the temperature of the air surrounding the glass be considerably
increased. For this purpose the samples of glass are exposed to a
current of air saturated with moisture at a temperature of about 80°
C. in a specially arranged incubator for one or more days, means being
provided for securing a constant stream of moist air during the whole
time. On examining the glass surfaces after this exposure--any wiping
or other cleaning of the surfaces being avoided--various qualities
of glass are found to show widely varying appearances. The best and
most stable glasses remain entirely unaffected; less stable kinds show
small specks, which merge into a generally dulled surface in unstable
kinds. There is no doubt that this test gives a sharp classification
of glasses, but it yet remains to be proved that this classification
agrees with their true relative durability in practice; the writer
is inclined to doubt whether this is really the case, since certain
glasses that have proved very satisfactory in this respect in practical
use all over the world were classed among the less stable kinds by this
test.
Before leaving the subject of the chemical behaviour of glass, a
reference should be made to the changes which glass undergoes when
acted upon by light and other radiations. Under the influence of
prolonged exposure to strong light, particularly to sunlight, and
still more so to ultra-violet light, or the light of the sun at high
altitudes, practically all kinds of glass undergo changes which
generally take the form of changes of colour. Glasses containing
manganese especially are apt to assume a purple or brown tinge under
such circumstances, although the powerful action of radium radiations
is capable of producing similar discoloration in glasses free from
manganese. Apart from these latter effects, of which very little is
known as yet, there can be no doubt that the action of light brings
about chemical changes within the glass, but it is by no means easy
to ascertain the true nature of these changes, although they most
probably consist in a transfer of oxygen from one to another of the
oxides present in the glass. Although it has not been definitely
proved, it seems very unlikely that the glass either loses or gains
in any constituent during these changes. Good examples of the changes
undergone by glass under the action of sunlight are frequently found
in skylights, where the oldest panes sometimes show a decided purple
tint which they did not possess when first put in place. The glass
spheres of the instruments used for obtaining records of the duration
of sunshine at meteorological stations also show signs of the changes
due to light--the glass of these spheres when new has a light greenish
tint, but after prolonged use the colour changes to a decided yellow.
The coloured glass in stained-glass windows also shows signs of having
undergone changes of tint in consequence of prolonged exposure to
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