164 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



be washed and placed on sale. It is that of brushing. The brush 

 is made of spun glass, and is applied in the form of a wheel as a 

 burnisher. Those who have seen gilt used in china-painting will 

 recall the pencils of spun glass with which the gilding is bur- 

 nished after being fired. The rapidly revolving brush of glass 

 cleans out the cuttings more perfectly than could be done in any 

 other way, and adds the final luster to the facets. The carafe is 

 now completed. Other articles are cut in much the same way, 

 slight modifications being made to suit different shapes and pat- 

 terns. 



At the present time very good copies of cut-glass articles are 

 made in pressed goods, and at about one twentieth of the cost ; 

 but the difference between the two products can readily be de- 

 tected. Not only are the pressed goods less brilliant, but the 

 edges of their facets are visibly rounded from the fusion, and fail 

 to give the sharp, clear faces of the genuine cut glass. One can 

 tell the fine article at once by simply rubbing his finger over the 

 cutting. The sharp edges of the genuine article are unmistaka- 

 ble. Another attempt to combine beauty and economy is made 

 by cutting some prominent feature of a pressed-glass article, and 

 letting the brilliancy thus obtained make amends for the duller 

 facets of the less exposed portions. In this way pressed-glass de- 

 canters are made quite presentable by being supplied with well- 

 cut stoppers, and covered dishes pass muster through the merit of 

 their brilliant knobs. Still another device is that of grinding off 

 the faces of pressed-glass goods, and thus securing, as the result of 

 a much cheaper process, the sharp edges and well -polished faces of 

 the real cut glass. The process, however, is not a very successful 

 one. It sounds better than it works out in practice. Wares 

 treated in this way have the serious defect of lacking brill- 

 iancy when compared to the air-blown glass and entire cutting. 

 They are now made in but small quantity, for they can not com- 

 pete in public estimation with the ordinary pressed goods, since 

 they cost about five times as much, and are far from being five 

 times as effective. 



In the most artistic circles there is at present a slight reaction 

 against cut glass in favor of the light and graceful articles made 

 in blown glass. But meanwhile the sale of cut glass grows larger 

 each year, for the improvements in the method of production 

 bring it within reach of an increasingly wide circle of buyers. 

 It promises to remain a standard article of manufacture, for its 

 brilliancy will always attract admirers, and any disappearance 

 will be but temporary. The old-fashioned chandeliers and cande- 

 labra, made with pendants of cut glass, are pushed out of the 

 market by newer metallic goods, only to periodically reappear 

 from their obscurity. 



