Glasgow and its Clubs (Glasgow, 1864); Reid (“Senex”), Old Glasgow
(Glasgow, 1864); A. Macgeorge, Old Glasgow (Glasgow, 1888);
Deas, The River Clyde (Glasgow, 1881); Gale, Loch Katrine Waterworks
(Glasgow, 1883); Mason, Public and Private Libraries of
Glasgow (Glasgow, 1885); J. Nicol, Vital, Social and Economic
Statistics of Glasgow (1881); J. B. Russell, Life in One Room (Glasgow,
1888); Ticketed Houses (Glasgow, 1889); T. Somerville, George
Square (Glasgow, 1891); J. A. Kilpatrick, Literary Landmarks of
Glasgow (Glasgow, 1898); J. K. M‘Dowall, People’s History of
Glasgow (Glasgow, 1899); Sir J. Bell and J. Paton, Glasgow: Its
Municipal Organization and Administration (Glasgow, 1896); Sir
D. Richmond, Notes on Municipal Work (Glasgow, 1899); J. M.
Lang, Glasgow and the Barony (Glasgow, 1895); Old Glasgow (Glasgow,
1896); J. H. Muir, Glasgow in 1901.
GLASITES, or Sandemanians,[1] a Christian sect, founded in
Scotland by John Glas (q.v.). It spread into England and
America, but is now practically extinct. Glas dissented from
the Westminster Confession only in his views as to the spiritual
nature of the church and the functions of the civil magistrate.
But his son-in-law Robert Sandeman added a distinctive doctrine
as to the nature of faith which is thus stated on his tombstone:
“That the bare death of Jesus Christ without a thought or
deed on the part of man, is sufficient to present the chief of sinners
spotless before God.” In a series of letters to James Hervey,
the author of Theron and Aspasia, he maintained that justifying
faith is a simple assent to the divine testimony concerning
Jesus Christ, differing in no way in its character from belief in any
ordinary testimony. In their practice the Glasite churches aimed
at a strict conformity with the primitive type of Christianity
as understood by them. Each congregation had a plurality of
elders, pastors or bishops, who were chosen according to what
were believed to be the instructions of Paul, without regard to
previous education or present occupation, and who enjoy a
perfect equality in office. To have been married a second time
disqualified for ordination, or for continued tenure of the office
of bishop. In all the action of the church unanimity was
considered to be necessary; if any member differed in opinion from
the rest, he must either surrender his judgment to that of the
church, or be shut out from its communion. To join in prayer
with any one not a member of the denomination was regarded
as unlawful, and even to eat or drink with one who had been
excommunicated was held to be wrong. The Lord’s Supper
was observed weekly; and between forenoon and afternoon
service every Sunday a love feast was held at which every
member was required to be present. Mutual exhortation was
practised at all the meetings for divine service, when any member
who had the gift of speech (χάρισμα) was allowed to speak.
The practice of washing one another’s feet was at one time
observed; and it was for a long time customary for each brother
and sister to receive new members, on admission, with a holy
kiss. “Things strangled” and “blood” were rigorously
abstained from; the lot was regarded as sacred; the accumulation
of wealth they held to be unscriptural and improper, and each
member considered his property as liable to be called upon
at any time to meet the wants of the poor and the necessities
of the church. Churches of this order were founded in Paisley,
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leith, Arbroath, Montrose, Aberdeen,
Dunkeld, Cupar, Galashiels, Liverpool and London, where
Michael Faraday was long an elder. Their exclusiveness
in practice, neglect of education for the ministry, and the
antinomian tendency of their doctrine contributed to their
dissolution. Many Glasites joined the general body of Scottish
Congregationalists, and the sect may now be considered extinct.
The last of the Sandemanian churches in America ceased to
exist in 1890.
See James Ross, History of Congregational Independency in Scotland (Glasgow, 1900). (D. Mn.)
GLASS (O.E. glæs, cf. Ger. Glas, perhaps derived from an old
Teutonic root gla-, a variant of glo-, having the general sense of
shining, cf. “glare,” “glow”), a hard substance, usually
transparent or translucent, which from a fluid condition at a high
temperature has passed to a solid condition with sufficient
rapidity to prevent the formation of visible crystals. There
are many varieties of glass differing widely in chemical
composition and in physical qualities. Most varieties, however,
have certain qualities in common. They pass through a viscous
stage in cooling from a state of fluidity; they develop effects
of colour when the glass mixtures are fused with certain metallic
oxides; they are, when cold, bad conductors both of electricity
and heat, they are easily fractured by a blow or shock and show a
conchoidal fracture; they are but slightly affected by ordinary
solvents, but are readily attacked by hydrofluoric acid.
The structure of glass has been the subject of repeated investigations. The theory most widely accepted at present is that glass is a quickly solidified solution, in which silica, silicates, borates, phosphates and aluminates may be either solvents or solutes, and metallic oxides and metals may be held either in solution or in suspension. Long experience has fixed the mixtures, so far as ordinary furnace temperatures are concerned, which produce the varieties of glass in common use. The essential materials of which these mixtures are made are, for English flint glass, sand, carbonate of potash and red lead; for plate and sheet glass, sand, carbonate or sulphate of soda and carbonate of lime; and for Bohemian glass, sand, carbonate of potash and carbonate of lime. It is convenient to treat these glasses as “normal” glasses, but they are in reality mixtures of silicates, and cannot rightly be regarded as definite chemical compounds or represented by definite chemical formulae.
The knowledge of the chemistry of glass-making has been considerably widened by Dr F. O. Schott’s experiments at the Jena glass-works. The commercial success of these works has demonstrated the value of pure science to manufactures.
The recent large increase in the number of varieties of glass has been chiefly due to developments in the manufacture of optical glass. Glasses possessing special qualities have been required, and have been supplied by the introduction of new combinations of materials. The range of the specific gravity of glasses from 2.5 to 5.0 illustrates the effect of modified compositions. In the same way glass can be rendered more or less fusible, and its stability can be increased both in relation to extremes of temperature and to the chemical action of solvents.
The fluidity of glass at a high temperature renders possible the processes of ladelling, pouring, casting and stirring. A mass of glass in a viscous state can be rolled with an iron roller like dough; can be rendered hollow by the pressure of the human breath or by compressed air; can be forced by air pressure, or by a mechanically driven plunger, to take the shape and impression of a mould; and can be almost indefinitely extended as solid rod or as hollow tube. So extensible is viscous glass that it can be drawn out into a filament sufficiently fine and elastic to be woven into a fabric.
Glasses are generally transparent but may be translucent or opaque. Semi-opacity due to crystallization may be induced in many glasses by maintaining them for a long period at a temperature just insufficient to cause fusion. In this way is produced the crystalline, devitrified material, known as Réaumur’s porcelain. Semi-opacity and opacity are usually produced by the addition to the glass-mixtures of materials which will remain in suspension in the glass, such as oxide of tin, oxide of arsenic, phosphate of lime, cryolite or a mixture of felspar and fluorspar.
Little is known about the actual cause of colour in glass beyond the fact that certain materials added to and melted with certain glass-mixtures will in favourable circumstances produce effects of colour. The colouring agents are generally metallic oxides. The same oxide may produce different colours with different glass-mixtures, and different oxides of the same metal may produce different colours. The purple-blue of cobalt, the chrome green or yellow of chromium, the dichroic canary-colour of uranium and the violet of manganese, are constant. Ferrous oxide produces an olive green or a pale blue according to the glass with which it is mixed. Ferric oxide gives a yellow colour, but requires the presence of an oxidizing agent to prevent
- ↑ The name Glasites or Glassites was generally used in Scotland; in England and America the name Sandemanians was more common.
