THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 63 



" porcelain " by the opaque body of the former, and the semi- 

 translucent body of the latter ; but as the history of both arts is so 

 intimately blended and they naturally result from each other, we shall 

 by noticing them together prevent confusion. 



Origin of Porcelain. — This kind of ware was known in China 

 B. C, but is believed to have been perfected about A. D. iooo. 

 Marco Polo describes it, in the 14th century, but it was only generally 

 introduced into Europe by the Portugeese, in the beginning of the 

 1 6th century, who called it porcellana, meaning "little pig." This 

 name had been given to the cowrie shell from the similarity of its 

 shape to the back of a little pig, hence when they saw this remark- 

 able pottery of white color, glazed like the surface of shells, they 

 gave it the same name, with the idea of conveying to their country- 

 men some notion of its beauty, or possibly from a persuasion that it 

 was made from such shells, but in fact from Kaolin. 



Kaolin. — Kaolin, or, as it is called in England, china or Cornish 

 clay, is the result of the natural decomposition of granitic rocks. When 

 used alone it is opaque, but is made translucent by the addition of 

 "petrunse" or "china-stone," containing much unchanged felspar, 

 known as "flux"; the felspar in the Kaolin having lost its alkali and 

 become converted into earth. It is somewhat curious to observe 

 that all the old potteries were in close proximity to rivers, and to 

 rivers more or less subject to periodical inundations — for example, 

 the Nile, the Euphrates, the rivers of Italy and Greece, and even the 

 Thames and Seine. Countless theories have been propounded and 

 hundreds of volumes written respecting the discoveries of pottery, but 

 it is only when we review a collection such as is in the Historical 

 Museum of fictile productions at Sevres, that an analysis of known 

 stages and gradations, affords a basis for a sound theory respecting 

 those early steps of advancement, concerning which we can obtain 

 little or no information in a definite form, and for which we must to a 

 great extent rely on conjectural evidence. The collection of Greek 

 and Etruscan vases in the British Museum, London, is not only a 

 history of these countries through their glorious epochs, but actual 

 scenes are depicted, which to the modern scholar are classified in the 

 world of myth. 



Ancient Vases. — The names of ancient vases, according to 

 Gerhard, were next given, and their forms and uses explained from 



