The Penn's Grove Record

LOOKING GLASSES,

A Brief Chapter on the Origin of

Mirrors.

Any solid substance that can be

polished will, to a certain extent, answer for a mirror; and metallic "looking-

glasses" are frequently mentioned

in the Old Testament. Such looking-

glasses were made of mixed metal,

chiefly of copper, and were susceptible

of a lustre which Sir G. Wilkinson

says has been partially restored in

some of those discovered at Thebes,

though buried in the earth for many

centuries. They were round or oval,

and inserted in handles of metal, wood

or stone, whose form and ornamentation varied with the tastes of their

owners.

In the catacombs of ancient Rome,

mirrors have been found which appear

to be made of a mixture of bronze

and lead and tin, while others are of a

peculiar kind of stone supposed to be

vitrified lava.

Pliny mentions the rage for silver

mirrors as an evidence of Roman extravagance, and says every Roman girl

wanted one. Plutarch says that Demosthenes had a looking-glass-probably of silver and sufficiently large to

reflect his entire person-before which

he was accustomed to rehearse his

orations and arrange his gestures.

There were two serious objections

to metallic mirrors-their weight and

the fact that they were liable to distort the features of those looking into

them. The latter was, of course,

offensive to ancient beaux and belles,

and led to the substitution of metal of

obsidian, a black stone, "sometimes

transparent"-to quote again from

Pliny-"but of so dull a transparency

that, as a mirror, it renders the shadow

rather than the image of an object."

When the Spaniards discovered

America they found mirrors made of a

substance which they called the Inca's

stone, because it was used by the Peruvian princes for ornamental purposes. It was a sort of pyrites, susceptible of a high degree of polish and

excellently well-calculated for mirrors.

As the ancients were familiar with

glass, it seems strange that they were

not acquainted with mirrors made

therefrom. True, Aristotle, some 400

years B. C., wrote: "Glass and crystal

must be lined with a sheet of metal in

order to give back the image presented

to them." But most authors regard

glass mirrors a modern invention.

The first mention of glass mirrors-

after their present form-occurs in a

work on optics written by an English monk, Johannes Peckham, in 1219.

In it he speaks of glass mirrors, covered on the back with lead, that reflect no image if the lead is scraped

off.

And another careful investigator thinks the invention cannot date

from a period earlier than the middle

of the thirteenth century, because in

France, during the fourteenth century,

glass mirrors were scarce, while those

of metal were abundant.

The crusades, which did so much to

acquaint Western with the industries

and civilization of Eastern Europe,

was the direct cause of the introduction of the manufacture of glass into

Venice. For a long time, this was the

only place where glass was manufactured, and thither every country, desiring articles of glass, was compelled

to go or send. Venetian glass rapidly became famous, and its sale the

source of an immense revenue to the

Republic.

Naturally, Venice was anxious to secure to herself for the future so valuable a monopoly; and to this end,

through the "Council of the Ten," she

ordered the glass-makers to leave the

city proper, and establish themselves

at Murano, on an island a little distance northeast from Venice. Moreover, it was proclaimed that if a

workman should export anything that

might enable other countries to enter

into competition with Venice so far as

the making of glass was concerned-

his property would be confiscated and

himself liable to be put to death.

At Murano, glass mirrors were first

made after the manner suggested by

Aristotle-by placing a metallic sheet

back of the glass. The experiment did

not prove satisfactory, and metal mirrors remained in vogue till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when

two glass-makers of Murano discovered the method of making mirrors

which had for several years prevailed

in Germany.

The German process was as follows:

Melted lead or tin was blown with a

pipe into a hollow ball of glass, while

hot, thereby entirely coating its interior. When the glass had cooled, it

was cut into small, round mirrors.

The two Muranese improved on this

method by substituting an amalgam of

tin and quicksilver in place of the

metals used by the Germans. Then

they petitioned the "Council of the

Ten" that the right to manufacture

these mirrors be granted them exclusively for twenty-five years. The desired privilege was granted them for

twenty years.

Wonderful success attended the enterprise, and, when the twenty years

had expired, hundreds engaged in it.

Indeed, so numerous were the mirror

makers, the Venetian Government separated them from the other glass-

makers, and established a distinct company for their benefit.

Gradually, the manufacture of glass

mirrors advanced toward perfection,

and no one did more in this direction

than Liberale Motta, who flourished at

Murano about 1680, and "made them

of a size previously unattainable."