A few weeks ago we diverted some readers and infuriated others by accounts of a glass inkpot which mysteriously split itself in half after ages of faithful service. One of the former class, apparently, now sends us a clipping from the "Daily Mail" relating a very similar ineiden Three unromantic and stern men of business were sitting round a glass: covered desk discussing important problems. Suddenly a sharp report sounded in the room. "A large ash tray of glass, weighing Iglb,, had cracked right across from one side to the other, No one was within three feet of it and nothing was touching it.
What caused the phenomenon? That was the question which went round the office, and many interesting explanations were' offered.
-One was that the glass table had retained its coo] temperature, and that while the bottom of the ash tray resting on it had, therefore, kept cold the top Krad absorbed the heat of the day, and in its desire to expand had about a strain which resulted in crack.
Dr. Chatley, if we remember rightly, explained that, in the making, the outside had cooled more quickly than the inside, thus contracting and causing pressure to which the glass eventually yielded. The really curious thing is, that this pressure should have been successfully endured for so many years before the crash came.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.