Five black arts : a popular account of the history, processes of manufacture, and uses of printing, pottery, glass, gas-light, iron. by Coggeshall William Turner 1824-1867

Author:Coggeshall, William Turner, 1824-1867
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Printing -- History, Pottery -- History, Porcelain -- History, Glass manufacture -- History, Iron industry and trade -- History, Gas manufacture and works -- History
Publisher: Columbus : Follett, Foster and Company
Published: 1861-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

of Titiis (a.d. 79). A plate of glass also found there has occasioned much speculation as to its uses. Similar plates, to which Pliny gives the name of vitrece camerce^ seem to have been employed, in a manner not very well understood by us, as paneling for their rooms. It is disputed whether or not glass was used in llerculaneum for windows.

Dion Cassius and Petronius Arbiter concur in their account of the discovery of malleable or ductile glass by a celebrated Roman architect, whose success in the restoration to its position of a portico which leaned to one side had roused the envy and jealousy of Tiberius, and occasioned his banishment from Rome. Thiiikirjg that his discovery would disarm the emperor's wrath, the artist appeared before him bearing a glass vessel, which he dashed upon the ground. Notwithstanding the violence of the blow, it was merely dimpled as if it had been brass. Taking a hammer from his breast, he then beat it out into its original shape; but instead of giving him the reward which he had expected, the emperor ordered the unfortunate artisan to be beheaded, remarking, that if his discovery were known, gold would soon be held of as little value as common clay. Tliis is probably another version of the story told by Pliny, of an artificer who made the same discovery, and whose workshop was demolished by those who had an interest in preventing the introduction of an ai tide which would lower the value of gold, silver, and brass. Although it might not be justifiable to give unqualified disbelief to these stories, yet the knowledge we at present possess would restrict the possibility of such a discovery within the narrowest limits. The union of the properties of malleability and vitrification seems to be incompatible. Some metallic substances, by the application of intense heat, are reduced to the state of glass, but at the same time lose their malleability ; which fact would seem to imply that it is impossible to communicate the latter property to glass. The extraordinary stories above mentioned have, however, been rationally enough explained by modern chemists. It has been observed by Kunckel, that a composition having a glossy appearance, and sufficiently pliant to be wrought by the hammer, may be formed: and by Neumann, that, in the fusion of muriate of silver, a kind of glass is formed, which may be shaped or beaten into different figures,

Kud may be pronounced in some degree ductile. Blancourt,

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