[Illustration]

This vase is composed of two layers of glass, one over the other. The
lower is of a deep blue color, and the upper an opaque white, so that
the figures stand out in white on a deep blue background.

[Illustration]

The picture on it represents the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. The
woman seated, holding a serpent in her left hand, is Thetis, and the
man to whom she is giving her right hand is Peleus. The god in front
of Thetis is Neptune, and a Cupid hovers in the air above. On the
reverse side are Thetis and Peleus, and a goddess, all seated. At the
foot of the vase is a bust of Ganymede, and on each side of this in
the picture are copies of the masks on the handles.

Now I have shown you a few of the beautiful things that have been made
of glass, but there are very many other uses to which glass is applied
that have not even been alluded to. Steam engines, that work like real
ones, have been made of glass; palaces have been built of it; great
telescopes, by which the wonders of the heavens have been revealed,
owe their power to it; and, in fact, it would seem to us, to-day, as
if we could as well do without our iron as without our glass.




CARL.