It is a difficult task to describe the curious and interesting operations of the glass-blowers; for the present we may say, that there is no other employment so largely dependent upon steadiness of nerve and calm self-possession. The power of manipulation is the result of long experience. The business of the glass-blower is literally at his "fingers' ends." It is most interesting to witness the progress of his labor, from the first gathering of the liquid metal from the pot, and the passing it from hand to hand, until the shapeless and apparently uncontrollable mass is converted into some elegant article. Equally interesting is it to witness with what dexterity he commands, and with what entire ease he controls the melted mass; the care, also, with which he swings it with force just enough to give it the desired length, joins it to other pieces, or with shears cuts it with the same ease as paper. The whole process, indeed, is one filled with the most fascinating interest and power.
Of all the articles of glass manufacture, none command a greater degree of attention than the article called the salver, and no other develops so pleasing and surprising effects in its processes. When seen for the first time, the change from a shapeless mass, the force with which it flies open at the end of the process, changing in an instant into a perfect article, all combine to astonish and delight the beholder.
Mystery is as much a characteristic of the art now as at any former period; but it is a mystery unallied to superstition,—a mystery whose interpreter is science,—a mystery which, instead of repelling the curious and frightening the ignorant, now invites the inquiring and delights the unlearned.
By the following, we find that the romance of glass-making has not yet died out. We copy from the "Paris Annual of Scientific Discovery," for 1863, the following:—
"It would appear there is yet some secret in glass-making unknown to the world at large, as the manufactory of Mr. Daguet, of Soletere, France, is known to be in possession of an undivulged method, which enables them to make glass of a purity which all other manufacturers are not able to rival. A railway, recently constructed and running past Mr. Daguet's works, has so affected the glass-pots, by the tremor occasioned by the locomotives and trains, that work has had to be suspended. For this Mr. Daguet brought an action, during the past year, against the railway company for damages; but when the case came on for trial, the court held that it would be impossible to assess damages unless it were made cognizant of the secret, and its pecuniary advantage to Mr. Daguet. The latter declined imparting this, and the court refused to proceed further."
We have shown that glass, while it has contributed so largely to the material well-being of man, has also administered profusely to the pleasure of woman. The belle enjoys the reflection of her beauty in its silvered face,—a pleasure peculiarly her own, as we all know,—and if we may believe poesy, the mermaid, her rival of the coral groves in the fathomless ocean, looks with equal satisfaction upon her dubious form, as seen in her hand-mirror. And what would Cinderella be to the nursery without her glass slipper!
But leaving poetry to its own prolific devices, where would science find itself without the aid of glass? The astronomer's and chemist's vocation would be gone. Suns, planets, and stars would have no exact existence to us, and their laws be unknown. The seaman would blunder his way on the ocean, lucky if he guessed aright his course, and cursing his "stars," when he did not. In short, glass is the indispensable servant of science in almost all its forms, and where it does not discover it protects. Its loss would throw back the world into antediluvian ignorance, not to mention the countless eyes it would deprive of sight, of their intellectual food, and freedom of way.
MANUFACTURE OF GLASS IN THE UNITED STATES, ETC.
The last number of our series of articles upon this highly interesting subject—interesting both as concerns the various features of the manufacture, and as indicative of the progress of the art in the successive ages of the world's history—closed the sketch of the rise and progress of the manufacture of flint glass. Our sketch has covered the ground so far as time would allow, from the introduction of the art into Egypt, through its transfer to Tyre and Sidon, and from thence, in its order, to Rome, Venice, France, and finally into England.
The reader will notice that this progress, like that of many others, is almost identical, for a time at least, with the gradual extension of conquest, and especially with this, as connected with the extension of the Roman sway.