The name China, by which the ware that I am about to describe is known
in England, shows sufficiently the country from which we have received
it. The term porcelain, which is applied to it on the continent of
Europe, is Italian; _porcellana_ being in that language the name of
those univalve shells forming the genus _cypraea_ of the conchologist,
which have a high arched back like that of the hog (_porco_, Ital.),
and are remarkable for the white, smooth, vitreous glossiness of the
surface about the mouth of the shell, and sometimes, as in the common
cowry (_Cypraea moneta_), over the whole surface.

[3] By Mr. A. Aikin, in Trans. Soc. Arts.

The introduction of the Chinese porcelain soon excited a strong
desire in the various countries of Europe to imitate it; but as the
establishment of experimental manufactories for this purpose required
the expenditure of considerable sums, and at a risk beyond the means
of private persons, it is chiefly to the munificence of the sovereigns
of Europe that the public are indebted for the first steps made in
this interesting art. In Germany, chemists and mineralogists were set
to work; the latter to seek for the most appropriate raw materials,
and the former to purify and to combine them in the most advantageous
proportions. The French government adopted the very sensible plan of
instructing some of the Jesuit missionaries, who at that time had
penetrated to the court of China, and into most of the provinces
of that empire, to collect on the spot specimens of the materials
employed by the Chinese themselves, together with the particulars of
the process. The precise result thus obtained is not known; for as a
considerable rivalry existed between the different royal manufactories
of this ware, the most valuable information would of course be kept as