The Lost Arts

By the "Lost Arts," we understand "Tyrian Purple" (q.v.), "Damascus Steel," and "Malleable Glass." "Damascus Steel" refers to sword blades of the highest excellence, formerly made at Damascus, in Syria. They have been famous, ever since the time of the Crusades, for their beautifully watered and lined appearance, as well as for their fine temper, which enables them (according to mythical story), when skilfully handled, to cut through bars of iron as well as through the finest film floating in the air. It is said that a blade of this steel can be bent into a hoop and fly back to its original shape without injury. The secret of the manufacture is still unknown, but it is said that Russia has recently produced swords which equal the Damascus blades in beauty and temper. Sir Walter Scott, in "The Talisman" (Chap. xxvii.), contrasts the swords of Richard and Saladin. Richard's sword severed a bar of iron into two pieces as easily as a woodsman would cut a sapling with a hedging-bill. The scimitar of Saladin (marked with ten millions of meandering lines, which showed how anxiously the metal had been welded by the armorer) cut through a cushion of silk and down, and afterward a gossamer veil, so dexterously that both veil and cushion seemed rather to fall asunder than to be divided by violence.

On the subject of malleable glass nearly all of the scientific men of our day are very sceptical, and they claim that, in the true sense of the word, it is an utter impossibility. References to malleable glass may be found in the writings of the ancients. As early as the reign of Tiberius, an adventurer claimed to have invented malleable glass; in proof of his claim, he threw down a vase, which was only dented, and which he readjusted with a hammer; this invention is said to have been twice reproduced in modern times; once by an Italian at the court of Casimir, King of Poland. In the third century appeared the diatreta or bored vase, consisting of cups (poucla), having externally letters or net work in bold relief, which must have been hollowed out with a tool, involving great labor. One vase of this class, bearing the name of Maximianus (286-310 A. D.) fixes their age. The iridescence of ancient glass which has been unearthed at various periods, was produced by the action of the moisture of the earth in which it had lain for centuries. It is due to a process of decomposition of the glass by which minute scales were formed on its surface. Some beautiful specimens are exhibited in the museums of Europe. Nothing has ever been artificially produced in glass that approaches the gorgeous display of colors painted by Mother Earth.

The iridescent glass of to-day is produced by placing plain glass in an oven, into which certain acids are introduced; the fumes of the acids are deposited on the surface of the glass at a high temperature (almost melting point), producing permanent iridescence.