A glass composition of the present invention relates to a multicomponent
oxide glass composition manufactured by melting glass raw materials,
which contains: 10 ppm or more of at least one type of a polyvalent
element; minimum valence cations of the polyvalent element in a ratio of
the minimum valence cation content to the total polyvalent element
content of 5 to 98% in mass ratio; and 0.01 to 2 .mu.l/g (0.degree. C., 1
atm) of helium.