spicuous advantage, from the
point of view of literary presentation, of being to a great extent
incommunicable. As in the case of other delightful arts--such as
those treated of in the Badminton Library, for instance--the most
that can be done by writing is to indicate suitable methods and to
point out precautions which experience has shown to be necessary, and
which are not always obvious when the art is first approached. It is
not the object of this work to deal with the art of glass-blowing or
any other art after the manner befitting a complete treatise, in which
every form of practice is rightly included. On the contrary, it is my
wish to avoid the presentation of alternative methods.

I consider that the presentation of alternative methods would, for my
present purpose, be a positive disadvantage, for it would swell this
book to an outrageous size; and to beginners--I speak from
experience--too lavish a treatment acts rather by way of obscuring
the points to be aimed at than as a means of enlightenment. The
student often does not know which particular bit of advice to follow,
and obtains the erroneous idea that great art has to be brought to
bear to enable him to accomplish what is, after all, most likely a
perfectly simple and straightforward operation.

This being understood, it might perhaps be expected that I should
describe nothing but the very best methods for obtaining any proposed
result. Such, of course, has been my aim, but it is not likely that I
have succeeded in every case, or even in the majority of cases, for I
have confined myself to giving such directions as I know from my own
personal experience will, if properly carried out, lead to the result
claimed. In the few cases in which I have to refer to methods of
which I have no personal experience, I have endeavoured to give
references (usually taking the form of an acknowledgment), so that an
idea of their value may be formed. All methods not particularised may
be assumed by the reader to have come within my personal experience.

Sec. 2. Returning to glass-blowing, we may note that two forms of
glass-blowing are known in the arts, "Pot" blowing and "Table"
blowing. In the former case large quantities of fluid "metal"
(technical term for melted glass) are assumed to be available, and as
this is seldom the case in the laboratory, and as I have not yet felt
the want of such a supply, I shall deal only with "table" blowing.
Fortunately the