XI 



GLASS AND GLASS-MAKING 



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"MIE making of glass originated in fairyland," 

 says a learned historian of art which is 

 a graceful way of admitting that the origin 

 of glass-making is unknown. But certainly this val- 

 uable discovery was made at the very dawn of civili- 

 zation. We cannot point to a definite "glass age" 

 as we can to a "stone age" or a "bronze age"; but 

 considering the manifold uses of glass we may be in- 

 clined to agree with the enthusiast who maintains that 

 the "glass age" is commensurate with civilization; 

 that without glass, indeed, there would be no advanced 

 modern civilization. 



At the present time it can be truthfully said that our 

 civilization is largely dependent upon the single form 

 of glass used for house-lighting. There could be no 

 great northern cities like New York, London, or 

 Berlin, without window panes. But the part played 

 by glass in other forms as an aid to science and mechan- 

 ics has been quite as important as in the field of light- 

 ing. It was the glass prism that enabled Newton to 

 discover the composition of light, and develop the 

 science of optics. Without this same prism the spec- 

 troscope would never have been invented that mar- 

 velous instrument which discovers a substance millions 



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