in collision, and sixtytwo persons lost their lives; the boilers of another exploded. 1826 — 230 steamers ; one burnt; explosion on another; six sufferers this year. 1827 — 255 steamers; one wrecked; explosion on another; two lives lost. 1828 — 274 steamers; two wrecked; one burnt; explosion oh two ; one life lost. 1829 — 289 steamers; three wrecked; explosion on one ; six lives lost.

1830 — 298 steamers; three wrecked ; explosion on one. The Forty totally lost; but the number of persons on board not precisely knowh. The other accidents did not occasion a death. 1831— steamers; two wrecked; two collisions ; one burnt; 119 persons perished in the Rothesay Castle, near Beaumaris. 1832 — 352 steamers ; no accident. 1833 — 387 steamers; six wrecked; one burnt, and seventy-three deaths, without including the Erin, which was lost, vessel, and all on board. 1834 — 430 steamers; six wrecked; one burnt, and one explosion. The Superb lost, with all on board,- in the North Sea; number of sufferers unknown. The other casualties caused no loss of life. 1835 — 503 steamers ; three wrecked ; two came into collision ; one explosion of boilers ; thirteen lives lost. 1836 — 561 steamers; two wrecked; four collisions ; two burnt; one explosion; no life lost. 1837 — 707 steamers ; two wrecked; four ran against each other; three took fire and burnt; one explosion : total victims, twenty-nine. 1838 collisions ; six explosions ; 132 lives lost.” The total number of lives lost, therefore, is 466, not including those on board the Erin, Forty, and Superb, which may be estimated at 120 more. It will be remarked, that although the number of accidents which occurred during the last three years, is greater than at any preceding period ; yet, considering the greater number of vessels on the sea at that time, the number of accidents is proportionally less.

Bell’s Patent Process for obtaining Copper from Copper Slag. —ln smelting copper ores, it is well known that there is produced a large quantity of matter called slag, which is thrown away as refuse ; and it is farther well known, that such slag contains copper in small quantities. The object of this invention is a mode of obtaining the copper from such slag. The furnace employed for this purpose is suitably arranged for being blast, in a similar manner to what is practised in iron and some other furnaces; the back and sides are lined with fire-brick, and the front of the furnace is faced with a plate of cast iron. The lower part is filled with small cinders well rammed. There is an opening through which the fluid mass flows, when in a melted state. In the front of this opening is a small cast-iron trough, filled with cinders; and, at one end, an opening into a smaller chamber or trough, by which any copper or other matters which may descend therewith, fall into a recess or chamber at the side of the furnace. There is a tank to receive water, having a supply pipe and an overflow pipe, by which means there is to be a continuous flow of water into and from the tank. The process of working is thus described by the inventor :

“ I will proceed to explain the manner of working, and, in doing so, I will suppose the furnace to be at work and in blast, and I continue to supply slag into the furnace, then a layer of coke, then slag, and so on, as fast as there is room in the furnace to receive them ; and I would remark, that I have not generally found it requisite to have the lumps of slag broken, but have taken them in the state they are generally found on the slag-heap ; and it should be stated, that the quantity of coke used, is about half a ton and upwards to ten tons of slag, some slags requiring somewhat more coke than others : and I have found it beneficial to throw in some lime and peat in small quantities into the furnace, as they, acting as a flux, render the slag more fluid ; but the use of lime and peat need not be resorted to, excepting when the slag does not run fluid, and the quantity of lime I have employed, is about half a bushel of lime and about twenty pounds of peat to one ton of slag. The melted slag flows out in the front of the furnace, and into the trough, and precipitates the copper, which accumulates in a recess or chamber, from whence it is removed from time to time, and the product or lump thus obtained, will generally be found to contain from thirty to sixty per cent, of copper. The melted slag flows over the trough into the water, and, by so doing, falls into very fine dust or ashes —which being submitted to the dressing process with sieves and water, the ashes being light, the metallic particles are separated with the utmost ease, and the residuum or ashes will be found almost, if not quite, copperless; and this process will be found both cheap and simple.”

A remarkable anecdote of Charles XII. of Sweden. —Charles the XII. had condemned a soldier, and stood at a little distance from the place of execution. The fellow, when he heal’d this, was in hopes of a pardon, but being assured that he was mistaken, replied with a loud voice, “ My tongue is still free, and I will use it at my pleasure.” He did so, and very licentiously charged the King, with much insolence, and, as loud as he could with injustice and barbarity, and appealing to God for revenge. The King, not hearing him distinctly, enquired what the soldier had been saying. A general officer, unwilling to sharpen his resent-

ment against the poor man, told his Majesty he had only repeated wiih great earnestness, “ That God loves the merciful, and teaches the mighty to moderate their anger.” The King was touched by these words, and sent his pardon to the criminal. A courtier, however, in an opposite interest, availed himself of this occasion, and repeated to the King exactly the licentious expressions which the fellow uttered, adding gravely, that “ men of quality ought never, in his opinion, to misrepresent facts to their sovereign.” The King for some moments stood pausing; he then turned to the courtier, and, with reproving looks, said, “ This is the first time I have been betrayed to my advantage ; but the lie of your enemy gave me more pleasure than your truth has done.” 1

The earthquake not having happened, agreeable to the Monk of Dree’s and Dr. Dree’s prophecies, we have great pleasure in submitting to our readers’ notice a letter containing most wonderful intelligence, which was really and truly sent to our Dartford correspondent. All required from our readers is—“ faith”:—

Dear Sir, —Can you point out any error in the following calculation : —ln the Bth chapter of Daniel certain events arc foretold, some of which have transpired, others remain yet to be fulfilled; but all the events are to come to pass within a given period, namely, 2,300 prophetic days, or, as is allowed by the Jews, Papists, and Protestants, 2,300 civil years, (a day in prophey being put for a civil year). Within this period the Jews shall be restored, and Jerusalem rebuilt.

The question to be solved is—How shall we ascertain, with any degree of certainty, from prophecy, the termination of the 2,300 years ? On reference to the 9th chapter, 24th and 27th verses, a certain event is foretold, from which we can calculate, with a considerable degree of accuracy, within a few years; and this arises from defects in chronological calculations. The event alluded to is the cutting oft’ the Messiah, in the year of Messiah, from his birth, 33 years and some months. This event was to happen when 70 weeks of the vision had expired. 70 weeks multiplied by the days (7 in a week,) make 490 prophetic days, or civil years. Thus, in the year of our Lord 33, at his crucifixion, 490 years of the vision had expired. Then, on account of abominations, the cutting oft’ Messiah, &c., the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, &c., which shall be desolate until the consummation ; or, to use the phraseology of the Bth chapter* in the 13tb and 14th verses, “ Then shall the sanctuary be' cleansed,” which must take place within the 1810 years unexpired of the vision, at the crucifixion of the Messiah, in the year 33. The calculation stands, therefore, thus:— Years. The beginning and duration of the vision 2300 The Messiah is to be cut oft’ when seventy weeks had expired, from the beginning of the vision, which is equal to civil years 490 1818 Add the 33 years from the birth to the death of Christ 33 The Jews are to be restored, and the Turks to be extirpated, or converted, before or in 1843 We are thus on the threshold of the mightiest events that ever transpired in the history of outworld. Famine, plagues, and earthquakes, are to succeed in rapid but direful succession. Coming events cast their shadows before them; and the times are alarmingly ominous. The destruction of the Pagan Roman empire,—the rise, triumph, and decline of Mahommedanism, —the rise of the western antichrist, its heresies and blasphemies, its murderous persecutions and visible decline, have all been very strikingly fulfilled. Isaiah’s preliminary events are unfolding with astounding accuracy throughout the world; and John’s apocalyptic harbingers indicate the approach of the pealing trumpets. What think you ‘of this, old friend ? You wanted me to beat an inglorious retreat with you : will you make a glorious advance with me ? I will take thee to the cross direct, to “ behold the Lamb of God,” the world’s atonement, and the only “ refuge from the coming storm.” Here you will be safe from the rocking earthquake, the withering plague, and the scathing famine. If danger be at hand, and I were to suffer my friend to perish unwarned, what sort of a name should I deserve. Your’s in haste,

Ductility of Gold. —Looking at the brilliant appearance of a gilt button, the substance of the gold which covers it is by no means obvious to us; but when it is proved that five grains of gold, worth Is. 3d., will gild 144 buttons an inch in diameter, the amazing ductility of the metal no longer surprises us, and we can easily credit that its thickness does not exceed more than 214,000 th part of an inch in the coarser branches of this manufacture.

The transparent wings of certain insects are so. attenuated in their structure, that 50,000 of them, placed over each other, would not form a pile a quarter of an inch in height.