The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.294

v1.c10.294

Reference has already been made to the knowledge which the Hindus had of glass as a material for the fabrication of ornaments, but from a passage in the work above quoted, it appears that it was also used for drinking cups or tumblers, the physiological effect of drinking water from vessels of glass being described to be similar to that of vessels made of crystal.¹⁴¹ What this glass was made of, I cannot ascertain from any Sanskrit work, but according to the opinion of Pliny, already quoted (*ante* p. [ 101 ] ), it was made of pounded crystal, and was therefore superior to glass of all other countries. That this substance was the *lithia diaphanys* of the Greeks, there are many reasons to believe,¹⁴² and Mr. Vincent, the editor of Arrian, says, “that clear or flint glass assumed its name from *Gálg*, crystal, is still more apparent from a passage of Diodor, *Sic. Lib.* ii., p. 128, ed. Wessel, where mention is made of both sorts, the factitious and native, *Gelon*, as he writes it. The glass coffin of Alexander is called *Galing* by Strabo”.¹⁴³