Chap. 65 ] THE ORIGIN OF GLASS. 3/9 



would have had the arches decorated with mosaics in glass, if 

 the use of them had been known ; or, at all events, if from the 

 walls of the Theatre of Scaurus, where it figured, as already'^ 

 stated, glass had by that time come to he used for the arched 

 roofs of apartments. It will be as well, therefore, to give 

 some account, also, of glass. 



CHAP. 65. (26.) THE OKIGIN OF GLASS. 



In Syria there is a region known as Phoenice," adjoining to 

 Judsea, and enclosing, between the lower ridges of Mount 

 Carmelus, a marshy district known by the name of Cendebia. 

 In this district, it is supposed, rises the river Belus,''^ which, 

 after a course of five miles, empties itself into the sea near the 

 colony of Ptolema'is. The tide of this river is sluggish, and 

 the water unwholesome to drink, but held sacred for the 

 observance of certain religious ceremonials. Full of slimy 

 deposits, and very deep, it is only at the reflux of the tide 

 that the river discloses its sands ; which, agitated by the 

 waves, separate themselves from their impurities, and so 

 become cleansed. It is generally thought that it is the 

 acridity of the sea-water that has this purgative effect upon 

 the sand, and that without this action no use could be made 

 of it. The shore upon which this sand is gathered is not 

 more than half a mile in extent ; and yet, for many ages, this 

 was the only spot that afforded the material for making glass. ^ 



The story is, that a ship, laden with nitre,'^ being moored 

 upon this spot, the merchants, while preparing their repast 

 upon the sea-shore, finding no stones at hand for supporting 

 their cauldrons, employed for the purpose some lumps of nitre 

 which they had taken from the vessel. Upon its being sub- 

 jected to the action of the fire, in combination with the sand 

 of the sea-shore, they beheld transparent streams flowing forth 

 of ajiquid hitherto unknown: this, it is said, was the origin 

 of glass.**" 



"6 In Chapter 24 of this Book. " See B. v. c. 17. 



"8 See B. V. c. 19. 



'9 A mineral alkali, Beckmann thinks ; for it could not possibly be our 

 saltpetre, he says. See B. xxxi. c. 46. 



s" Beckmann discredits this story, because sand, he says, is not so easily 

 brought to a state of fusion. Hist. Inv. Vol. II. p. 496. Bo/m's Edition. 



