GLASS AS A BUILDING MATERIAL. 579 



One objection which would be raised to the durability of a glass house, in 

 the literal sense of the words, might be that the blocks would not take a bind, or 

 adhere together with common mortar. This objection can be readily set aside by 

 the use of a good cement, and when completed the structure will stand for ages, 

 barring extraordinary accidents or mayhap cataclysm. As to the cost of a glass 

 house, it can be kept down to but a small percentage above the price of cut 

 granite, as there are many points where saving gains can be made. Thus, for in- 

 stance, in building with stone you have to pay the stone masons, and when it 

 comes to elaborate examples of carving, in Corinthian pillars, collars and capi- 

 tals, etc., why, the work is rather costly as compared with glass, when the latter 

 can be molded into any shape or form, and the work accomplished in much less 

 time. I am convinced that the time will come when we will see such a building 

 ■erected. Scarcely a day passes but what the sphere of glass as an article of use 

 ^becomes widened. 



In parts of Germany, and on one line in England, glass ties are being used on 

 railroads, and thus far have given satisfaction, combining all of the requisites of 

 wooden ties with the virtue of being susceptible to usage at least seventy-five per 

 cent longer than wood. Then by the Bastia process, glass articles are now being 

 made for common use which can be thrown on the floor and will rebound like a 

 rubber ball. Progress is also being made toward rendering glass, which has even 

 been characterized as "the brittle fabric", ductile, and to-day threads of glass 

 can be made that can be tied in knots and woven into cloth. Were one disposed 

 to give play to fancy, and fuse it into fact, a house entirely composed of glass 

 could be built with walls and roof and floors fashioned from melted sand. Car- 

 pets of glass could cover the floors, the wall decorations embodying the forms 

 and colors of the most ultra aesthete, sitting on glass chairs or reclining on glass 

 couches, arrayed in glass garments, eating and drinking from glass dishes, such 

 an one could realize that the age of glass had come. Yet nearly all of this, fifty 

 years ago, would have been classed with the then impossible telephone and electric 

 light, and this statement would have likely found its place in the catalogue " ex- 

 purgatorus." 



Much has been said about the inability of modern glass manufacturers to 

 make window glass imbued with the rich and beautiful colors peculiar to the 

 windows of old cathedrals in England and on the Continent. It is not generally 

 known, however, that the secret of securing those wondrous tints has been discov- 

 ered by one of our glass manufacturers. After a long series of experiments con- 

 ducted in conjunction with Mr. Thomas Garfield, of Boston, a cousin of the 

 martyr President, he has found that the rich effects in those old cathedral win- 

 dows are owing to the poorness of the quality of the glass. Owing to the imper- 

 fect mixing of the ingredients by the old glass-makers, the substance did not 

 unite closely, and in consequence it became porous, and the minute particles of 

 soda in the composition are exposed and act in the function of radiators, which 

 give brilliancy to the colors of the window. In making window glass in colors, 



