The Project Gutenberg eBook ofReminiscences of Glass-makingThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Reminiscences of Glass-makingAuthor: Deming JarvesRelease date: November 25, 2013 [eBook #44284]Most recently updated: October 23, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttp://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from imagesgenerously made available by The Internet Archive)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF GLASS-MAKING ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Reminiscences of Glass-makingAuthor: Deming JarvesRelease date: November 25, 2013 [eBook #44284]Most recently updated: October 23, 2024Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttp://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from imagesgenerously made available by The Internet Archive)
Title: Reminiscences of Glass-making
Author: Deming Jarves
Author: Deming Jarves
Release date: November 25, 2013 [eBook #44284]Most recently updated: October 23, 2024
Language: English
Credits: Produced by the Online Distributed Proofreading Team athttp://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from imagesgenerously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK REMINISCENCES OF GLASS-MAKING ***
BYDEMING JARVES.SECOND EDITION, ENLARGED.Publisher's logoNEW YORK:PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON,401 Broadway, cor. Walker Street.1865.Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, byDeming Jarves,in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.
BY
DEMING JARVES.
SECOND EDITION, ENLARGED.
Publisher's logo
NEW YORK:PUBLISHED BY HURD AND HOUGHTON,401 Broadway, cor. Walker Street.1865.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, byDeming Jarves,in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND COMPANY.
The articles upon the history and progress of Glass Manufacture herein presented to the public were originally published in the columns of a village newspaper.
They are the result of investigation upon these topics made in the few leisure moments gained from the engrossing cares of business, and consequently make no pretension to anything of literary character or execution.
The object of the writer has been to gather, in a condensed form, whatever of interesting information could be gained from authentic sources, in regard to a branch of manufacture which has attained a position among the useful and elegant arts scarcely rivalled by any other of those which mark and distinguish the progressive character of our country.
It is believed that they present, in a condensed and convenient form, much valuable information, useful alike for reference and instruction. Aside from historical or mechanical facts, there is much of romantic interest attaching to the progress of this department of art. The partiality of friends interested in the topics herein presented, rather than his own opinion of their value, has induced the writer to present the articles in a more permanent form.
Boston,March 17, 1854.
The above was the Preface to a small pamphlet in 8vo. of the "Reminiscences of Glass-making," printed for private circulation in 1854, and now enlarged into a more permanent form, and brought down to the present year, in order to meet the demand for information which has unexpectedly sprung up from those interested in the manufacture of Glass in America.
Boston,January, 1865.
REMINISCENCES OF GLASS-MAKING.
It may be safely asserted that no department of art has, from its earliest period, attracted so much attention and investigation, none involved so extensive a range of inquiry, or been productive of more ingenious, interesting, and beautiful results, than the manufacture of glass.
The question of the origin of glass goes back to the remotest antiquity, and is involved in almost entire obscurity. All that modern writers on the subject are enabled to do, is to glean hints and indistinct statements in reference to the subject, from the very brief and unsatisfactory accounts of the ancients. These, however, throw but a feeble light upon the precise point of the origin of the manufacture; and little is proved beyond the fact of its great antiquity.
That the subject held a very prominent place in the technological literature of the ancients is clearly proved; Pliny, Theophrastus, Strabo, Petronius Arbiter, Berzelias, Neri, Merrit, Runket, and others, referring constantly to it. The writings of all these demonstrate the deep interest existing upon the subject at their various times, but still fail to present us with any connected or detailed account of the rise and progress of the art.
When it is considered that the elements involved in the manufacture of glass are derived from the earth,—not one of its components being in itself transparent, but earthy, opaque, and apparently incapable of being transmuted into a transparent and brilliant substance,—when it is considered that from these a material is produced almost rivalling the diamond in lustre and refractive power, and sometimes so closely resembling the richest gems as to detract from the value of the costliest; can it be wonderful that in the earliest ages the art was invested with a mysterious interest attaching to no other mechanical department?
From the earliest periods, up to the eighteenth century, the art, from the peculiar knowledge and skill involved, could only minister to the wants or pleasures of the luxurious rich. The rarity of the material rendered the articles greatly valuable, as tasteful ornaments of dress or furniture; indeed, it is well known that the glass of Venice, at one period, was as highly valued as is the plate of the present day; and the passion for possessing specimens, promised in England, at least, to excite a spirit of speculation fully rivalling that exhibited in the tulip mania, so ridiculous, as well as ruinous, in Holland.
It has been reserved for the present age, however, to render the art of glass-making tributary to the comfort of man,—to the improvement of science,—and by its moderate cost to enable the poorest and humblest to introduce the light and warmth of the sun within, while excluding the storms and chilly blasts; to decorate his table with the useful, and minister to his taste, at a cost barely more than that of one of his ordinary days' labor. That which once was prized and displayed as the treasure and inheritance of the wealthy, and which, with sacred carefulness, was handed down as of precious value, may now be found in the humblest dwellings, and is procured at a charge which makes the account of the former costliness of glass to partake almost of the character of the fabulous and visionary.
That the art of glass manufacture is destined to greater progress and higher triumphs cannot for a moment be doubted; and the time will arrive when, from increased purity of materials and progressive chemical development, the present position of the art will fall comparatively into the shade. It is no undue stretch of the imagination to conceive that lenses shall be perfected whose purity will enable the astronomer to penetrate the remotest region of space; new worlds may perhaps be revealed, realizing all that the "moon hoax" promised—
"The spacious firmament on high,With all the blue ethereal skyAnd spangled heavens"——
"The spacious firmament on high,With all the blue ethereal skyAnd spangled heavens"——
"The spacious firmament on high,With all the blue ethereal skyAnd spangled heavens"——
"The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky
And spangled heavens"——
be read as a book, and man perhaps recognize man in other worlds than his own. It may be that in its triumphs it is destined to concentrate the rays of the sunlight, and make the eye to pierce into the secrets and deep places of the sea,
"Full many a fathom deep."
Man may be enabled to read the wonders and the hidden works of the Almighty; it may be, that the power of the traditional lens of Archimedes upon the fleet of Marcellus shall be realized, in the absorbing and igniting, and perhaps useful power of some feature of its progress; and in its sphere, the art become fruitful in practical results, rivalling the highest attainments in the department of scientific progress. It is no visionary speculation to believe, that, by the aid of machinery, it may be readily rolled into sheets, as is iron or lead now in use. It will minister more and more to the necessities and comfort of mankind, and contribute largely to the many and various manufacturing purposes of the age. That its practical adaptations are not already known or exhausted, cannot be doubted; and its applicability, in some cheaper form, for vessels of large size and certain shape, and (strange as it may seem) for tessellated and ordinary flooring and pavements, are among the results which we think yet to be demonstrated in its progress.
An elegant writer, in a late number of "Harper's Magazine," says:—
"The importance of glass, and the infinite variety of objects to which it is applicable, cannot be exaggerated; indeed, it would be extremely difficult to enumerate its properties, or estimate adequately its value. This, then, transparent substance, so light and fragile, is one of the most essential ministers of science and philosophy, and enters so minutely into the concerns of life that it has become indispensable to the daily routine of our business, our wants, and our pleasures. It admits the sun and excludes the wind, answering the double purpose of transmitting light and preserving warmth; it carries the eye of the astronomer to the remotest regions of space; through the lenses of the microscope it develops new worlds of vitality, which, without its help, must have been but imperfectly known; it renews the sight of the old, and assists the curiosity of the young; it empowers the mariner to descry distant ships, and trace far off shores; the watchman on the cliff to detect the operations of hostile fleets and midnight contrabandists, and the lounger in the opera to make the tour of the circles from his stall; it preserves the light of the beacon from the rush of the tempest, and softens the flame of the lamp upon our tables; it supplies the revel with those charming vessels in whose bright depths we enjoy the color as well as the flavor of our wine; it protects the dial whose movements it reveals; it enables the student to penetrate the wonders of nature, and the beauty to survey the marvels of her person; it reflects, magnifies, and diminishes; as a medium of light and observation its uses are without limit, and as an article of mere embellishment, there is no form into which it may not be moulded, or no object of luxury to which it may not be adapted."
In contrast with the foregoing, we will make one more extract, from an English writer of ancient date. Holinshed, in his "Chronicles," published during the reign of Elizabeth, says:—
"It is a world to see in these our days, wherein gold and silver aboundeth, that our gentility, as loathing these metals, (because of the plenty,) do now generally choose rather the Venice Glasses, both for our wine and beer, than any of these metals, or stone, wherein before time we have been accustomed to drink; but such is the nature of man generally, that it most coveteth things difficult to be attained; and such is the estimation of this stuff, that many become rich only with their new trade into Murana, (a town near to Venice,) from whence the very best are daily to be had, and such as for beauty do well near match the Crystal or the ancient Murrhina Vase, whereof now no man has knowledge. And as this is seen in the gentility, so in the wealthy commonality the like desire of glasses is not neglected, whereby the gain gotten by their purchase is much more increased, to the benefit of the merchant. The poorest endeavor to have glasses also if they may; but as the Venetian is somewhat too dear for them, they content themselves with such as are made at home of fern and burnt stone; but in fine, all go one way, that is to the shades, at last."
Glass has properties peculiarly its own; one of which is that it is of no greater bulk when hot, or in the melted state, than when cold. Some writers state that it is (contrary to the analogy of all other metals) of greater bulk when cold than when hot.
It is transparent in itself; but the materials of which it is composed are opaque. It is not malleable, but in ductility ranks next to gold. Its flexibility, also, is so great that when hot it can be drawn out, like elastic thread, miles in length, in a moment, and to a minuteness equal to that of the silk-worm. Brittle, also, to a proverb, it is so elastic that it can be blown to a gauze-like thinness, so as easily to float upon the air. Its elasticity is also shown by the fact that a globe, hermetically sealed, if dropped upon a polished anvil, will recoil two thirds the distance of its fall, and remain entire until the second or third rebound. (The force with which solid balls strike each other may be estimated at ten, and the reaction, by reason of the elastic property, at nine.) Vessels, called bursting-glasses, are made of sufficient strength to be drawn about a floor; a bullet may be dropped into one without fracture of the glass; even the stroke of a mallet sufficiently heavy to drive a nail has failed to break such glasses. In a word, ordinary blows fail to produce an impression upon articles of this kind. If, however, a piece of flint, cornelian, diamond, or other hard stone, fall into one of these glasses, or be shaken therein a few moments, the vessel will fly into a myriad of pieces.
Glass of the class called Prince Rupert Drops exhibits another striking property. Let the small point be broken, and the whole flies with a shock into powder. Writers have endeavored to solve the philosophy of this phenomenon; some by attributing it to percussion putting in motion some subtle fluid with which the essential substance of glass is permeated, and thus the attraction of cohesion being overcome. Some denominate the fluid electricity, and assert that it exists in glass in great quantities, and is capable of breaking glass when well annealed. These writers do not appear to have formed any conclusion satisfactory to themselves, and fail to afford any well-defined solution to the mystery.
Another phenomenon in connection with glass tubes is recorded in the "Philosophical Transactions," No. 476:—
"Place a tube, say two feet long, before a fire, in a horizontal position, having the position properly supported, say by putting in a cork at each end supported by pins for an axis; the rod will acquire a rotary motion round the axis, and also a progressive motion towards the fire, even if the supporters are declined from the fire. When the progressive motion of the tube towards the fire is stopped by any obstacle, the rotation is still continued. When the tubes are placed in nearly an upright position, leaning to the right hand, the motion will be from east to west; but if they lean to the left hand, their motion will be from west to east; and the nearer they are placed to an upright position the less will be their motion either way. If the tubes be placed on a sheet of glass, instead of moving towards the fire they will move from it, and about the axis in a contrary direction from what they did before; nay, they will recede from the fire, and move a little upwards when the plane inclines towards the fire."
Glass is used for pendulums, as not being subject to affections from heat or cold. It is, as is well known, a non-conductor. No metallic condenser possesses an equal power with one of glass. In summer, when moisture fails to collect on a metallic surface, open glass will gather it on the exterior; the slightest breath of air evidently affecting the glass with moisture. Dew will affect the surface of glass while apparently uninfluential upon other surfaces.
The properties of so-called "musical glasses" are strikingly singular. Glass bowls, partly filled with water, in various quantity, will, as is well known, emit musical sounds, varying with the thickness of their edges or lips. When rubbed, too, with a wet finger, gently, the water in the glass is plainly seen to tremble and vibrate.
Bells manufactured of glass have been found the clearest and most sonorous; the vibration of sound extending to a greater degree than in metallic bells.
Glass resists the action of all acids except the "fluoric." It loses nothing in weight by use or age. It is more capable than all other substances of receiving the highest degree of polish. If melted seven times over and properly cooled in the furnace, it will receive a polish rivalling almost the diamond in brilliancy. It is capable of receiving the richest colors procured from gold or other metallic coloring, and will retain its original brilliancy of hue for ages. Medals, too, embedded in glass, can be made to retain forever their original purity and appearance.
Another singular property of glass is shown in the fact, that when the furnace, as the workmen term it, is settled, the metal is perfectly plain and clear; but if by accident the metal becomes too cool to work, and the furnace heat required to be raised, the glass, which had before remained in the open pots perfectly calm and plain, immediately becomes agitated or boiling. The glass rises in a mass of spongy matter and bubbles, and is rendered worthless. A change is however immediately effected by throwing a tumbler of water upon the metal, when the agitation immediately ceases, and the glass assumes its original quiet and clearness.
All writers upon the subject of glass manufacture fail to show anything decisive upon the precise period of its invention. Some suppose it to have been invented before the flood. Nervi traces its antiquity to the yet problematical time of Job.
It seems clear, however, that the art was known to the Egyptians thirty-five hundred years since; for records handed down to us in the form of paintings, hieroglyphics, &c., demonstrate its existence in the reign of the first Osirtasen, and existing relics in glass, taken from the ruins of Thebes, with hieroglyphical data, clearly place its antiquity at a point fifteen centuries prior to the time of Christ.
Mr. Kennett Loftus, the first European who has visited the ancient ruins of Warka, in Mesopotamia, writes thus: "Warka is no doubt the Erech of Scripture, the second city of Nimrod, and it is the Orchoe of the Chaldees. The mounds within the walls afford subjects of high interest to the historian; they are filled, or I may say composed, of coffins piled upon each other to the height of forty-five feet."
"The coffins are of baked clay, covered with green glaze, and embossed with the figures of warriors, &c., and within are ornaments of gold, silver, iron, copper, andglass."
Layard, in his discoveries among the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, in chapter 8th, says: "In this chamber were found two entire glass bowls, with fragments of others. The glass, like all others that come from the ruins, is covered with pearly scales, which, on being removed, leave prismatic, opal-like colors of the greatest brilliancy, showing, under different lights, the most varied tints. This is a well-known effect of age arising from the decomposition of certain component parts of the glass. These bowls are probably of the same period as the small bottle found in the ruins of the northwest palace during the previous excavations, and now in the British Museum. On this highly interesting relic is the name of Sargon, with his title of King of Assyria, in cuneiform characters, and the figure of a lion. We are therefore able to fix its date to the latter part of the seventh centuryB.C.It is consequently the most ancient known specimen oftransparentglass."
In chapters 22d and 25th, he gives us the form of many glass vessels from the mound of Babel, similar in form to the modern fish-globes, flower-vases and table water-bottles of the present day—the latter being reeded must have been formed in metallic moulds—and pieces of glass tubes, the exterior impression exactly like our modern patch diamond figure.
Of the several specimens of glass brought to England by Mr. Layard, one, the fragment of a vase, when examined, was of a dull green color, as though incrusted with carbonate of copper. This color was quite superficial, and the glass itself was opaque and of a vermilion tint, attributed to suboxide of copper. The outer green covering was due to the action of the atmosphere on the surface of the glass, and the consequent change of the suboxide into green carbonate of copper. This specimen is interesting, as showing the early use and knowledge of suboxide of copper as a stain or coloring agent for glass. The ancients employed several substances in their glass, and colored glazes for bricks and pottery, but of which there remains no published record. But these glasses and other ancient works of art prove that they were familiar with the use of oxide of lead as a flux in their vitreous glasses, and with stannic acid and Naples yellow as stains or pigments.
Other writers believe that glass was in more general use in the ancient than in comparatively modern times, and affirm that among the Egyptians it was used even as material for coffins. It is certainly true that so well did the Egyptians understand the art, that they excelled in the imitation of precious stones, and were well acquainted with the metallic oxides used in coloring glass; and the specimens of their skill, still preserved in the British Museum and in private collections, prove the great skill and ingenuity of their workmen in mosaic similar in appearance to the modern paper-weights. Among the specimens of Egyptian glass still existing is a fragment representing a lion in bas-relief, well executed and anatomically correct. Other specimens are found inscribed with Arabic characters.
All writers agree that the glass-houses in Alexandria, in Egypt, were highly celebrated for the ingenuity and skill of their workmen, and the extent of their manufactures.
Strabo relates that the Emperor Hadrian received from an Egyptian priest a number of glass cups in mosaic, sparkling with every color, and deemed of such rare value that they were used only on great festivals.
The tombs at Thebes, the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the remains of the villa of the Emperor Tiberius, go not only incidentally to establish the antiquity of the art, but also prove the exquisite taste and skill of the artists of their various periods.
The first glass-houses, well authenticated, were erected in the city of Tyre. Modern writers upon the subject generally refer to Pliny in establishing the fact that the Phœnicians were the inventors of the art of glass-making. The tradition is that the art was originally brought to light under the following circumstances. A vessel being driven by a storm to take shelter at the mouth of the river Belus, the crew were obliged to remain there some length of time. In the process of cooking, a fire was made upon the ground, whereon was abundance of the herb "kale." That plant burning to ashes, the saline properties became incorporated with the sand. This causing vitrification, the compound now called glass was the result. The fact becoming known, the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon essayed the work, and brought the new invention into practical use. This is the tradition: but modern science demonstrates the false philosophy, if not the incorrectness, of Pliny's account; and modern manufacturers will readily detect the error, from the impossibility of melting silex and soda by the heat necessary for the ordinary boiling purposes.
It is a well-authenticated fact, however, that there were whole streets in Tyre entirely occupied by glass-works; and history makes no mention of any works of this character at an earlier period than the time mentioned by Pliny.
That Tyre possessed peculiar advantages for the manufacture, is very clear from geographical and geological data, the sand upon the shore at the mouth of the river Belus being pure silica, and well adapted to the manufacture. The extensive range of Tyrian commerce, too, gave ample facilities for the exportation and sale of the staple; and for some ages it must have constituted almost the only article, or at least the prominent article, of trade. Doubtless the rich freights of "the ships of Tyre," mentioned in Scripture, may in part have been composed of a material now as common as any of its original elements.
From Tyre and Sidon the art was transferred to Rome. Pliny states it flourished most extensively during the reign of Tiberius, entire streets of the city being then occupied by the glass manufactories. From the period of Tiberius the progress of the art seems more definite and marked, both as relates to the quantity and mode of manufacture.
It was during the reign of Nero, so far as we can discover, that the first perfectly clear glass, resembling crystal, was manufactured. Pliny states that Nero, for two cups of ordinary size, with handles, gave six thousand sestertia, equal in our currency to about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; and that rich articles of glass were in such general use among the wealthy Romans as almost to supersede articles of gold and silver. The art, however, at that period, seems to have been entirely devoted to articles of luxury, and from the great price paid, supported many establishments,—all however evidently upon a comparatively small scale, and confined, as it would appear, to families.
Up to this period, no evidence appears to prove that any other than colored articles in glass-ware were made. It is clear, too, that the furnaces and melting-pots then in use were of very limited capacity, the latter being of crucible shape; and it was not until the time of Nero that the discovery was made that muffled crucibles or pots, as at the present day, were required in order to make crystal glass. (Without them, it is well known, crystal glass cannot be perfected.) It appears, further, that a definite street in the city of Rome was assigned to the manufacturers of this article; and that in the reign of Severus they had attained such a position, and accumulated wealth to such a degree, that a formal tax was levied upon them. Some writers take the ground that this assessment was the primary cause of the transfer of the manufacture to other places.
That the peculiar property of the manufacture at this period was its clear and crystal appearance is abundantly evident; and this, and the great degree of perfection to which the manufacture of white or crystal-like glass was carried, are by many writers thought to have been proved from classical sources,—Horace and Virgil both referring to it, the one speaking of its beautiful lustre and brilliancy, the other comparing it to the clearness of the waters of the Fucine Lake.
The decline of this art in Rome is clearly defined by various writers; and its gradual introduction into Bohemia and Venice is plainly marked out. At this latter place the art flourished to a remarkable degree, and being marked by constant progress and improvement, enabled Venice to supply the world without a rival, and with the beautiful manufacture called "Venice drinking-cups." The beauty and value of these are abundantly testified to by many authors, among whom is Holinshed, referred to previously. The manufacture of these and similar articles were located, as stated in the "Chronicles," at Murano, a place about one mile from the city, where the business was carried on, and assumed a high position in the order of the arts. And from thence we are enabled to date its future progress and gradual introduction into Europe, Germany, England, and the Western World.
It is not strange that the strict secrecy with which the business was conducted in these times, should have invested the art with an air of romance; and legends, probably invented for the purpose, created a maximum of wonder among the uninitiated. The government of Venice also added, by its course, to the popular notions regarding the high mystery of the art, conferring, as it did, the title of "Gentleman" (no idle title in those days) on all who became accomplished in the manufacture. Howell, in his "Familiar Letters," dated from Venice in 1621, says: "Not without reason, it being a rare kind of knowledge and chemistry, to transmute the dull bodies of dust and sand, for they are the only ingredients, to such pellucid, dainty body, as we see crystal glass is."
That the art had greatly improved in the hands of the Venetian artisans cannot be doubted. The manufacture was carried to a degree far beyond any previous period; and the more so, because sustained by the governmental protection and patronage. Venice being then in the height of her commercial glory, she herself being "Queen of the Sea," ample facilities existed for the exportation of her manufactures to every part of the known world; and for a long period she held the monopoly of supplying the cities of Europe with crystal glass in its various departments of ornament and utility.
A French writer, who published an elaborate work in twelve books upon the subject of glass manufacture, after it had been introduced into France, gives an interesting account of the rise and progress of the art in that country, the encouragement it received, and the high estimation in which it was held. After stating that it was introduced into France from Venice, he says:—
"The workmen who are employed in this noble art are all gentlemen, for they admit none but such. They have obtained many large privileges, the principal whereof is to work themselves, without derogating from their nobility. Those who obtained these privileges first were gentlemen by birth; and their privilege running, that they may exercise this art without derogating from their nobility, as a sufficient proof of it, which has been confirmed by all our kings; and in all inquiries that have been made into counterfeit nobilities, never was any one attainted who enjoyed these privileges, having always maintained their honor down to their posterity."
Baron Von Lowhen states, in his "Analysis of Nobility in its Origin," that, "So useful were the glass-makers at one period in Venice, and so considerable the revenue accruing to the republic from their manufacture, that, to encourage the men engaged in it to remain in Murano, the Senate made them all Burgesses of Venice, and allowed nobles to marry their daughters; whereas, if a nobleman marries the daughter of any other tradesman, the issue is not reputed noble."
From this statement a valuable lesson can be drawn, viz., that a strict parallel is constantly observable between the progress of this art and the intellectual and social elevation of its possessors.
Those engaged in it now do not indeed occupy the same social position; still it is probable that in foreign lands the blood of noble ancestors still runs in their veins; and even in our own democratical land, with all the tendencies of its institutions, workers in glass claim a distinctive rank and character among the trades; and in the prices of labor, and the estimate of the comparative skill involved, are not controlled by those laws of labor and compensation which govern most other mechanical professions; and similarity of taste and habit is in a degree characteristic of the modern artisan in this department, as in the case of those who, for their accomplishment in the art, were ennobled in the more remote period of its progress. The same writer says:—
"It must be owned those great and continual heats, which those gentlemen are exposed to from their furnaces, are prejudicial to their health; for, coming in at their mouths, it attacks their lungs and dries them up, whence most part are pale and short-lived, by reason of the diseases of the heart and breast, which the fire causes; which makes Libarius say, 'they were of weak and infirm bodies, thirsty, and easily made drunk,'—this writer says, this is their true character: but I will say this in their favor, that this character is not general, having known several without this fault."
Such was the character and habits of noble glass-makers four hundred years since; and whether their descendants still retain their blood or not, the habit of drinking, believed at that time necessary as consequent upon the nature of the employment, is, at the present day, confined to the ignorant, dissolute, and unambitious workmen. The habit will, doubtless, ere long be done away. Still, so long as the workmen of the present day cling to their conventional rules,—act as one body, the lazy controlling the efforts of the more intelligent and industrious,—so long will the conduct of the dissolute few affect the moral reputation of the entire body. They must not forget the old adage, that "One bad sheep taints the whole flock." The spirit of the age in no degree tends to sustain the old saying, that "Live horses must draw the dead ones."
The writer already referred to, dwelling with great interest upon the social position of those then engaged in the art, goes on to say:—
"Anthony de Brossard, Lord of St. Martin and St. Brice, gentleman to Charles d'Artois, Count of Eu, a prince of noble blood royal, finding this art so considerable, that understanding it did not derogate from their nobility, obtained a grant in the year 1453 to establish a glass-house in his country, with prohibition of any other, and several other privileges he had annexed to it. The family and extraction of this Sieur de Brossard was considerable enough to bring him here as an example. The right of making glass being so honorable, since the elder sons of the family of Brossard left it off, the younger have taken it up, and continue it to this day. Messieurs de Caqueray, also gentlemen of ancient extraction, obtained a right of glass-making, which one of their ancestors contracted by marriage in the year 1468 with a daughter of Anthony de Brossard, Lord of St. Martin, that gentleman giving half of his right for part of her fortune, which was afterwards confirmed in the Chamber of Accounts. Messieurs Valliant, an ancient family of gentlemen, also obtained a grant of a glass-house for recompense of their services, and for arms a Poignard d'Or on azure, which agrees with their name and tried valor. Besides these families, who still continue to exercise this art, there are the Messieurs de Virgille, who have a grant for a little glass-house. Messieurs de la Mairie, de Suqrie, de Bougard, and several others, have been confirmed in their nobility during the late search in the year 1667.
"We have, moreover, in France, several great families, sprung from gentlemen glass-makers who have left the trade, among whom some have been honored with the purple and the highest dignities and offices."
Enough is recorded to show in what estimation the art was held in France by the government and people of that period; and it is in nowise wonderful that an art invested with so much distinction, conducted with so much secrecy, and characterized with so great a degree of romantic interest, should have given rise to strange reports and legends, hereafter to be referred to.
The writer referred to above states that there were two modes of manufacturing glass. One he denominates that of the "Great Glass-Houses," the other the "Small Glass-Houses." In the large houses the manufacture of window-glass, and bottles for wine or other liquors, was carried on. He states:—
"The gentlemen of the Great Glass-Houses work only twelve hours, but that without resting, as in the little ones, and always standing and naked. The work passes through three hands. First, the gentlemen apprentices gather the glass and prepare the same. It is then handed to the second gentlemen, who are more advanced in the art. Then the master gentleman takes it, and makes it perfect by blowing it. In the little glass-houses, where they make coach-glasses, drinking-glasses, crystals, dishes, cups, bottles, and such like sort of vessels, the gentlemen labor but six hours together, and then more come and take their places, and after they have labored the same time they give places to the first; and thus they work night and day, the same workmen successively, as long as the furnace is in a good condition."
Every glass-maker will perceive, from the foregoing description, that the same system prevails at the present time, as to the division of labor and period of labor, so far at least as "blown articles" are concerned. The names, too, then given to glass-makers' tools are retained to the present day, and, with slight difference, the shapes of the various tools are the same.
At the best, the manufacturers of glass in France were for a long period much inferior to the Venetians and Bohemians; but after the introduction of window-glass, from Venice, the making of crystal glass greatly extended and correspondingly improved.
In the year 1665 the government of France, desirous of introducing the manufacture of window-glass, offered sufficient inducement in money and privileges to a number of French artists (who had acquired the process at Murano, at Venice) to establish works at Tourtanville. At these works the same system of blowing was followed as that used in the Venetian glass-works. A workman, under this system, named Thevart, discovered the art of casting plate-glass, and obtained from the government a patent for the term of thirty years. He erected extensive works in Paris, and succeeded in what was then deemed an extraordinary feat, casting plates eighty-four inches by fifty inches, thereby exciting unbounded admiration.
The credit of the invention of casting plates of glass belongs to France, and the mode then adopted exists at the present day, with but slight variation. France monopolized the manufacture over one hundred years before it was introduced into any other country.
Writers generally agree that the manufacture of glass was introduced into England in the year 1557. "Friars' Hall," as stated by one writer, was converted into a manufactory of window-glass,—other writers say, for crystal glass, (called by the English "flint," from the fact of the use of flint-stones, which, by great labor, they burnt and ground.) In 1575 Friars' Hall Glass-Works, with forty thousand billets of wood, were destroyed by fire.
In 1635, seventy-eight years after the art was introduced into England, Sir Robert Mansell introduced the use of coal fuel instead of wood, and obtained from the English government the monopoly of importing the fine Venetian drinking-glasses, an evidence that the art in England was confined as yet to the coarser articles. Indeed, it was not until the reign of William III. that the art of making Venetian drinking-vessels was brought into perfection,—quite a century after the art was introduced into England; an evidence of the slow progress made by the art in that country.
As France was indebted to Venice for her workmen, so also was England indebted to the same source. Howell, in one of his "Familiar Letters," directed to Sir Robert Mansell, Vice-Admiral of England, says: "Soon as I came to Venice, I applied myself to dispatch your business according to instruction, and Mr. Seymour was ready to contribute his best furtherance. These two Italians are the best gentlemen workmen that ever blew crystal. One is allied to Antonio Miotte, the other is cousin to Maralao."
Although Sir Robert procured workmen from Venice, they were probably of an inferior character, and a space of fifty years elapsed before the English manufactories equalled the Venetian and French in the quality of their articles.
Evelyn, in his "Diary," states: "On the proclamation of James II., in the market-place of Bromley, by the sheriff of Kent, the commander of the Kentish troops, two of the King's trumpeters, and other officers, drank the King's health in a flint wine-glass three feet tall."
In the year 1670, the Duke of Buckingham became the patron of the art in England, and greatly improved the quality and style of the flint-glass, by procuring, at great personal expense, a number of Venetian artists, whom he persuaded to settle in London. From this period,i.e., about the commencement of the eighteenth century, the English glass manufactories, aided by the liberal bounties granted them in cash upon all glass exported by them or sold for export, became powerful and successful rivals of the Venetian and the French manufactories in foreign markets. The clear bounty granted on each pound of glass exported from England, which the government paid to the manufacturer, was not derived from any tax by impost or excise previously laid, for all such were returned to the manufacturer, together with the bounty referred to; thereby lessening the actual cost of the manufacture from twenty-five to fifty per cent., and enabling the English exporters to drive off all competition in foreign markets. This bounty provision was annulled during the Premiership of Sir Robert Peel, together with all the excise duty on the home consumption.
In 1673 the first plate-glass was manufactured at Lambeth, under a royal charter; but no great progress was made at that time, and the works for the purpose were doubtless very limited. One hundred years later,i.e.1773, a Company was formed, under a royal charter, called the "Governor and Company of the British Cast Plate-Glass Manufactory," with a capital of eighty shares of five hundred pounds each, their works being at Ravenshead, in Lancashire. These works have been very successfully conducted, and, according to a late writer, are rivalled by none, excepting those at "St. Gobain," in France. Since the excise duty on plate-glass has been repealed, its manufacture has increased to a wonderful extent; the quantity used in the construction of the Crystal Palace, for the World's Fair, being probably many times larger than that manufactured twenty years since in the kingdom of Great Britain in any one year.
An English paper states that Roger Bacon, at sixty-four years of age, was imprisoned ten years for making concave and convex glasses, and camera-obscura and burning-glasses.
It is to many persons matter of great surprise that the manufacture of plate-glass has never been introduced into this country. The whole process is a simple one. The materials are as cheap here as in England or in France. Machinery for the polishing of the surface is as easily procured, and water-power quite as abundant, as in either country. The manufacture, with the materials so ready to the hand, and these together with the skill, labor, and demand, increasing every year, is most certain to realize a fair remunerating profit and steady sale. Besseman has lately introduced a new method of casting plate-glass, which, should it equal the inventor's expectation, will reduce the cost, supersede the old plan, and eventually, of course, increase the consumption.
We gather from the ancient writers on glass-making, that the workers in the article had, at a very early period, arrived at so great a degree of proficiency and skill as to more than rival, even before the period of the Christian era, anything within the range of more modern art. The numerous specimens of their workmanship, still preserved in the public institutions of Europe, and in the cabinets of the curious, prove that the art of combining, coloring, gilding, and engraving glass was perfected by the ancients. Indeed, in fancy coloring, mosaic, and mock gems or precious stones, the art of the ancients has never been excelled. Among the numerous specimens it is remarkable that all vessels are round; none of ancient date are yet found of any other form. And no specimen of crystal glass of ancient date has yet been found.
Among the numerous antiques yet preserved, the "Portland Vase" must hold the first place. Pellat, in his work on the incrustation of glass, states: "The most celebrated antique glass vase is that which was during more than two centuries the principal ornament of the Barberini Palace, and which is now known as the 'Portland Vase.' It was found about the middle of the sixteenth century, enclosed in a marble sarcophagus within a sepulchral chamber, under the Monte del Garno, two and a half miles from Rome, in the road to Frascati. It is ornamented with white opaque figures in bas-relief upon a dark blue transparent ground. The subject has not heretofore received a satisfactory elucidation, but the design and more especially the execution are admirable. The whole of the blue ground, or at least the part below the handles, must have originally been covered with white enamel, out of which the figures have been sculptured in the style of a cameo, with most astonishing skill and labor." The estimation in which the ancient specimens of glass were held, is demonstrated by the fact that the Duchess of Portland became the purchaser of the celebrated vase which bears her name, at a price exceeding nine thousand dollars, and bore away the prize from numerous competitors. The late Mr. Wedgwood was permitted to take a mould from the vase, at a cost of twenty-five hundred dollars, and he disposed of many copies, in his rich china, at a price of two hundred and fifty dollars each.
The next specimen of importance is the vase exhumed at Pompeii in 1839, which is now at the Museum at Naples. It is about twelve inches high, eight inches in width, and of the same style of manufacture with the "Portland Vase." It is covered with figures in bas-relief raised out of a delicate white opaque glass, overlaying a transparent dark blue ground, the figures being executed in the style of cameo engraving. To effect this, the manufacturer must have possessed the art of coating a body of transparent blue glass with an equal thickness of enamel or opal-colored glass. The difficulty of tempering the two bodies of glass with different specific gravities, in order that they may stand the work of the sculptor, is well known by modern glass-makers. This specimen is considered by some to be the work of Roman artists; by others it is thought to be of the Grecian school. As a work of art it ranks next to the "Portland Vase," and the figures and foliage, all elegant and expressive, and representative of the season of harvest, demonstrate most fully the great artistic merit of the designer.
William Hone, in his "Day-Book" for 1831, says, "This superb glass vase, designed by John Gunby, and exhibited at the Queen's Bazaar, Oxford Street, London, is an immense basin of copper, and its iron shaft or foot clothed with two thousand four hundred pieces of glass, construct a vase fourteen feet high and twelve feet wide across the brim, weighing upwards of eight tons, and capable of holding eight pipes of wine. Each piece of glass is richly cut with mathematical precision and beautifully colored; the colors are gold, ruby, emerald, &c.; the colored pieces being cemented upon the metal body and rendered air-tight. The exterior is a gem-like surface of inconceivable splendor; on a summer afternoon it forms a mass of brilliancy. The vase, by illumination of gas alone, glittered like diamonds upon melted gold. Mr. Reingale says the human mind, in all of its extensive range of thought, is not able to conceive a splendid glass vase cut in a more elaborate and novel way. At the first sight one is confounded with astonishment, and knows not whether what we see is real, or whether on a sudden we have not been transported to another globe. To England is due the honor of its production, and it comes from the hands of one of its numerous celebrated artists, Mr. Gunby. The precious metal, gold, glitters in all its glory, intermixed, or rather united with extraordinary beauty of cutting and rich and splendid enamelled painting. One is at a loss whether most to admire the shape, the gorgeous brilliancy, the sparkle of the gems, the beauty of the cutting, the enamelling, the general conception, or the immense bulk of this magnificent and astounding work of art."
The "Scientific American" states, "The troupe of glass-blowers at Hope Chapel furnish a very interesting evening's entertainment for those who are fond of practical things. A steam-engine, most beautifully constructed of different colored glass, is worked by steam all the time. The nature of the material affords an opportunity to see all the several parts moving at once, and it is really a very curious sight, even to an engineer, and one that will well repay a visit."
Among the numerous specimens of ancient glass now in the British Museum, there are enough of the Egyptian and Roman manufacture to impress us with profound respect for the art as pursued by the earlier workers in glass. Among them is a fragment considered as thene plus ultraof the chemical and manipulatory skill of the ancient workers. It is described as consisting of no less than five layers or strata of glass, the interior layer being of the usual blue color, with green and red coatings, and each strata separated from and contrasted with the others by layers of white enamel, skilfully arranged by some eminent artist of the Grecian school. The subject is a female reposing upon a couch, executed in the highest style of art. It presents a fine specimen of gem engraving. Among the articles made of common material are a few green vases about fifteen inches high, in an excellent state of preservation, and beautiful specimens of workmanship. In the formation of the double handles and curves, these vases evince a degree of skill unattained by the glass-blowers of the present period.
The cases in the Egyptian room at the Museum contain several necklaces, small figures, scarabæi, and other objects, which would appear to an ordinary observer to be composed of precious stones. They are, in fact, at least most of them, formed either of glass throughout the whole substance, or of materials covered with a glass coating. The manufacture of articles of this description presupposes a market for them; and the desire upon the part of the less affluent members of society to possess, at a cheap rate, ornaments in imitation of their superiors, necessarily leads to the conclusion that, even at the most ancient of the periods I have mentioned, the Egyptians had made a remarkable advance in the customs of civilized life. The Museum cases also exhibit networks of glass bugles, with which the wrappers of mummies were often decorated; and there is abundance of evidence to show that wine was frequently served at table in glass bottles and cups. Alexander the Great is said to have been buried at Alexandria in a coffin composed wholly of glass.
The specimens taken from the tombs at Thebes are also numerous. Their rich and varied colors are proofs of the chemical and inventive skill of the ancients. These specimens embrace not only rich gems and mosaic work, but also fine examples of the lachrymatory vase. Some of the vases are made from common materials, with very great skill and taste. The specimen of glass coin, with hieroglyphical characters, must not be omitted; as also a miniature effigy of the Egyptian idol "Isis"; a specimen of which proves that the Egyptians must have been acquainted with the art ofpressinghot glass into metallic moulds, an art which has been considered of modern invention. English glass-makers considered the patent pillar glass a modern invention until a Roman vase was found (it is now to be seen in the Polytechnic Institution in London), being a complete specimen of pillar moulding. Pillat states in his work that he had seen an ancient drinking vessel of a Medrecan form, on a foot of considerable substance, nearly entire, and procured from Rome, which had the appearance of having been blown in an open-and-shut mould, the rim being afterwards cut off and polished. This is high authority, and, with other evidences that might be cited, goes far to prove that the ancients used moulds for pressing, and also for blowing moulded articles, similar to those now in use.
Pompeian window-glass, of which panes have been discovered as large as twenty by twenty-eight inches, has proved, on examination, to have been cast in a manner similar to that now followed in making plate-glass, except that it was not rolled flat, as now, by metal cylinders, but pressed out with a wooden mallet, so that its thickness is not uniform.
A glass has been discovered at Pompeii, about the size of a crown piece, with a convexity, which leads one to suppose it to be a magnifying lens. Now, it has been said that the ancients were not aware of this power, and the invention is given to Galileo by some, to a Dutchman, in 1621, by others, while a compound microscope is attributed to one Fontana, in the seventeenth century. But without a magnifying glass, how did the Greeks and Romans work those fine gems which the human eye is unable to read without the assistance of a glass? There is one in the Naples Royal Collection, for example, the legend of which it is impossible to make out, unless by applying a magnifying power. The glass in question, with a stone ready cut and polished for engraving, are now to be seen in the Museum of Naples.
Specimens of colored glass, pressed in beautiful forms for brooches, rings, beads, and similar ornaments, are numerous. Of those of Roman production many specimens have been found in England. Some of these were taken from the Roman barrows. In Wales glass rings have been found; they were vulgarly called "snake stones," from the popular notion that they were produced by snakes, but were in fact rings used by the Druids as a charm with which to impose upon the superstitious. We find, too, that the specific gravity of the specimens referred to ranges from 2034 to 3400, proving oxide of lead to have been used in their manufacture; the mean gravity of modern flint-glass being 3200.
From what we gather from the foregoing facts, we are inclined to the belief that, in fine fancy work, in colors, and in the imitation of gems, the ancient glass-makers excelled the modern ones. They were also acquainted with the art of making and using moulds for blown and pressed glass, and forming what in England is now called patent pillar glass. All these operations, however, were evidently on a very limited scale, their views being mainly directed to the production of small but costly articles. Although in the time of the Roman manufacturers vases of extra size were made, requiring larger crucibles and furnaces than those used by the glass-makers of Tyre, yet it is evident that they produced few articles except such as were held sacred for sepulchral purposes, or designed for luxury. And while they possessed the knowledge of the use of moulds to press and blow glass by expansion, it does not appear that they produced any articles for domestic use. If it were not thus, some evidences would be found among the various specimens which have been preserved.
Enough has been adduced to show the peculiar estimation in which the art of glass-making was formerly held, and the privileges conferred on it by the various governments of Europe.
The art was thus almost invested with an air of romance; and a manufacture commanding so much attention on the part of the governments was regarded with a great share of awe and wonder.
It is not strange that, in this state of things, various legends should have been identified with the manufacture and its localities. Among these legends was that which ascribed to the furnace-fire the property of creating the monster called the Salamander. It was believed, too, that at certain times this wonderful being issued from his abode, and, as opportunity offered, carried back some victim to his fiery bed. The absence of workmen, who sometimes departed secretly for foreign lands, was always accounted for by the hypothesis that in some unguarded moment they had fallen a prey to the Salamander. Visitors, too, whose courage could sustain them, were directed to look through the bye-hole to the interior of the furnace, and no one failed to discover the monster coiled in his glowing bed, and glaring with fiery eyes upon the intruder, much to his discomfiture, and effectually as to his retreat. Some gallant knights, armedcap-a-pie, it is said, dared a combat with the fiery dragon, but always returned defeated; the important fact being doubtless then unknown or overlooked, that steel armor, being a rapid conductor of heat, would be likely to tempt a more ready approach of the fabled monster.
There was another current notion, that glass was as easily rendered malleable as brittle, but that the workmen concealed the art, and the life of any one attempting the discovery was surely forfeited. An ancient writer on glass, "Isidorus," states that, in the reign of Tiberius, an artist, banished from Rome on political considerations, in his retirement discovered the art of rendering glass malleable; he ventured to return to Rome, in hopes of procuring a remission of his sentence, and a reward for his invention; the glass-makers, supposing their interest to be at stake, employed so powerful an influence with the Emperor (who was made to believe that the value of gold might be diminished by the discovery), that he caused the artist to be beheaded, and his secret died with him. "Blancourt" relates that, as late as the time of Louis XIII., an inventor having presented to Cardinal Richelieu a specimen of malleable glass of his own manufacture, he was rewarded by a sentence of perpetual imprisonment, lest the "vested interest" of French glass manufacturers might be injured by the discovery. Even at the present day the error is a popular one, that if the art of making glass malleable were made known, it would have the effect of closing nearly all the existing glass-works; while the truth is, that quite the reverse would be the result. Whenever the art of making glass malleable is made known, it will assuredly multiply the manufacture to a tenfold degree.
It was formerly the custom for the workmen, in setting pots in the glass-furnace, to protect themselves from the heat by dressing in the skins of wild animals from head to foot; to this "outre" garb were added glass goggle-eyes, and thus the most hideous-looking monsters were readily presented to the eye. Show was then made of themselves in the neighborhood, to the infinite alarm of children, old women, and others. This always occurred, with other mysterious doings, on the occasion of setting the pot, or any other important movement attendant on the business. The ground was thus furnished for very much of the horriblediablerieconnected with the whole history of the manufacture.
A belief was long prevalent that glass drinking vessels, made under certain astronomical influences, would certainly fly to pieces if any poisonous liquid was placed in them; and sales of vessels of this kind were made at enormous prices. Another idea pervaded the community, that vessels of a certain form, made in a peculiar state of the atmosphere, and after midnight, would allow a pure diamond to pass directly through the bottom of the vessel. Various articles, such as colored goblets, were thought to add to the flavor of wine, and to detract materially from its intoxicating quality.
All these, and many other popular notions, added greatly to the mystery and renown of glass manufacturers. We close this number with an extract from "Howell's Familiar Letters." "Murano," says he, "a little island about one mile from Venice, is the place where crystal glass is made, and it is a rare sight to see whole streets where on one side there are twenty furnaces at work. They say here, that although one should transfer a furnace from Murano to Venice, or to any of the little assembled islands about here, or to any other part of the earth beside, to use the same materials, the same workmen, the same fuel, and the selfsame ingredients every way, yet they cannot make crystal glass in that perfection for beauty and lustre as at Murano. Some impute it to the circumambient air, which is purified and attenuated by the concurrence of so many fires, that are in these furnaces night and day perpetually, for they are like the vestal fires, never going out."
There is no manufacturing business carried on by man combining so many inherent contingencies, as that of the working of flint glass. There is none demanding more untiring vigilance on the part of the daily superintendent, or requiring so much ability and interest in the work. Unlike all other branches of labor, it is carried on by night and day, is governed by no motive power connected with steam or water, and has no analogy to the production of labor by looms or machinery.
The crude material of earth being used, each portion requires careful refining from natural impurities, and when compounded, being dependent upon combustion in the furnace for its completion, (which combustion is effected by change of the atmosphere beyond the power of man to direct, but exercises a power to affect the heat of the furnace acting for good or for evil,) much responsibility rests upon the furnace-tenders; constant care on their part is required. A slight neglect affects the quality of the glass. A check upon the furnace in founding-time will spoil every pot of metal for the best work. Overheat, too, will destroy the pots, and the entire weekly melt will be launched into the cave, at a loss of several thousand dollars. Even with the utmost care, a rush of air will not uncommonly pass through the furnace and destroy one or more pots in a minute's space. And when the furnace has yielded a full melt, and is ready for work, many evils are at hand, and among the ever-jarring materials of a glass-house, some one becomes adverse to a full week's work; vigilance is not always the price of success.
Again: no branch of mechanical labor possesses more of attraction for the eye of the stranger or the curious, than is to be witnessed in a glass-house in full play. The crowded and bee-like movements of the workmen, with irons and hot metal, yet each, like the spheres of his own orbit, presents a scene apparently of inextricable confusion.
It is a difficult task to describe the curious and interesting operations of the glass-blowers; for the present we may say, that there is no other employment so largely dependent upon steadiness of nerve and calm self-possession. The power of manipulation is the result of long experience. The business of the glass-blower is literally at his "fingers' ends." It is most interesting to witness the progress of his labor, from the first gathering of the liquid metal from the pot, and the passing it from hand to hand, until the shapeless and apparently uncontrollable mass is converted into some elegant article. Equally interesting is it to witness with what dexterity he commands, and with what entire ease he controls the melted mass; the care, also, with which he swings it with force just enough to give it the desired length, joins it to other pieces, or with shears cuts it with the same ease as paper. The whole process, indeed, is one filled with the most fascinating interest and power.
Of all the articles of glass manufacture, none command a greater degree of attention than the article called the salver, and no other develops so pleasing and surprising effects in its processes. When seen for the first time, the change from a shapeless mass, the force with which it flies open at the end of the process, changing in an instant into a perfect article, all combine to astonish and delight the beholder.
Mystery is as much a characteristic of the art now as at any former period; but it is a mystery unallied to superstition,—a mystery whose interpreter is science,—a mystery which, instead of repelling the curious and frightening the ignorant, now invites the inquiring and delights the unlearned.
By the following, we find that the romance of glass-making has not yet died out. We copy from the "Paris Annual of Scientific Discovery," for 1863, the following:—
"It would appear there is yet some secret in glass-making unknown to the world at large, as the manufactory of Mr. Daguet, of Soletere, France, is known to be in possession of an undivulged method, which enables them to make glass of a purity which all other manufacturers are not able to rival. A railway, recently constructed and running past Mr. Daguet's works, has so affected the glass-pots, by the tremor occasioned by the locomotives and trains, that work has had to be suspended. For this Mr. Daguet brought an action, during the past year, against the railway company for damages; but when the case came on for trial, the court held that it would be impossible to assess damages unless it were made cognizant of the secret, and its pecuniary advantage to Mr. Daguet. The latter declined imparting this, and the court refused to proceed further."
We have shown that glass, while it has contributed so largely to the material well-being of man, has also administered profusely to the pleasure of woman. The belle enjoys the reflection of her beauty in its silvered face,—a pleasure peculiarly her own, as we all know,—and if we may believe poesy, the mermaid, her rival of the coral groves in the fathomless ocean, looks with equal satisfaction upon her dubious form, as seen in her hand-mirror. And what would Cinderella be to the nursery without her glass slipper!
But leaving poetry to its own prolific devices, where would science find itself without the aid of glass? The astronomer's and chemist's vocation would be gone. Suns, planets, and stars would have no exact existence to us, and their laws be unknown. The seaman would blunder his way on the ocean, lucky if he guessed aright his course, and cursing his "stars," when he did not. In short, glass is the indispensable servant of science in almost all its forms, and where it does not discover it protects. Its loss would throw back the world into antediluvian ignorance, not to mention the countless eyes it would deprive of sight, of their intellectual food, and freedom of way.
The last number of our series of articles upon this highly interesting subject—interesting both as concerns the various features of the manufacture, and as indicative of the progress of the art in the successive ages of the world's history—closed the sketch of the rise and progress of the manufacture of flint glass. Our sketch has covered the ground so far as time would allow, from the introduction of the art into Egypt, through its transfer to Tyre and Sidon, and from thence, in its order, to Rome, Venice, France, and finally into England.
The reader will notice that this progress, like that of many others, is almost identical, for a time at least, with the gradual extension of conquest, and especially with this, as connected with the extension of the Roman sway.
We now reach the period of its introduction into the Western continent, and propose giving an outline of its gradual extension and characteristics in our own land.
Our opportunity of research as to the period of the introduction of glass manufacture into this country, induce the belief that the first effort was made some years before the American Revolution.
This attempt was by a company of Germans, who selected the town of Quincy, in this State, as the place in which to establish the manufacture.
We are acquainted with little beyond the fact, that such an attempt was made; their success, or the length of time during which they carried on the work, are matters equally beyond our knowledge. Some specimens of their articles still exist, showing mainly that they engaged in the manufacture of what is called black metal only; these also are of the rudest style of the art.
The place in Quincy in which their manufactory was established acquired the name from them of "Germantown," which name it retains to the present time. The site of their manufactory is now occupied, we believe, by the institution called "The Sailors' Snug Harbor."
A Connecticut paper states a patent was granted by that State, in 1747, for twenty years, to Thomas Darling, for the exclusive privilege of making glass. This Act appears to have become void, because of the patentee not fulfilling its conditions, and at various times after this special grants were made to others to introduce the manufacture of glass.
The Historical Society of Brooklyn, N.Y., has in their cabinet "a glass bottle, the first one manufactured at a glass-works started, in 1754, near the site of the present glass-works in State Street. This enterprise, we are informed, was brought to an untimely end for want of sand,—that is, the right kind of sand." From this we infer, it must be a flint-glass bottle, as the sand suitable for green or black glass abounds on their shore.
Shortly after the close of the Revolutionary struggle, we think about the year 1785, the late Robert Hewes, a well-known citizen of Boston, made, probably, the first attempt to establish a window-glass manufactory on this continent. This manufactory was modelled upon the German system. Mr. Hewes carried his works to the fuel, and erected his factory in the then forest of New Hampshire. The writer well remembers, when a boy, hearing Mr. Hewes relate, that when building his glass-works the tracks of bears were frequently seen in the morning in and around his works.
From the best information in our possession, we think that to Mr. Robert Hewes must be conceded the first attempt to establish window-glass making in the United States, or in the western world. The aim of Mr. Hewes was doubtless to supply the most important and necessary article made of glass, and called for by the immediate wants of the people, viz., window-glass. It ended, however, in disappointment to the projector, probably from the frequent error of carrying such works into the interior, to the vicinity of fuel, or from lack of skill on the part of the workmen.
This attempt was followed, about the year 1787, by Messrs. Whalley, Hunnewell, and their associates, and by the workmen Plumback and Cooper, who erected a large factory in Essex Street, Boston (where Edinboro' Street now is), for the purpose of making the Crown Window Glass. This was without success, until a German, of the name of Lint, arrived in the year 1803, and from this period there was great success in the manufacture, for the State of Massachusetts, to encourage the manufacture of window-glass, paid the proprietors a bounty on every table of glass made by them. This was done to counteract the effect of the bounty paid by England on the exportation of glass from that kingdom. The State bounty had the effect to encourage the proprietors and sustain their efforts, so that by perseverance many difficulties were overcome, and a well-earned reputation supported for the strength and clearness of their glass; a glass superior to the imported, and well known throughout the United States as "Boston Window-Glass." This reputation they steadily sustained, until they made glass in their new works at South Boston, in the year 1822. Their charter from the State was highly favorable to the stockholders; among the privileges it granted an exclusive right to manufacture for fifteen years, and to manufacture glass without their consent subjected the offender to a fine of five hundred dollars for each offence. Their capital was exempt from taxation for five years, and the workmen exempted from military duty.
From the founding of this establishment may be dated the founding of all the Crown and Cylinder, Window and Flint Glass-Works in the Atlantic States. Indeed, this may be considered the fruitful parent tree of the many branches now so widely spread abroad.
The wonderful mystery attached to the art of glass-making seems to have followed its introduction into this country. The glass-blower was considered a magician, and myriads visited the newly-erected works, and coming away with a somewhat improved idea of an unmentionable place and its occupants; and the man who could compound the materials to make glass was looked upon as an alchemist who could transmute base metal into pure gold.
The fame of the works spread into a neighboring State, and in 1810 or 1811 a company was formed in Utica, to establish glass-works in that place, and quite a number of workmen in the Essex Street Works were induced to leave their employ and break their indentures from the offer of increased wages; while, however, on their way, and just before they reached the State line, they, with the agent, were arrested, brought back, and expensive lawsuits incurred. The Utica Works were abandoned, and, we believe, never revived.
Subsequently another company was formed in New York, being influenced by a fallacious view of the silicious sand. This company erected their works at Sandy Lake, a locality abounding both in silex and fuel. A few years' trial convinced the proprietors the place was ill chosen, and, after the experience of heavy losses, it was abandoned.
A Doctor Adams, of Richmond, Virginia, made large offers of increased wages to the workmen of the Essex Street Works, who were then induced to abandon their place of work and violate their indentures. They succeeded in reaching Richmond to try their fortune under the auspices of the Doctor. A few years' experience convinced them of the fallacy of increased pay; for, after very heavy losses, the works were abandoned and the workmen thrown out of employ. The proprietors of the Essex Street Works had engaged workmen in the mean time, at a very heavy expense, from England—a most difficult task, for the English government made it a penal offence to entice workmen to leave the kingdom at that period.
In 1811 the proprietors of the Essex Street Works erected large and improved works on the shore at South Boston. To supply the workmen enticed away, and also to meet the wants of their factory, an agent was sent to England to procure a set of glass-workers. By the time they reached this country the war with England broke out, and the enterprise was thus defeated; for it became difficult to procure fuel and the various means for carrying on the Essex Street Works.