JOURNAL 



OF 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY, 



AND 



THE ARTS. 



AUGUST, 1804. 



W-:: ARTICLE I. 



On the Pajies, coloured GlaJJes, or Enamels, of the Ancients, 

 By M, Klaproth.* 



SECTION FIRST. 



JL HE invention ofglafs, which, in various refpeifls is fo highly Hlftory of the 

 valuable a produdlion of art, is among thofe ancient difcoveries '"^'^"''"^ ^^^ 

 of which hiftory has tranfmitted us fome account. Pliny re- pj^ny'g ^c- 

 Jates it as follows : f ** Faina eft, adpulfa nave niercatorum nzfri, count. 

 cum fparji per littus epulas pararent, nee ejfet cortinis attollendis 

 lapidum occafio, glebas nitri e nave fuhdidijfe. Quihm accenjis, 

 permixta arena litoris, tranjlucentes novi liquoris Jluxijfe vivos ; 

 et hancfuijfe originem vitri." If we fuppofe this account to be 

 merely an unfupported tradition, ftill it contains in itfelf no 

 ■ circumftance that might render it queftionable. It deferves 

 rather the more credit, as it is hardly poffible to imagine this 

 invention could have had any other origin than that of ac- 

 cident. 



* Read in the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin, 06lober 4, 

 1798. — ^Tranflated by N. N. who received a copy from th» author. 

 j t Lib. XXXVI. Cap. 65. 



I, Vol. VIII.— A^g VST, 1804. Q Though 



