When Benjamin Franklin was still alive there was no other place to get extra-strong heat-resistant glassware suitable for chemical experimentation other than ob

When Benjamin Franklin was still alive there was no other place to get extra-strong heat-resistant glassware suitable for chemical experimentation other than obscure locations in what is now Germany, with their secret techniques developed over a period of centuries at the least. I would say it helps to start early. I really do get the idea that in pre-literate times some scientific progress was continued over many generations more impressively by lifetimes of hands-on incremental advances, rather than through documentation which could only be deciphered by the few, and utilized by even fewer.