GLASS. 



•diamonJ or otlier liard ftonfs, and emery. 13. Receives 

 ^■17 colour or dye, both externally and internally, i^. Not 

 <ii(T'olvable by aquafortis, aqua-regia, or mercury. 15. Nei- 

 tli'r acid juices, nor any other matter, extraft either co- 

 lour, taile, or any other quality, from it. 16. It admits of 

 polilhing. .17. Neither lofcs of weight nor fubftance, by the 

 longed and mod frequent ufe. 1 8. Gives fufion to other me- 

 tals, and foftens them. 19. The mod phable thing in the 

 world, and that which bed rcta'ns the fadiion given it. 20. Not 

 capable of being calcined. 21. An open glafs, filled with 

 water in the fummer-time, will gath>'r drops of water on the 

 outfide ; jud fo far as the water on the i."fide reaches ; and a 

 man's breath blown upon it will manifeltly moiden it. 

 Z2. Little glafs balls, filled with water, mercury, and other 

 liquor, and thrown into the fire, asalfo drops of green glafs 

 broken, fly afunder, with a loud noife. 23. Neither wine, 

 beer, nor any other liquor, will make it mudy, nor change 

 its colour, nor rud it. 24. It may be cemented as dones and 

 metals. 25. A drinking-glafs, partly filled with water, 

 and rubbed on the brim with a wet finger, yields mufical 

 notes, hiflieror lower, as the glals is more or lefs full ; and 

 this makes the liquor frillc and leap. Sec A kmonica. For the 

 elef.rical properties of glafs, fee Electric, &c. 



Glass, origin nnd hijlory of. De Neri will have glafs as 

 ancient as Job ; for that writer, chap xxviii. ver. 17. fpeak- 

 ing of wifdom, fays, " gold and glafs cannot equal it." 



This, we are to obferve, is the reading cf the Septuagint, 

 Vulgate Latin, St. Jerom, Pineda, Sec. for in the Englidi 

 verfion, indead of glafs, we read cryjial ; and the fame is 

 done in the Chaldee, Arias Montanus, and the king of 

 -Spain's edition. In other verfions, &c. it is read Jlone ; in 

 others b:ryl : in the Italian, Spanifli, French, High and Low 

 Dutch, &c. diamond; in others, carbuncle; and in the Tar- 

 gum, looliing-glafs. 



In efleft, the original word is s chuchith, ( n'D''3' ) which 

 is derived from the root zacac, to purify, cJeaufe, Jlnnt, be while, 

 iranfparent : and the fame word (Exod. xxx. 34.) is applied 

 to frankincenfe ; and rendered in the Septuagint pellucid. 

 Hence the rcafon of fo many different renderings ; for the 

 word fignifying beautiful and tranfparent, in the general, the 

 tranflators were at liberty to apply it to whatever was valu- 

 able and tranfparent. 



Herodotus (1. iii.)is, according to Dr. Falconer (M;ni- 

 cheder Memoirs, vol. ii.), the mod ancient writer ( B. C. 440) 

 ■who ufed the word ^vxf-or, which is generally uno'erllood to 

 fignify glafs. But heevidcTitly does not mean artificial glafs, 

 iiorcrylial, but, moll probably, fomewhat ot thelalcky kind, 

 or lapis fpecularis, which might readily be framed in fuch a 

 manner, a» to form a convenient tranfparent cafe, fuch as the 

 ancient hidorian has defcribed. Aridophanes ( B. C. 400) 

 feems to be the next writer who mentions glafs : that poet, 

 in- his comedy called the Clouds, fcene I. atl. 2. vifes the 

 wotd hyahis, \i-jX^; which is now ordinarily rendered glafs. 

 He there introduces Strepfiades teaching Socrates a new way 

 •to pay old debts, -jia. "by placing a fair tranfparent ilone, 

 fold by the diuggids, from which the fire is druck, between 

 the fun and the writing, and fo melting away the letters there- 

 of." Thio done Socrates calls vjXo., which the Scholiad on 

 Aridophanes derives from ln-t, to rain, from the likcnefs it 

 bears to ice, which is rain, or water congealed ; though, it 

 mud be owned, the word u-^^oc is ambiguous, and fignifies 

 tiyjlal as well as glafs : and Gorraeus obferves, that the an- 

 cients had a kind of yellow amber, tranfpai-cnt as glafs, 

 called bv fome v:i\ar. 



Aridotle ( B. C. 340) has two problems upon glafs : the 

 fird. Why we fee thi-ough it ? The fecond. Why it is not 

 malleable ; If thefe problems be Aridotle's, which the learn- 

 VoL. XVI. 



ed doubt very much, this would properly be the earliefl tef- 

 timoriy in favour of the antiquity of glafs. Thcophraftu* 

 (B. C. 303) feems to have been well acciuaintcd with glafs ; 

 for he defcribes it as having been made of the f;ind of the 

 river liclus, v/hich was called vO.t , to which lie adds, that 

 the commoned kind.s arc made with copper. The celebrat- 

 ed fphere of Archimedes (B. C. 209). if it be truly dtfcribed. 

 is a remarkable inftance of the perfcclion to which tlic art of 

 making glafs had been brought at that early period. 



Lucian mentions largo drinking glaffes ; and Plutarch, m 

 his Sympofiacon, fay.f, that the fire of tamanfi< wood is the 

 fitted for making of glafs. 



Among the Latin writers, Lucretius ii the firft that tak.er> 

 notice of glafs ; " Nin recta foramina tranant, qualia (ur.t 

 vitri ;" lib. vi. v. 3. Dr. Merret, however, adds, that glafs 

 could not be unknown to the ancients, but that it mud needs 

 be as ancient as pottery itfelf, or the art of making bricks ; 

 for fcarcely can a kiln of bricks be burnt, or a batch of 

 pottery -ware be made, but fome of the bricks and ware vriU 

 be at lead fuperficially turned to glafs. 



Hence, Ferrant. Imperatu;, lib. xxv. cap. 7. " Glafs, 

 like the common kind, is found under ground, in places 

 where great fires have been. Other glades are found in round 

 clods, like fire-done, fome brittle, others firm, &c. This 

 foifil glafs is wrought by the Americans, and ufed iiidcad of 

 iron. And no doubt but vitrifications were more common in 

 the ancient bricks than they are in ours ; as thvy tempered their 

 earth two years together, and burnt them better. 



Virgil i.B.C. 39) compares the clearnefs of the water of the 

 Fucine lake to glafs. yEncid, v. 759. Horace (B. C. 36) is 

 moreexprefs, and mentions glafs in terms that fliew its clear- 

 nefs and brightnefs to have been brought to great perfettion. 

 Carm. iii. Od. 2. Od. 13 In the time of Strabo, ( A. D. 27) 

 the manufadure of glafs was undoubtedly well underdood, 

 and had become a coiiliderable :u-ticlc. Seneca (A. D. 65') 

 was not only well acquainted with glafs as a fubdance, but 

 alfo imderiiood its magnifying powers when formed into a 

 convex fhape. Qua^d. Natur. lib. iii. vi. 



Pliny (A.D 77) relates the inanner of the difcovery of 

 glafs. It was fird made of fand, according to tliat author, 

 (Nat. Hid. 1. xxxvi. c. 66, &c.) found in" the river Belus, 

 a imall river of Galilee, running from the foot of mount 

 Carmel, out of the lake Cendevia. The part of the (horc 

 where the fand was dug did not exceed 500 paces in extent, 

 and had been ufed many ages before for the fame purpofe. 

 The report of its diicovery was, that a merchant Ihip, laden 

 with nitre, or foflil alkali, being driven upon the coad, and 

 the crew going a(hore for provifions, and drcfllng their vic- 

 tuals upon the fliore, made ufe of fome pieces of foffil alkali 

 to fupport their kettles. By thefe means a vitrification of 

 the fand beneath the fire was produced, which afforded a 

 hint for the manufatlure. In procefs of time the calx 

 of iron, in form of the magnetical done, came to be ufed 

 along with the ioffil alkali, from an idea of its not only con- 

 taining iron, but gluts, in a liquid form. Clear pebbles, 

 fliells, and fodil fand, were alfo in many places employe<l 

 for the fame purpofe. It is faid, that in India pieces of 

 native crydal were ufed for that purpofe; and on that 

 account the Indian glafs was preferred to any other. 

 Phny adds, that light and dry woods were ufed for the melt- 

 ing of glafs ; to which tliey added copper from the iflanj 

 of Cyprus, and the foffi! alkali, et'pccially th.it whitii ii 

 brought from the Ead ludies. 'fhe furraces arc kept 

 bnrniMg without intermifiion, that the copper may \v 

 melted with tlie glafs, and out of this coinpound arc made 

 maiTes Ota coarfe 'alack ifh colour. Thefe li:mp> jt mafFesarr 



tf f T-lS^!^ 



