346 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



There is the preservation of custom and the growth of equity, which 

 is the function of the law, the courts, the Legislature ; and there is the 

 execution of the law, which is the function of the ruler and his assist- 

 ants. A superior civilization aids commerce by the establishment of 

 lighthouses, by improvements of rivers and harbors, constructs canals, 

 looks after the public health in the establishment of quarantine, pre- 

 vents the spread of infectious disease, provides cities with water and 

 sewers, seeks to insure education among its citizens, regulates and con- 

 trols the medium of exchange. The governments of civilization have 

 been progressive in these regards. This country now confronts the 

 problem of too great power in the hands of the wielders of transpor- 

 tation they thwart the first principles of our Government, and the 

 iron of their oppression has entered into the soul of our people. 



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BOHEMIAN GLASS. 



By Professor HEINPJCII SCHWAEZ. 



THE northern edge of Bohemia, which borders on Silesia, Saxony, 

 and Bavaria, is at once the principal seat of the German popula- 

 tion of the country and of its industrial activity. A person approach- 

 ing this border region from the interior will be struck at once with 

 the contrast between the stagnation of the Czech districts and the free- 

 dom and active enterprise of the Germans, under the impulse of which 

 a not very fertile soil has been made to support a dense population. 

 Besides the textile industries which profitably utilize the water-powers 

 of the mountainous region, and the large mining, metallurgical, and 

 chemical enterprises, the ceramic establishments, and the manufacto- 

 ries of stone-ware, porcelain, and glass, are prominent features of the 

 district. 



Notwithstanding numerous efforts, the quality of the famous Bo- 

 hemian art-glass has never been quite equaled anywhere else. The 

 principal seat of its production is in Northeastern Bohemia, where this 

 district is separated by the Riesengebirge from Silesia ; but, as the re- 

 sult of the active trade which has been carried on over that chain for 

 several centuries, branches of the manufacture have also spread into 

 the latter country. The exquisite products of the tTosep/tincnhutte at 

 Warmbrunn have long maintained a rivalry with the Bohemian wares, 

 and Frau Heckert's establishment in Petersdorrf can exhibit wonderful 

 specimens of luster and color, polish and etching, that might almost 

 make one imagine he had been transported into Aladdin's palace. 

 The bases of the manufacture are really the same on either side of the 

 range. The mountains furnish a pure quartz and a limestone of snowy 

 whiteness for raw materials, and the abundant woods, with which they 

 were clothed, formerly supplied the best of fuel to the furnaces, while 



