INGENUITY AND LUXURY 



about fathoming the secret, and, with persistence 

 characteristic of their race, succeeded. 



But cold modern science points out that glass could not 

 have been formed by either of these fantastic processes. 

 Neither the open fire of the Phoenicians nor the forest 

 fire of the Israelites would have produced sufficient heat 

 to fuse the materials into glass, even if they had been 

 present in the earth. Furthermore, the archaeologist 

 delving into the sacred vaults of ancient Egypt, brings 

 forth pieces of glass that were in existence hundreds, 

 perhaps thousands, of years before the time of the Phoe- 

 nician merchants of Pliny or the Israelites of Josephus. 

 And, as if in anticipation of some dispute as to the ques- 

 tion of their antiquity, some of these pieces of glass in 

 the forms of beads worn by a princess of an ancient 

 dynasty have the name of the royal wearer engraved 

 on each bead. It is certain that glass was in use in 

 Egypt six thousand years ago, and in Babylonia even 

 before that, but further than this it is all a matter of 

 conjecture. As to the manner of its discovery, the 

 most probable conjecture is that it was the result of 

 some accident in the making of brick or pottery, of 

 which art both the Egyptians and Babylonians were 

 masters. 



Such articles as glass beads and ornaments, and 

 very probably certain useful utensils, were made from 

 glass long before window glass was introduced. By 

 the time of the Greeks and Romans, glass-work of all 

 kinds, some of it extremely delicate and beautiful, 

 was in common use ; and it is by no means certain that 

 looking-glasses and window panes were not invented 



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