JOURNAL 



O F 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY, 



AND 



THE ARTS. 



APRIL 1800. 



ARTICLE I. 



On the Antiquity of the Art of Etching on Glafs. By Mr. Fred. Accvm. 



jL/OOKING over a parcel of old foreign newfpapers, I was not a litde furprifed to ob-> 

 fcrve that the art of etching on glafs had been known and praftifed amongft our anceftors 

 upwards of a century ago. 



In order that every one may judge for himfelf, whether this difcovery belongs exclufively 

 to Scheele, the Swedifti chemift, I (hall tranfcribe an advertifement infertcd in an old 

 German periodical publication*, which is likcwife copied into Beckman's Colle£lions 

 towards a Hiftory of Inventions. The original advertifement, literally tranflated, runs 

 thus : " The difcovery of a foiverful acid-, by means of ivhich every imaginable kind of figures 

 " may eafily be etched upon glafs. 



" Take fpiritus nitri per deftillationem, put it into a retort, and apply a ftrdng heat. 

 *' When' it has paffed over into tiie receiver, throw into it fome powdered green Bohemian 

 " emerald (which, when heated, fliines in the dark), otherwife called hefphorus. This 

 " being done, place the receiver, containing the mixture, on a heated fand-bath, for about 

 *' four-and-twenty hours, and it *ill be fit for the purpofe. To ufe this corrofiye acid, 



* Breila>yer's CoUeftions for the yeari7t5; January. This receipt is likewlfe infertedhy Kruuit* in 

 ^lis Economical Encyclopedy, XI. p. 678. 



Vol.. IV.—Aprii. 1800. B "take 



