, and presented to the British
Museum in 1810.

The subterranean ruins of Herculaneum afforded many specimens of the
glass manufacture of the ancients: a great variety of phials and bottles
were found, and these were chiefly of an elongate shape, composed of
glass of unequal thickness, of a green color, and much heavier than
common glass; of these the four large cinerary urns in the British
Museum are very fine specimens. They are of an elegant round figure,
with covers, and two double handles, the formation of which must
convince persons capable of appreciating the difficulties which even
the modern glass-maker would have in executing similar handles, that the
ancients were well acquainted with the art of making round glass
vessels; although their knowledge appears to have been extremely limited
as respects the manufacture of square vessels, and more particularly of
oval, octagonal, or pentagonal forms. Among a great number of
lachrymatories and various other vessels in the British Museum, there is
a small square bottle with a handle, the rudeness of which sufficiently
bears out this opinion.

ANCIENT PICTURES OF GLASS.

A most singular art of forming pictures with colored glass seems to have
been practiced by the ancients, which consisted in laying together
fibres of glass of various colors, fitted to each other with the utmost
exactness, so that a section across the fibres represented the object to
be painted, and then cementing them into a homogeneous mass. In some
specimens of this art which were discovered about the middle of the 18th
century, the painting has on both sides a granular appearance, and seems
to have been formed in the manner of mosaic work; but the pieces are so
accurately united, that not even with the aid of a powerful magnifying
glass can the junctures be discovered. One plate, described by
Winckelmann, exhibits a Duck of various colors, the outlines of which
are sharp and well-defined, the colors pure and vivid, and a brilliant
effect is obtained by the artist having employed in some parts an
opaque, and in others a transparent glass. The picture seems to be
continued throughout the whole thickness of the specimen, as the reverse
corresponds in the minutest points to the face; so that, were it to be
cut transversely, the same picture of the Duck would be exhibited in
every section. It is conjectured that this curious process was the first
attempt of the ancients to preserve colors by fusing