56 REPORT—1863. 
joining district of the river Wear, where the quantity produced by Messrs. James 
Hartley and Co. alone is very nearly equal to the entire produce of the six extinct 
crown-glass manufactories on the river Tyne. The beautiful art of coloured glass, 
or what is termed stained glass, has been carried on most successfully for some 
years in Newcastle by Mr. William Wailes and others; and the tasteful designs 
and beautiful colouring of Mr. Wailes’s numerous works have given him a great 
celebrity throughout the kingdom. A great improvement has been made in this 
description of glass, inasmuch as exterior staining has been superseded by glass 
made of the required tint in the crucible of the manufacturer. The glass, there- 
fore, is not stained, but is inherently of its peculiar colour. This process of making 
coloured glass in the crucible has restored the art to its pristine state, for in such 
manner this glass was made by the old masters. By its means the brilliancy and 
durability of the old coloured glass has been obtained, and all the colours of anti- 
quity are produced by our modern manufacturers in greater brilliancy, ruby alone 
excepted. It is ascertained that there is something in the undulating and imper- 
fect surface of the glass of the fourteenth century which renders it more adapted 
to display intensity of colour than the more perfect glass of modern times. Hence 
the coloured-glass makers resort to the use of a glass, as the basis of their colour, 
which of itself is of the most rude and imperfect character. 
The manufacturers of window glass on the river Tyne have originated many 
improvements in the process. In 1817 Mr. Charles Attwood, of this town, made 
crown glass by using the insoluble part of kelp, separated by lixiviation from its 
saline ingredient, which he rejected, and in its place he used the carbonate of soda of 
commerce. The analytical examination of this insoluble portion of kelp was under- 
taken in 1829 by the employés of a large crown-glass manufacturer at South Shields, 
with the assistance of the late eminent Dr. Turner, of the London University; and, 
after a long series of experiments, most seriously impeded by the excise duty and 
regulations, it was discovered that kelp in any form might be safely abandoned, 
and that better results with a great saving could be obtained by the use of lime and 
carbonate of soda. The alkaline ingredient in plate glass was for many years 
obtained from the Barilla, from Alicant, or Teneriffe, and was superseded by an 
alkali prepared by Lord Dundonald, by the decomposition of common salt by car- 
bonate of potash—carbonate of soda and chloride of potassium being the results. 
The latter was separated by priority of crystallization; and, the remaining liquor 
being evaporated, carbonate of soda was obtained in a solid state, and was so used 
by the plate-glass maker. This process was used in England up to the year 1832, 
when it was discontinued at the Plate Glass Works at South Shields. Carbonate 
of soda of commerce, in a refined state, at less than half the price, was substituted, 
and its use has ‘become general throughout England, 
A New Form of Gas-Battery. By W. Symons, F.C.S. 
In Grove’s well-known gas-battery, as stated by the author, the greater part of 
the electrical action is developed at the line where the platinum, liquid, and gas 
come into contact; thus a very small portion of each platinum plate is efficiently 
employed. At the Glasgow Meeting of the Association, the author exhibited a 
battery of his construction, in which a much greater portion of the platinum was 
brought into action; but the battery now shown is far more compact and simple. 
The object is to render available the longest section of the platinum; thus, in using 
plates four inches long and half an inch wide, instead of having a line of action one 
inch long, by the arrangement now proposed the active portion will be two lines of 
eight inches each ; thus increasing it from one inch to sixteen. An arrangement is 
required to sere up the supply of gas, which is done by communicating with a 
reservoir through glass tubes, connected by india-rubber joints with each cell. Small 
siphons are also arranged to keep the liquid in each cell at a uniform level. 
On the Composition of some New Zealand Lignites. 
By Murray Tuomson, W.D., F.RS.E. 
In general appearance these lignites are more like common coal than any other 
samples of brown coal that the author has eyer seen, Some of them are compact 
