ADVANCES IN 13th CENTURY GLASS MANUFACTURING AND THEIR EFFECT ON CHEMICAL PROGRESS

The technology of glass production is thought to have been known since ~2500 BC (1-3) and had become fairly advanced within the Roman Empire (4). At that time glass was widely used for blown vessels, pitchers, beakers, bowls, and other tableware, with such glass objects becoming as widespread as pottery (1-3,5). The use of glass for laboratory apparatus, however, was rather limited because of a lack of durability under rapid temperature changes and poor chemical resistance. For example, the combination of poor quality and the thick, irregular nature of the glass resulted in the frequent breaking of the vessels during distillation (6).