GLASS.
Kizaz, . . . Aasn. Sheeshah, . . . Psits.
Vitro, Verre, . . . Fit. Steklo, . . . . Itus.
Kauch, . . . . Him). Vidrio ..... SP.
Vetro, IT KUnTiadi, . . . TAM.
Vitrum, LAT Addamoo, , . TEL.
Glass imported into India consists of sheet and plate glass, glass beads and false pearls, common bottles, and other ware. Between the years 1874-75 and 1879-80 the VallIC ranged from Ita. 28,07,405 in 1876-77, to Rs. 34,99,313 in 1875-76. The sheet and plate glass was valued at two to four lakbs, and the beads and false pearls at Its. 6,85,314 to Ila 9,69,595.
The basis of all glass is silica.and alkali, of which the former, in the shape of common sand, is to be inet with almost everywhere; the latter is to be had cheaply and in abundance in most parts of India. The secondary materials also, indirectly essential to the manufacture of the best quality of glass, natnely the fireclays used in the con struction of the furnac,es, aro abundant, and of very superior descriptions. Yet with all these advantages tbe natives do not appear to have advanced in the manufacture beyond tho first and very rudest stages; and although it is one which, if successfully prosecuted, would probably meet with very extended encouragement, the manu facture of the commonest bottles is not yet practised. The chief defects of the native manufacture are the use of too large a quantity of alkali; in fact, in some eases, it is so much in exces.s, that it might be tasted by applying the tongue to the article. The fault now remarked upon is probably connected with and caused by another, that of the tnaterial being. melted at too low a temperature and in too small bulk ; and these again probably arise from the use of au improper furnace and an unsuitable kind of fuel. The native furnace is usually a rule hole dug in the ground, coated with ferruginous clay, which tends to discolour the glasa, and the heat is raised by the use of bellows blast. Hence the tempera turo is confined to ono point of the masa, and is insufficiently diffused ; while the body of metal under fusion being small, and the dome and sides above ground being thin, the heat is dissipated from thein„. and never attains body and elevation sufficient to admit of the mass setting and purify ing itself, or of ita being freed from air-bubblos by tho addition of tbe proper proportion of ailica. Whitt is required is the preparation of the glans in larger quantities at a time, and with this view larger and more carefully constructed furnacea, the reverberating principle, to be heated by coal ; after this, that the proems should be attended to more scrupulously, and the materials mixed by weight, instead of being thrown together by measure, as is too conunonly the mac at present.
Country glass is usually made of dbobi's earth, a crude carbonate of soda, with a mixture of a little potaah and linie 60 to 70 parts, and yellowish white sand 30 to 40 parts, composed of small fragments of quartz, felspar, iron, and a trace of lime. In 100 parts, for good bottle glass of Europe, are needed sand 38, sulphate of soda 29, lime 11i, charcoal Sulphate of aoda only contains 45 per cent. of alkali, so that 29 parts contain 13 ; while the carbonate of soda obtained from dhobi's earth contains between 30 and 40 per cent. of alkali, according to which the alkali used by the native.s of India would be to that employed iu Europe in the proportion of 23 to 13.
The substances generally used by the natives in colouring glass aro iron, which gives green, brown, and black shades ; manganese for pink, ptuple, and black ; copper for blue, green, and deep red ; arsenic for white; and chromate of irou for a dull green. Bangles for the wrist are tbe chief articles now mule in India, and some of the colours in tho Bombay bazar are exquisite. The Chinese inanu facturea of porcelain, glass, and glazes, their carving and engraving of gents, Chinese agates, rock crystals, and ivory, excite the admiration of Europe, as also does tho Chinese and Japanese lacquer and varnish work.
The art of glass-making ia yet in its extreme infancy in the I'anjab. The glass sand occurs in the form of a whitish sand, mixed with an alkali, which efiloreaces naturally, It is there called reit ; that only of a good white colour makes glass, This substance is identical with the alkaline efllorescence which appears in many parts, and whose preaence is destructive to cultivation. "Wherever such au efflorescence occura over clean sandy soil, there is naturally formed a mixture of sand and alkali, which fuses into coarse lumps of bottle-greeu glass.
Glass Beads.
Kanch ke'rnanke, Irmo. I Munnie Tax.
Butirsaelut, . . MALAY. I l'UtsAIU, . . TEL.
Coloured glass beads are largely worn in India by several non-Aryan races. samong the curious examples of persistence in art, aro the Aggry beads which occur everywhere in Africa, and in many parts of Asia. They are considered to bo of Phsenician origin, but are still made tor the purpose of being bartered in Africa. They are usually large, not round but spindle-shaped, with alternate indented bands of miand blue, separated by a narrow white Enc.—Powell; "looker ;