Op._, ed. Thévenot, 1693, p. 357; and Gelzer’s _S. J. Africanus_, 1880,
i. 13.
[77] In the _Deipnosophists_ of Athenæus a juggler is represented as
producing automatic fire, c. 16, e.
[78] Πίσσα καὶ δᾷδες καὶ ἄσβεστος _Corp. Script. Hist. Byzant._, Pt.
xxii. p. 537.
[79] Χύτρας τε ἀλλ’ οὗς ἀσβέστου πλήρης κ.τ.λ. “Tactics,” xix., § 54,
in _Meursii Op._, vi.
[80] Recipe 24 (see Chapter iv.).
[81] Nürnberg MS., in Romocki, i. 125, recipe, “ignis qui in pluvia.”
[82] Generally ascribed to Albert Groot, but much more probably by one
of his pupils. Berthelot, i. 91.
[83] Romocki, i. 154.
[84] Ib., 130.
[85] Cedrenus seems to convey that the manufacture of incendiaries was
the privilege of the Lampros family, but it was presumably carried
on in some Government establishment (ἐκ τούτου κατάγεται ἡ γενεὰ τοῦ
Λαμπροῦ, τοῦ νυνὶ τὸ πῦρ ἐντέχνως κατασκευάζοντος); ed. Bekker, Bonn,
1838, i. 765.
[86] Herr von Romocki was, I believe, the first to offer this
explanation.
[87] See p. 13, and Table II., col. _Liber Ignium_.
[88] Dr. Bury in Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall,” &c., vii. 540.
[89] Πῦρ τε διὰ τῶν σιφώνων τῷ ἀέρι φυσήσαντες, p. 536.
[90] Ἐμφυσᾶται ... λάβρῳ καὶ συνεχεῖ πνεύματι κἆθ’ οὕτως ὁμιλεῖ τῷ πρὸς
ἄκραν πυρί. “Alex.,” xiii. 3.
[91] “From the fir and such like evergreen trees may be prepared a
fiercely-burning mixture” (ἀπὸ τῆς πεύκης καὶ ἄλλων τινῶν τοιούτων
δένδρων ἀειθαλῶν συνάγεται δάκρυον εὔκαυστον). Ib. See Æneas’ mixture
in Table II. Anna’s recipe is intentionally incomplete.
[92] Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐθάδες ἦσαν τοιούτων σκευῶν ἢ πυρὸς, ἄνω μὲν φύσει τὴν
φορὰν ἔχοντος, πεμπομένου δ’ ἐφ’ ἃ βούλεται ὁ πέμπων κατά τε τὸ πρανὲς
πολλάκις καὶ ἐφ’ ἑκάτερα. “Alex.,” _l._ xi., _c._ 10.
[93] The earliest notice of steam, as a motive power, is found in
the _Pneumatica_ of Heron of Alexandria, _cir._ 130 B.C. No further
progress seems to have been made until the publication of the
_Pneumatica_ of Giambattista della Porta in 1601. Perkins’ steam-gun
was exhibited in 1824.
[94] Ἐχέτω δὲ πάντως τὸν σίφωνα κατὰ τὴν πρώραν ἔμπροσθεν χαλκῷ
ἠμφιεσμένον. “Tactics,” xix. § 6. There is no ambiguity about the word
ἠμφιεσμένον, which is commonly applied to clothing, _e.g._ ἄνθρωπον
ἐν μαλακοῖς ἱματίοις ἠμφιεσμένον = “a man clothed in soft raiment,”
Luke vii. 25. I mention this because it has been stated and restated
that the siphons were _made_ of bronze, instead of being “clothed” or
“cased” with bronze.
[95] Ἐσκευασμένον πῦρ ... διὰ τῶν σιφώνων πεμπόμενον. Ib., § 51.
[96] See p. 34 _n._
[97] Ὁι δὲ σίφωνες οἷς χρῶνται εἰς τοῖς εμπρησμοῖς κατασκευάζονται
οὕτως. “Spiritalia,” in _Vet. Mathemat. Op._, ed. Thévenot, p. 180.
[98] “Nullus usquam in publico sipho, nulla hama, nullum denique
instrumentum ad incendia;” _l._ x., _c._ 48, ed. Titze, p. 252.
[99] Ὄργανον ἐις πρόεσιν ὑδάτων ἐν τοῖς ἐμπρησμοῖς.
[100] Πρὸς δὲ τοὺς προσφερομένους πύργους εἰς τὸ τεῖχος, ἵνα ὦσι
στρεπτὰ μετὰ λαμπροῦ καὶ συφώνια καὶ χειροσύφωνα καὶ μαγγανικά. In
Meursii, Op. VI., 1349. In his “Lex. of Byzantine Greek” Sophocles
gives λαμπρόν = φῶς, πῦρ.
[101] Ἡ δὲ τζάγγρα τόξον μέν ἐστι βαρβαρικὸν καὶ Ἕλλησι παντελῶς
ἀγνοούμενον. “Alex.,” ii. _c._ 8.
[102] Ἐν ἑκάστῃ πρώρᾳ τῶν πλοίων διὰ χαλκῶν καὶ σιδήρων λεόντων καὶ
αλλοίων χερσαίων ζῴων κεφαλὰς, μετὰ στομάτων ἀνεῳγμένων, κατασκευάσας,
χρυσῷ τε περιστείλας αὐτά, ὡς ἐκ μόνης θέας φοβερὸν φαίνεσθαι, τὸ διὰ
τῶν στρεπτῶν κατὰ τῶν πολεμίων μέλλον ἀφίεσθαι πῦρ, διὰ τῶν στομάτων
αὐτῶν παρεσκεύασε διιέναι. “Alex.,” xi. 10. The obscurity in style of
both the Royal writers was no doubt intentional.
[103] Berthelot, _Revue des Deux Mondes_, Aug. 15, 1891, p. 800.
[104] American official “Hist. of the War of Rebellion,” ser. 1, vol.
xxviii. pt. 1, p. 33.
[105] “Greek Fire,” in “Ency. Brit.,” ninth ed.
[106] _Revue des Deux Mondes_, Aug. 15, 1891, p. 792.
[107] Webber’s “Metrical Romances.”
[108] _Liber Gardrobæ_ of Ed. I., in Tytler’s “Hist. of Scotland,” i.
181.
[109] Barbour’s “The Bruce,” bk. xvii., quoted by General R. Maclagan
in _Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal_, xlv. 30 _ff._
[110] Froissart, vol. i. pt. 2, _c._ 21, p. 332; _c._ 26, p. 337.
[111] Diedo, “Hist. of the Republic of Venise,” ii. 228 _ff._; Paruta,
_Storia della Guerra di Cipro_, 88 _ff._
[112] In Coleridge’s “Dict. of the Oldest Words in the English
Language.”
[113] State Papers, Dom. Series, iii. 353.
[114] See Table II.
[115] E. Pears, “Fall of Constantinople,” 1885, p. 211.
[116] “Hist of Greece,” iii. 492.
[117] “Voyages,” &c. Trans. par Baratier, 1734, _c._ 6, p. 50.
[118] “Struphnos ... turned into money not only the bolts and anchors
of the ships but their sails and rigging, and left the navy without a
single large ship” (ὁ Στρυφνός ... δεινότατος ὢν μὴ μόνον γόμφους καὶ
ἀγκύραις χρυσίου ἀλλάξασθαι ἀλλὰ καὶ λαίφεσιν ἐπιθέσθαι καὶ ἐξαργυρίσαι
πρότονα, ἀπαξάπαντος πλοίου μικροῦ τὰ νεώρια Ῥωμαίων ἐκένωσε). _Nicetæ
Hist._, “De Alex. Isaac. Ang. Fr.,” _l._ iii. p. 716. Sea-fire is not
actually mentioned, but the man who made away with the fittings of the
ships was not likely to spare the ammunition, if saleable.
[119] Ville-Hardouin, _La Conquête de Constantinople_, ed. Bouchon,
1891, p. 111.
[120] See p. 14.
[121] Οἴονται δέ τινες καὶ τηλεβόλους καὶ τηλεβολίσκους ὑπὸ Γερμανῶν
ἀρχὴν αποδεδειγμένους κ.τ.λ. Chalcocondyles, _Corp. Script. Hist.
Byzant._, ed. Niehbuhr, Bonn, 1843, _l._ ii. p. 72.
The tradition was widespread. Ariosto (1474-1533) says:—
“La macchina infernal ... Prima portata fu tra gli Alamanni.”
—_Orlando Furioso_, xi. 23.
[122] Δεινὸν γάρ τοι ὁ τηλεβολίσκος καὶ οὐδὲν τῶν ὅπλων ἀντέχει ὥστε μὴ
διαχωρεῖν διὰ πάντων καθικνούμενος. Ib., _l._ vii. p. 346.
[123] Herodotus, viii. 52, in his description of the taking of Athens
during the invasion of Xerxes, 480 B.C.
[124] Μετὰ βροντῆς καὶ καπνοῦ. Leo’s “Tactics,” xix. 51. See p. 38, and
Jähns, 515.
[125] “Dans notre opinion, les diverses compositions incendiares
employées par les Arabes et par les Grecs, antérieurement à l’année
1225, ne contiennent pas de salpêtre.”—Reinaud and Favé, _Journal
Asiatique_, Oct. 1849, p. 282.
[126] Paris MSS. 7156 and 7158, which may be dated 1300.
[127] These lines are attached by Berthelot to No. 6.
[128] I have inserted these two words from the Nürnberg MS. (Romocki,
i. 124), instead of the unmeaning “horatactinæ.”
[129] Berthelot reads “primo.”
[130] “Take” is here “accipe” instead of the “recipe” used in the nine
preceding recipes.
[131] Berthelot reads, “lauri.”
[132] Better, “in scrophulis contra lapides,” Berthelot’s reading.
[133] This is the reading of the Paris MS. 7156. Ptolemy is here spelt
as Chaucer spells it, _Tholome_; “Boece,” ii. 7.
[134] Probably a scribe’s blunder for _cynoglossi_.
[135] There seems to have been some _lacuna_ in a previous recipe.
[136] There is no Index to the original. The above has been made for
the convenience of the reader.
[137] i. _c._ 4. There is a marked similarity between certain numerals
to be found in Kyeser’s “Bellifortis,” 1405, and those used in the
Nürnberg MS. Romocki, i. 124, 150.
[138] See p. 16. He was born near Malaga.
[139] Berthelot, iii. 2.
[140] “Golden Prairies,” Paris ed., viii. 177.
[141] i. 128-132.
[142] Not a genuine Greek word, although used by Herodotus.
[143] Gibbon, vi. 103, Bury’s ed.
[144] Romocki, i. 7 _n._
[145] Reinaud and Favé, p. 49.
[146] Jähns, 512 _n._
[147] “Hist. Hierosol.,” _l._ vii. _c._ 33.
[148] _Hist. Rerum Anglicarum_, _l._ iv. _c._ 19. A work carried up to
the year 1198.
[149] In his summary of Masudi’s “Book of Indication and Admonition,”
appended to the “Golden Prairies,” Paris ed., ix. 311.
[150] Ib., i 198.
[151] “Tale of the Tailor,” i. 280, 285, Burton’s ed., 1894.
[152] “Archæologia,” xxxiv. 261.
[153] “Assyrian Discoveries,” p. 407.
[154] R. Grant, “Hist. of Physical Astronomy,” p. 435.
[155] Prof. Whitney, “Language and the Study of Language,” 1867, p. 259.
[156] Humboldt’s “Cosmos,” ii., pt. ii. p. 523, Bohn’s ed.
[157] Plutarch, “Alexander,” 35.
[158] Humboldt, ib.
[159] “Le mot χαλκος et le mot _æs_ en latin comprennaient à la fois le
cuivre et ses alliages colorés en rouge ou en jaune.”—Berthelot, ii.
122 _n._
[160] “Golden Prairies,” Paris ed., iii. 49.
[161] _Chrestomathie Arabe_, iii. 456.
[162] Berthelot, i. 306.
[163] Rāy’s “Hindu Chemistry,” p. 50.
[164] _Chrestomathie Arabe_, ii. 482.
[165] _Dict. Lat.-Hispanico_, 1570, but written half a century before.
[166] Minsheu, “Span.-English Dict.,” 1623.
[167] Mr. Fitzmaurice-Kelly, “Hist. of Spanish Literature,” p. 19. He
is speaking of the Crusade period.
[168] “Literature of Europe,” &c., _c._ ix. § 4.
[169] Berthelot, i. 232.
[170] Ib., i. 130, 135.
[171] Gibbon, vi 11, Bury’s ed.
[172] _Alexiad_, xi. 10.
[173] “Urbem machinis et propugnaculis munit (Alexius), quorum similia
nemo viderit unquam.”—Duchesne, _Hist. Franc. Script._, v. 279.
[174] “Ency. Brit.,” xv. 805.
[175] “The Golden Prairies” of Masudi, Paris, 1873, vii. 100.
[176] “J. Mesuæ ... Opera,” Venice, 1581, p. 85. Fabricius thought
this Greek physician might have been Gereon (_qui forte est Gereon_),
_Bibliotheca Græca_, Hamburg, 1718-52, xiii. 172. I cannot follow
MM. Reinaud and Favé and Herr von Romocki in identifying him with
Dioskorides. The evidence (from the description of the cyclamen and
the preparation of the syrup) seems to point the other way. The past
tense, _dixit_, in the passage in the text, would seem to show that
Ibn Serapion was dead when it was written. The present tense, _dicit_,
indicates similarly that “Græcus” was then living, a contemporary of
Masawyah’s. Yet Dutens speaks of his having lived “avant le médicin
arabe.”
[177] _L’Origine des Découvertes_, 1796, p. 198.
[178] _Bibliot. Græc._, xiii. 320. His _Bibliot. Latina_ contains no
allusion to Marcus Græcus. Galen died in 200 A.D.
[179] Guttmann, “Manufac. of Explosives,” 1895, i. 8-9.
[180] Recipes 1, 2, 10, &c.
[181] “Artem illam mortiferam et Deo odibilem balistariorum et
sagittariorum adversus Christianos et Catholicos exerceri de cetero sub
anathemate prohibemus.”—_Concil. Rom._, ann. 1139, _c._ 30.
[182] Caussin de Perceval, _Essai sur l’hist. des Arabes_, ii. 17.
[183] Muir’s “Life of Mahomet,” p. 432; Caussin de Perceval, iii. 257.
[184] Devout Moslem commentators explain “baked” to mean “baked in
hell.” See Sale’s trans. _ad loc._
[185] Masudi’s “Golden Prairies,” Paris ed., v. 166.
[186] “Chachnama,” in Elliot, i. 170.
[187] Ib., vi. 462.
[188] Masudi, ii. 350.
[189] See Burton’s note, “Arab. Nights,” xii. 38.
[190] I have been unable to find a copy of Gauttier’s “Arab. Nights,”
Paris, 1822, and quote him as given in Burton, xii 38.
[191] _Supplement aux Dictionaires Arabes_, Leyden, 1877, under قوس.
[192] _Dict. d’Etymologie Française_, Brussels, 1888.
[193] viii. 17-18.
[194] “Hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone
bow.”—“Wisdom of Solomon,” v. 22. “Oh for a stone bow, to hit him in
the eye!”—“Twelfth Night,” ii. 5.
[195] Sacy, _Chrestomathie Arabe_, iii. 68.
[196] “The Book of Archery,” London, 1840, p. 236.
[197] Burton’s ed., 1894, ii. 338.
[198] Burton’s ed., 1894, i. 98.
[199] Elliot, iii. 526.
[200] Elliot, vi. 219.
[201] “Decline and Fall,” &c., vi. 226 _n._
[202] In Elliot, vi. 455.
[203] Ib.
[204] Ib., 456.
[205] In Masudi’s “ Golden Prairies,” c. 93:—
وكثر الحريق والهدم ببغداد وعملت المنجنيقات نين القريقين
A large number of instances of the actual use of incendiaries in Asia
will be found in General Maclagan’s “Early Asiatic Fire Weapons,”
_Jour. Asiatic Soc. of Bengal_, xlv. p. 30 _ff._
[206] _Shahnama_, Mohl’s ed., vol. vi. p. 212, _l._ 628:—
همي قير و قروره انداحتند زدروازها جنك برساختبد
[207] Schefer, _Chrestomathie Persane_, i. 48-49.
[208] Reinaud and Favé, p. 65.
[209] William of Tyre, _Hist._, &c., Paris, 1844, p. 123.
[210] Bongars, _Gesta Dei per Francos_, p. 178.
[211] Albert d’Aix, in Reinaud and Favé, p. 62.
[212] Boha ed-Din, ib.
[213] T. Gale, _Hist. Anglicani Scriptores_, Oxford, 1687, ii. 327.
[214] Paris ed., 1668, p. 39 _ff._
[215] ii. 7. Milton uses the phrase, _nitrati pulveris igne_, in his
juvenile Latin poem, “In Quintum Novembris,” _l._ 120.
[216] See p. 17. He was a Spanish Arab, born near Malaga.
[217] Reinaud and Favé, p. 66 _n._ If this Arab is identical with
Shaykhun al-Omari, the Egyptian grand amir, he died in 758 A.H. (1356
A.D.). Sacy’s _Chrest. Arabe_, i. 272.
[218] Jähns, p. 775.
[219] See “Cannon at Cressy,” by the present writer, _Proceed. R. A.
Inst._, vol. xxvi.
[220] وعمل الحركة الى مدينة بسطة فاخذ فى حلفها ونشر الحرب عليها ورمى
بالالة العظمى المتحدة بالنفط كرة محماة طاقة البرج المنيع—_Bib. Arab.
Hispan._, ii. 7.
[221] “Ille castra movens, multo milite, hostium urbem Baza obsedit,
ubi machinam illam maximam naphta et globo instructam, admoto igne, in
munitam arcem cum strepitu explosit.”—Ib.
[222] Conde, p. 559.
[223] iii. 83-4.
[224] _Hist. du Roy Saint Loys_, Paris, 1668, p. 69 _ff._
[225] Elliot, ii. 219.
[226] Elliot, iii. 79.
[227] _Saxa fulminis more contorquet_, De Re Militari, iv. 22.
[228] Ὥσπερ πηηστήρ, Alex., xiii. 3.
[229] Reinaud and Favé, in _Journal Asiatique_, Oct. 1849, p. 281.
[230] وهم يستعملونه في اعمال النار المتصاعدة والمتحركة فيزيدها خفة
وسرعة التهاب.
Reinaud and Favé, p. 78. The fire which “rises and moves” is of course
rocket composition.
[231] _Völsunga Saga_, translated from the Icelandic by Magnusson and
William Morris, p. 51.
[232] Burton’s “Arab. Nights,” 1894, v. 242.
[233] Elliot, vi. 471 _n._
[234] _e.g._ the red-hot ploughshare wielded with much effect by Bailie
Nicol Jarvie at the Clachan of Aberfoyle.
[235] “Hindu Chemistry,” pp. 97-8.
[236] Given by Rāy, “Hindu Chemistry,” p. 96.
[237] See p. 15.
[238] Rāy’s “Hindu Chemistry,” p. 96.
[239] See Table VIII.
[240] See Table VII.
[241] Oct. 21, 1880.
[242] “Camoens,” &c., ii. 632 _n._
[243] “Indian Antiquary,” 1878.
[244] “Hindu Chemistry,” pp. 96-7.
[245] “Notices of Sanskrit MSS.,” v. 135.
[246] i. 36.
[247] “Decline and Fall,” &c., iv. 166, Bury’s ed.
[248] “Philosophie Positive,” vi. 114.
[249] _Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal_, xvii. 244.
[250] General Maclagan on “Early Asiatic Fire Weapons,” ib., xlv. 64.
[251] Among other books, the _De Naturis Rerum_ of Nekham, 1157-1217,
Rolls Series, p. 183.
The editor, Mr. Thomas Wright, remarks in his preface, xxxv.:—“The
mariner’s compass, in a rude form, was in use among the sailors in
Western Europe at an early period, and ... instead of being borrowed
from the East, as is generally supposed, it seems to have been invented
in this part of the world. Of course I do not mean to say that it
was not invented in other parts also.” It is explicitly noticed in
a Chinese Encyclopædia finished in A.D. 121 (Sir J. Davis, “The
Chinese,” &c., ii 185). But Chinese chronology is always suspicious,
and, even if this date be correct, there is no evidence to show that
the invention ever reached the West. The Chinese seem to have guarded
their discoveries and inventions with a jealous eye. Their valuable
and accurate astronomical observations were only laid open to Europe
by the Jesuits, more than two thousand years after they were made. The
printing press was not invented in Europe until the fifteenth century,
yet Feng Tao had invented block-printing in China in the tenth (Giles’
“Chinese Literature,” p. 210). According to their own account, the
Chinese have used tea since the year 2737 B.C. It was not heard of in
Europe until after A.D. 1517, and did not become generally known until
the seventeenth century. Brunetto Latini (1230-94), quoted by Davis,
gives a curious, but only too probable a reason for the slow progress
of the compass in Christendom: “No master mariner dares to use (it),
lest he should fall under the suspicion of being a magician.”
[252] Ferishta, “Hist. of the Rise of Mahomedan Power,” &c., trans. by
General J. Briggs, 1829, ii. 312.
[253] See Prof. Dowson’s note in Elliot, iv. 268.
[254] Grose gives two plates of these “Ancient Gun Carts” in his
“Military Antiquities,” i. 407. They are mentioned in the Acts of the
Scotch Parliament, 52 of James II. and 55 of James III.
[255] Favé, _Hist. et Tact. des Troit Armes_, p. 12. Grewenitz, _Traité
de l’Organ., &c., de l’Artillerie_, p. 28. Wheeled gun-carriages were
so little known to the general public as late as 1548, that Rabelais
specially mentions some “pieces d’Artillerie sus roue” in his account
of a sham fight at Rome in this year. “La Sciomachie,” in his works,
ed. by Burgaud des Marets and Rathery, ii. 568.
[256] Elliot, iv. 100.
[257] Elliot, iv. 117.
[258] iv. 65.
[259] “Nullis bombardis nec aliis hujus generis tormentis utuntur.”
_Epist. Indicæ_, M. Gaapari Belgæ, p. 38.
[260] iv. 69.
[261] “Hũa espingarda a quai hia tirando amte nos.” Roteiro da Viagem,
&c., 1838, p. 57. Trans. in Charton, _Voyageurs Anciens_, &c., iii. 247.
[262] “Tous armés d’épées, de guisarmes, d’écus, d’arcs et de flèches.”
Charton, ib., 252. Guisarmes, which I have translated by “daggers,”
is a word of obscure origin, but it means some small _arme de main_.
We find in Ducange, under _gisarma_, “cultellos et alia arma minuta.”
Diez, _Etymologisches Wörterbuch_, ii. 217, _giusarma_.
[263] Faria y Sousa, trans. by Capt J. Stephens, 1695, i. 58.
[264] Faria y Sousa, _Asia Portuguesa_, i. 48.
[265] “Car les peuples de l’Inde n’avaient en jusque là ni canons ni
autres pièce d’Artillerie—مدافع صكاحل وبندقيات.” _La Foudre du Yemen_,
trans. by S. de Sacy in _Notices el Extraits des MSS. de l’Acad. des
Inscriptions, &c._, iv. 420. For _mukáhal_, see Hyde’s _Syntagma
Dissertationum_, 1767, ii. 128. Prof. S. Lane-Poole gives the date as
1508; “Mediæval India,” p. 176.
[266] Ziau-d Din Barni, in Elliot, iii. 146.
[267] Amir Khusru, ib., 75.
[268] Barni, ib., 202.
[269] Khusru, ib., 80.
[270] “Malfuzat-i Timuri,” ib., 424.
[271] “Tuzak-i Babari,” ib., iv. 276.
[272] Ib., 286.
[273] Ib., 251 _ff._
[274] Suraj Prakas, in Col. Tod’s “Annals of Rajast’han,” ii. 8.
[275] Ib., i. 310.
[276] Dr. Careri in Churchill’s “Collection of Voyages,” 1744, iv. 237.
[277] Elliot, v. 131-2. Babar’s ironical description of the Bengalis
as gunners is taken quite seriously by some writers: “The Bengalis are
famous for their skill in Artillery.... They do not direct their fire
against a particular point, but discharge at random,” Elliot, iv. 285.
Such a procedure is not altogether unknown in Europe. When shooting,
Mr. Tracy Tupman was wont to shut his eyes firmly and fire in the air.
Were these gunners friendly Bengalis employed by Babar, or hostile
Bengalis working their own guns? If the latter, their guns were
probably made by Portuguese deserters. We know that two artisans
deserted in 1503 to the Zamorin of Calicut, for whom they offered to
make guns of the same nature as the Portuguese, “which they afterwards
did.” Castenheda in Kerr’s “Collection of Voyages,” ii. 454, quoted in
Elliot, vi. 467.
[278] The 71 grs. avoir. given to the _miskal_ by Burton and Clarke
(“Persian Handbook”) would make Babar’s large shot weigh 50 lbs.—an
impossible weight, as every officer will admit who remembers our 18
Pr. S.B. bullock batteries in India. Babar could not have dragged 50
Prs. from Caubul to Panipat. Burton admits that the miskal “varies
everywhere.” “Arab. Nights,” 1894, vii. 324.
[279] _i.e._ two men’s wages for one day. See p. 205.
[280] “Hindu Chemistry,” pp. 107-8.
[281] Prof. R. K. Douglas, “China,” in _Ency. Brit._, v. 663.
[282] “Gunpowder ... among the Chinese,” in _Journal of North China
Branch of Roy. Asiatic Soc._, N.S. vi., 1869-70, p. 74, by W. F.
Mayers, F.R.A.S., Chinese Consular Service. “Gunpowder came from the
outer barbarians,” says the _Wuh-li-siao_, published in 1630.
[283] Prof. H. A. Giles, “Hist. of Chinese Literature,” 1901, p. 4.
[284] Mr. J. H. Middleton, “Pottery,” in _Ency. Brit._, xix. 633.
[285] “Decline and Fall,” &c., iv. 231 _n_ (Bury’s ed.).
[286] The Jesuits, “either seduced by some appearance of truth, or
thinking it prudent to conciliate the people whom they were attempting
to convert, adopted their marvellous relations regarding the antiquity
of their science, and spread them over Europe.”—Mr. R. A. Proctor,
“Astronomy,” _Ency. Brit._, ii. 746.
[287] “Un bon exemple de la fascination exercée par un récit
circonstancié est la légende des origines de la Ligue des trois cantons
suisses primitifs (Gessler et les conjurés du Grütli) _fabriquée_ au
XVI^e. siècle par Tschudi, devenue classique depuis le ‘Guillaume Tell’
de Schiller, et qu’on a eu tant de peine à extirper.”
[288] _Introd. aux Études Historiques_, pp. 136-7.
[289] _Mémoires concernant l’Hist., &c., des Chinois_, viii. 336.
[290] In _Journal Asiatique_, Oct. 1849, p. 258.
[291] In _Journal Asiatique_, Oct. 1849, P. 91.
[292] Reinaud and Favé, in _Journal Asiátique_, Oct. 1849, p. 284 _n._
[293] Reinaud and Favé, in _Journal Asiatique_, Oct. 1849, p. 291.
[294] As before, p. 91.
[295] _Sur la Force des Matières Explosives_, ii. 354.
[296] i. 48.
[297] Howorth’s “Hist. of the Mongols,” iii. 97.
[298] Reinaud and Favé, in _Journal Asiatique_, Oct. 1849, pp. 296, 308.
[299] Romocki, i. 51.
[300] This word, which Diez (_Etymolog. Wörterbuch_) derives from
μάγγανον, betrays the western origin of the machine. It was well known
in England:—
“Set Mahound at the mangonel, and millstones throw.”
—“Piers Plowman,” C text, _cir._ 1393, passus xxi.
[301] Howorth, i. 125.
[302] Yule, in “Marco Polo,” ii. 152.
[303] “The Chinese,” &c., ii. 181.
[304] Howorth, i. 129.
[305] Mayers, p. 93.
[306] Mayers, p. 93.
[307] Ib., 94-5.
[308] Reinaud and Favé, p. 254.
[309] _Ency. Metropol._, art. “China,” p. 593.
[310] Incarville, in Reinaud and Favé, p. 259.
[311] These Fathers were strangers to the “doute méthodique” of MM.
Langlois and Seignobos, and they certainly did not scan the pages of
their vast Chinese Encyclopædias with the doubting eye of Heine:—
“Augen gab uns Gott ein Paar, Dans wir schauen rein und klar; Um zu
glauben was wir lesen, Wär’ ein Auge gnug gewesen.”
[312] Sir Henry Yule, in _Ency. Brit._, v. 628.
[313] Mayers, p. 95.
[314] Gibbon, iv. 230, and Appendix 12, by Dr. Bury.
[315] Reinaud and Favé, p. 201 _n._
[316] “Golden Prairies,” Paris ed., i. 308.
[317] Elliot, iv. 103.
[318] Incarville, in Reinaud and Favé, p. 254.
[319] Sir J. Davis, “The Chinese,” &c., ii. 182. “Ils ne sont point
envieux de rien faire de nouveau,” Incarville, as above, p. 259.
[320] Incarville, as above, p. 252.
[321] Ib.
[322] Father Amiot, in Reinaud and Favé, p. 181.
[323] Incarville, as above, p. 247.
[324] Amiot as above.
[325] Ib.
[326] Mayers, as before, p. 91.
[327] Amiot, as before, p. 183.
[328] Ib.
[329] _Hoang-chao-li-ki-thou-chi_, trans. by Pauthier in his edition of
“Marco Polo,” p. 475 _n._
[330] E. H. Parker, “China,” &c., 1901, p. 83.
[331] Mayers, p. 96.
[332] Professor R. K. Douglas, “China” (“Story of the Nations” series),
p. 74.
[333] “Decline and Fall,” &c., vii. 11 _n_ (Bury’s ed.).
[334] “Roger Bacon,” in _Ency. Brit._, by Professor Adamson.
[335] “Quand le sens littéral est absurde, incohérent ou obscur ... on
doit présumer un sens détourné.”—Langlois et Seignobos, _Introd. aux
Études Historiques_, p. 127.
[336] “Vulgus (arcana sapientiæ) capere non potest, sed deridet et
(abutitur) in sui et sapientum dispendium et gravamen. Quia non sunt
margaritæ sapientiæ spargendæ inter porcos.”—_Compendium Studii_, p.
416.
[337] “Vulgus deridet sapientes, et negligit secreta sapientiæ, et
nescit uti rebus dignissimis; atque si aliquid magnificum in ejus
notitiam cadat a fortuna, illud pervertit et eo abutitur in damnum
multiplex personarum et communitatis.”—_De Secretis_, cap. viii.
[338] “Insanus est qui aliquid secretum scribit nisi ut a vulgo
celetur, et ut vix a studiosissimis et sapientibus possit
intilligi.”—Ib.
[339] “Multa mala sequuntur eum qui revelat secreta.”—_De Secretis_,
cap. viii.
[340] Jonson’s “Alchemist,” Act II.
[341] “Cipher” in Rees’ “Cyclopædia” and Klüber’s _Kryptographik
Lehrbuch_, Tübingen, 1809. In a note to these chapters in the
_Theatricum Chemicum_, Zetzner says: “Hic tamen jacta esse
Steganographiæ fundamenta certissimum est.”
[342] “Tonitruum et coriscationem.”
[343] Æneas Tacticus adopts the same mode of expression, Table II.
[344] That is, supposing we knew the subject of his letter, or had
evidence which made it probable that it was so and so.
[345] To lull suspicion he calls natural saltpetre chalk, a _verbum
figurativum_. Other MSS. read “sal.”
[346] “Tere ipsum fortiter cum aqua salis communis.... Ablue in aceto
acerrimo.” The section “Nitri Separatio” of “Aristoteles, de Perfecto
Magisterio,” in the _Theatrum Chemicum_, ed. by Zetzner; a collection
of alchemical tracts of the Middle Ages, iii. 68.
[347] Almost literally translated by Whiteborne: “clarified and from
earthe and grosse matter diligently purged.” See A, p. 21.
[348] _i.e._ the lapis Assius = saltpetre. We have here unmistakably a
_verbum œnigmaticum_. The efflorescence of the stone of Assos, which
was unknown to the crowd, was of course “not a stone,” although called
so. The philosopher’s stone, which was well known by name to the crowd,
was likewise “not a stone,” although called so:—
“... ’tis a stone And not a stone; a spirit, a soul, and a body.”
—Jonson’s “Alchemist.”
Bacon avails himself of the ambiguity of the phrase, “stone which is
not a stone,” to support the delusion created by the title of the
chapter, and confirm the unwary in the belief that the philosopher’s
stone is under discussion, instead of saltpetre.
[349] He passes suddenly from chalk to cheese—yellow cheese, laughing
openly in his reader’s face.
[350] _i.e._ the cleansed natural saltpetre.
[351] “Put the jar on a gentle fire.”—Hassan, A, p. 24.
[352] “The mother liquid is boiled until the scum ceases to
rise.”—Waltham Abbey process, C, p. 19.
[353] “Clear and fair and of an azure colour.”—Whitehorne, F, p. 21.
[354] _i.e._ the scum and impurities.
[355] _i.e._ “to drie throughly.”—Whitehorne, I, p. 22.
[356] This repetition corresponds with Whitehorne’s second process;
beginning at F´, p. 22.
[357] _i.e._ the crystals just obtained.
[358] A powder to purge, or to purify and clarify. “Prenez de la chaulx
vive et de l’eau de pluye ... et les brouïllez bien ensemble, et
puis le laissez reposer ... et se fera forte lexive.... Prenez de la
lexive dessus dicte, et mettez vostre salpetre dedans,” &c. “Livre de
Canonnerie,” &c., which although not published until 1561, appears to
belong to the end of the fifteenth century.—In Reinaud and Favé, pp.
146-7.
[359] Bacon does not name the two substances he alludes to, but
Whitehome names two and prescribes the same proportions: “Two parts of
unslacked lime and three of oke asshes.”—See A, p. 21. Did Whitehorne
have access to Bacon’s MSS.?
[360] Treating ostensibly on gold, Bacon is obliged to use _resolve_
for _dissolve_.
[361] The alchemical preparation of gold had much in common with the
refining of saltpetre. In the “Nitri Preparatio” of Bernard’s and
Penoti’s _Theatrum Chemicum_, iii. 78, we read: “Fac postmodum de eo
per omnia ut dicam in preparatione auri, id est, destilla per alambicum
et congela,” &c.
[362] _i.e._ to the laxative.
[363] A _verbum œnigmaticum_. The Phœnix is a singular animal, as Bacon
justly observes, inasmuch as it springs from its own _ashes_. Its name,
therefore, may be figuratively used with perfect propriety to denote
_animal charcoal_, an efficacious agent in clarifying solutions of
impure saltpetre.—Bloxam’s “Chemistry,” 8th ed., p. 488.
[364] Bacon appears to have poured the hot solution upon the laxative,
precisely as Clarke directs in his “Natural History of Nitre,” London,
1670, p. 42: “Pour the hot liquid on ashes ... ’tis no matter how soon
you let it run off the ashes again.”
[365] _i.e._ the removal of the insoluble impurities.
[366] “Then pour it into the other jar.”—Hassan, A, p. 24.
[367] _i.e._ into a crystallising jar.
[368] “The solution is kept in constant agitation by poles while
cooling.”—Waltham Abbey Regs., H, p. 20.
[369] “The mother liquid, from which the saltpetre flour has been
deposited, is boiled down and crystallised.”—Bloxam’s “Chemistry,” 8th
ed., p. 488.
[370] _Salit petræ_ is the reading of Zetzner’s _Theatrum Chemicum_,
1613, v. 962, which is adopted by Reinaud and Favé, p. 123; of Manget’s
_Bibliotheca Chemica_, 1702, i. 624; of the _Verosimilia Sacra et
Profana_ of Hoven and Molfenger, 1732, ii. 93; and of the copy used by
Romocki, i. 93. Prof. Brewer’s MS. reads _sal petræ_.
[371] “Atque mala vites incidere falce _novellas_.”—Vergil, “Bucol.,”
iii. 11. The word, however, may be simply _novæ_.
[372] “Maltha, quæ est genus bitumenis.”—_Opus Majus_, London, 1733,
p. 474.
[373] “Possumus artificialiter componere ignem comburentem,
scilicet, ex sale petræ ... ex oleo petroleo ... ex maltha et
naphta et consimilibus.... His vicinus est ignis græcus et multa
comburentia.”—_De Secretis_, cap. vi.
[374] “Maltha ... projecta super hominem armatum comburit eum.... Ignis
comburens fit ex eo qui cum difficultate potest extingui, nam aqua non
extinguit.”—_Op. Maj._, as above.
[375] “Sunt alia stupenda naturæ. Nam soni velut tonitrua et
coruscationes fieri possunt in aere; imo majori horrore quam illa quæ
fiunt per naturam. Nam modica materia adaptata, scilicet ad quantitatem
unius pollicis, sonum facit horribilem et coruscationem ostendit
vehementem.”—_De Secretis_, cap. vi.
[376] See p. 156.
[377] “Quaedam vero auditum perturbant.... Nullus tonitrui fragor
posset talibus comparari. Quædam tantum terrorem visui incutiunt, quod
coruscationes nubium longe minus et sine comparatione perturbant....
Experimentum hujus rei capimus ex hoc ludicro puerili, quod fit in
multis mundi partibus, scilicet ut instrumento facto ad quantitatem
pollicis humani ex violentia illius salis qui sal petrae vocatur,
tam horribilis sonus nascitur in ruptura tam modicæ rei, scilicet
modici pergameni, quod fortis tonitrui sentiatur excedere rugitum,
et coruscationem maximam sui luminis jubar excedit.”—_Opus
Majus_, London, 1733, p. 474. “Offenbar ist hier das Schiesspulver
verstanden.”—L. Schneider, “Roger Bacon,” 1873, p. 110. Two centuries
before, when referring to Bacon’s remarks on the destruction of the
Midianites by Gideon, Borrichius had said: “Hic apertissime loquitur
Bacon de nitrato illo sclopetorum pulvere.”—_De Ortu &c., Chemiæ_,
1668, p. 126.
[378] This is M. Berthelot’s view; _Sur la Force des Matières
Explosives_, Paris, 1883, ii. 358; and it is probably the right one.
[379]
... δυσμαχώτατον τέρας· ὁς δὴ κεραυνοῦ κρείσσον’ εὑρήσει φλόγα, βροντάς
θ’ ὑπερβάλλοντα καρτερὸν κτύπον.
—ÆSCHYLUS, _Prometheus Vinctus_, 921.
[380] “State Papers,” Domestic Series, 1581-90.
[381] “Archæologia,” xiii. 27, 397-400. The term _slur-bow_ is, I
presume, akin to the German _schleuderbogen_.
[382] “The Book of Archery,” London, 1840, Pl. xvii., No. 5.
[383] “The Cross-bow,” 1903, fig. 84, p. 129.
[384] Rupert’s Diary, in Warburton, “Prince Rupert,” iii. 163.
[385] Napoleon III., iii. 261.
[386] Ὀστράκινα σκεύη—earthenware vessels. J. Cameniata, p. 527.
[387] Reinaud and Favé, in _Jour. Asiatique_, 1849.
[388] Froissart’s “Chronicles,” ed. Bouchon; ii., ch. 181, p. 235.
[389] St. 65, ed. Robson.
[390] According to Sir Walter Scott, the Scotch in the beginning of the
last century still called crow’s-feet _calthrops_, a word which goes
back to “Piers Plowman,” cir. 1393:—“The Rev. Dr. Heavysterne from
the Low Countries sustained much injury by sitting down suddenly and
incautiously on three ancient calthrops” (“Antiquary,” ch. iii.).
[391] “Fictili globo incendiarii pulveris.”—P. Jovii, _Hist. sui
Temp._, i., c. 18.
[392] _Mém. de Castelnau_, ed. Bouchon; xiii., p. 154.
[393] _Mém. de Messire du Bellay_, ed. Bouchon, vii., p. 632.
[394] Fol. 41. These brazen grenades of Whitehorne’s correspond to
the “Kobber-Granater” shown in the books of the Copenhagen Arsenal at
the beginning of the seventeenth century. Blom’s _Kristian d. IV.’s
Artilleri_, pp. 268-69.
[395] “The Bombardier,” 1802, p. 147.
[396] _Danduli Chronicon_, Muratori, xii. 448, in Elliot, vi. 469.
[397] In Elliot, vol. iii.
[398] In Elliot, vii. 125.
[399] In the war of Chiozza. During the attack on the Torre della
Bebbe, “furono tirate molte rochette.”—Muratori, xv. 769.
[400] “Ecce quidam adolescens ... quid Græcus ignis potest experiri
vellet ... fusum sulphure ignitum ... ad quamdam domum, stipula et
stramine coopertam, maximo impetu traxit. Iterum, alium et alium
transjecit. Acriori incendio edes accense concremantur.”—_Œuvres de
R. Blondel_, pub. by “Soc. de l’Hist. de Normandie,” ii. 74. Little is
known of Blondel’s life, but he was alive in the year 1460. I believe
_fusus_ to be the _fusée de feu_ of the _Livre de Canonerie_, Paris,
1561 (Reinaud and Favé, p. 140), and this incendiary was not a rocket.
[401] “Hist. of Tipu Sultan,” by Husain Kirmani, trans. by Col. Miles,
p. 145.
[402] “Hist, of Tipu Sultan,” by Husain Kirmani, p. 109.
[403] “Narrative of the Conquest of Mysore,” Hull, 1804, p. 50.
[404] “Narrative of the Campaign with Tippoo Sultan,” London, 1793, p.
209.
[405] “Narrative of the Conquest of Mysore,” p. 52. Their charge was 1
lb. of powder, and their range about 1000 yards. “Description of Indian
and Oriental Armour,” by Lord Egerton of Tatton, 1896, p. 32.
[406] “Ammunition,” pt. ii. p. 174, by Capt. C. O. Browne, R.A.
[407] Sir W. Congreve’s “Concise Account of the Rocket System,” London,
1807, p. 42. He held his commission in the Hanoverian army.
[408] Jähns, p. 523; Romocki, i. 69 _n._
[409] Congreve, as above, p. 1.
[410] Ib., p. 42.
[411] “In dieser Hinsicht standen also die Feuerwerker der Zeit des
Caligula wol schon auf derselben Höhe wie Congreve, dessen ‘Geheimnis’
zu Anfang des 19 Jahrhunderts so angestaunt wurde!” (p. 516.)
[412] “Furchtbare Wirkung.” Decker’s _Gesch. des Geschützwesens_, &c.,
1822, p. 79.
[413] “Capt Bogue and the Rocket Brigade,” by Col. F. A. Whinyates,
late R.H.A., in “Proceed. R.A. Institution,” vol. xxiv.
[414] “Ammunition,” as above, pp. 175-76.
[415] Sloane MSS., 335, 795; and Freind’s “Hist. of Physick,” 1758, ii.
325.
[416] “Bombardes, basilics, jettans boullets de fer, de plomb, de
bronze.”—Rabelais (d. 1553), iv., c. 61.
[417] Recipe 13. Extracts from Arderne’s MSS. given by Hewitt, “Ancient
Armour,” ii. 284, leave little doubt that Arderne was acquainted with
the _Liber Ignium_ of Marcus Græcus.
[418] In the Peninsular War, our men could fire over 100 rounds, the
French only 50, without washing out the barrels of their muskets.
Marquis de Chambray, _Œuvres_, v. 293-4.
[419] Fol. 33.
[420] “Certain Discourses ... concerning Divers Weapons,” p. 20.
[421] Sir H. Nicolas, “Hist. of Royal Navy,” ii. 479.
[422] “Pro tribus petris cere ... ad cerandum canubium ad arificiendum
pulveris bumbardorum in castro de Edinburgh,” &c. “Chronicles of
Scotland,” published by the Deputy Clerk-Register, vi. 495-97. In these
documents a cross-bow is called, “arcus cum circulo.”
[423] “Acts of (English) Privy Council,” N.S., xvii. 392.
[424] “Seaman’s Dictionary,” under “Powder.”
[425] “Chemical Essays,” 1781, ii. 10. This led to a Parliamentary
inquiry.
[426] “A Statement of Facts,” &c., by General Sir W. Congreve, 1811,
pp. 18-19.
[427] Brackenbury, iv. 292.
[428] Fol. 33.
[429] “Art of Shooting in Great Ordnance,” p. 2.
[430] Jähns, p. 804.
[431] Mieth mentions glazing in 1684; _Artilleriæ Recentior Praxis_,
Franckfurt, pt. ii. c. 55.
[432] This is the only reason given by Clarke for the introduction of
corned powder. “Natural History of Nitre,” 1670, p. 88.
[433] “Das knollen bullfer ij pfund mer tud denn gereden bullfer iij
pfund.” Firebook, 1400-50, in Romocki, i. 182.
[434] “‘Of a verity the shooting of the foemen doth begin to increase,’
exclaimed the Rev. Gabriel Kettledrummle; ‘peradventure some pellet may
attain unto us even here. Lo! I will ensconce me behind the cairn, as
behind a strong wall of defence.’ ‘He’s but a coward body after a’,’
said Cuddy; ‘he’s but a daidling coward body.’” “Old Mortality,” chap.
xvii.
[435] Chap. xxiv.
[436] Prof. J. E. Thorold Rogers, “History of Agriculture and Prices,”
1866, iii. 578-79.
[437] Rogers, “History of Agriculture and Prices,” iii. 556.
[438] Ib., 558.
[439] Ib., 578.
[440] Ib., 581.
[441] “Acts of Privy Council,” 1588, N.S., xvi. 146.
[442] Ib., 28th December 1595, xxv. 137.
[443] Rogers, v. 752.
[444] Waltham Abbey.
[445] “Fyne corne powder for small shot.” “Acts of Privy Council,” 8
Ap., 1588; xvi. 25.
[446] Rogers, i. 454.
[447] Rev. J. Hunter in _Archæologia_, xxxii. 382, who quotes the
payments made by Wm. de Stanes in the Wardrobe Accounts of Edward III.
[448] Rogers, ii. 754.
[449] Ib., iii. 205.
[450] Ib., iv., _Pièces Justificatives_, No. 6, p. xliv.
[451] Hallam’s “Middle Ages,” i. 211. On the accession of Louis XI.
(1461) “the livre was only about 1/15 of its original value ... and in
1789 the livre had come to be only 1/78 of its weight in the time of
Charlemagne. “Money,” by Prof. Bastable, in _Ency. Brit._, 9th ed.,
xvi. 727.
[452] “Treatise on the Coins of the Realm,” by (the first) Lord
Liverpool, reprinted London, 1880, p. 40.
[453] In 1580 saltpetre was selling in the north-west of India at a
half-penny a pound. “Manufacture of Gunpowder,” Col. W. Anderson, 1862,
p. 16.
[454] Caxton’s “Myrrour and Description of the Worlde,” 1480, Part II.,
c. 21.
[455] M. Berthelot in _Revue des Deux Mondes_, 15th August 1891, p. 817.
[456] _K. Vitterhets Hist. och Antiq. Acads. Handr._, Stockholm, iv.
337.
[457] Kapten F. A. Spak’s _Öfversigt öfver Artilleriets Uppkomst och
Utveckling i Europa_, p. 12.
[458] “History of Inventions,” Bohn’s ed., ii. 509.
[459] “Natural History of Nitre,” London, 1670, p. 21.
[460] Napoleon III., iii. 205.
[461] There were exceptions, such as blasting powder.
[462] “The Gunner,” p. 145.
[463] Jähns, 804 _n_.
[464] Napoleon III., iii. 232.
[465] Chap. 24.
[466] _Modelles, Artifices de feu_, &c., pp. 95, 97.
[467] Napoleon III., iii. 329.
[468] “Receuil de Plusieurs Machines Militaires et Feux d’Artifices
pour la guerre.” De la diligence Thybovril et J. Appier dit Hanzelet;
Pont-à-Mousson, 1620, liv. iv. p. 12.
[469] “Nun werden unterechiedliche Pulver gemacht, jedoch aber allein
drey Sorten zum meistens gebraucht.” _Halinitro Pyrbolia_, Ulm, p. 6.
[470] Chap. xxiii. fol. 28.
[471] “Receuil de Plusieurs Machines Militaires et Feux d’Artifices,”
&c., Pont-à-Mousson, 1620, p. 14.
[472] “The Gunner,” p. 145.
[473] “The Gunner” p. 145.
[474] pp. 4, 5.
[475] “Inventions and Devices,” 1578; No. 54, “Art of Shooting,” &c.,
p. 28.
[476] Ib., Preface.
[477] _Halinitro Pyrbolia_, Ulm, 1627, p. 9.
[478] Chap. xvi. p. 29.
[479] Napoleon III., iv. 54.
[480] Ib., 53.
[481] “Traité ... de fabriquer la Poudre,” &c. Bottée and Riffault,
1811, p. lij.
[482] Marquis de Chambray, _Œuvres_, v. 293-4.
[483] “Dieses Pendel wurde mit Recht als ein epochmachende Erfindung
bezeichnet.” Gen. H. Müller, _Entwickelung der Feldartillerie_, Berlin,
1893, i. 23. To save the time of any of my readers who wish to read
Gen. Müller’s remarks on our Artillery, I may mention that they will
not be found under the heading “England,” but under the comprehensive
heading _Die kleineren Staaten_, grouped with Greece, Switzerland, &c.,
ii 272.
[484] See Wheatstone’s own account of his instrument in the _Comptes
Rendus de l’Acad. des Sciences_, 1845, tom. xx. pp. 1554-61.
[485] “Nous reconnaissons, avec l’abbé Moigno, que M. Wheatstone a eu
le premier l’idée de la belle application dont il est ici question....
Il a fallu du temps et du travail pour rendre féconde, dans les
expériences d’Artillerie, la belle idée de M. Wheatstone.” Cap.
Navez, _L’Application de l’Electricité à la mesure de la Vitesse des
Projectiles_, Paris, 1853. PP· 4, 5.
[486] “Report on Experiments on the Properties ... of Cannon Powder,”
Boston, Mass., 1861, pp. 174, 299. Table VI. is taken from this Report.
[487] 1886.
[488] Bk. IV., _c._ 62.
[489] Romocki, ii. 7-10.
[490] “Vulgar Errors,” 1648, Bk. II., c. 5.
[491] Roger Bacon’s powder, see chap. viii.
[492] Doctor Arderne’s powder, a laboratory receipt.
[493] Whitehorne’s “ordinary” common powder, chap. xxiii., fol. 28.
[494] Nye, pp. 4, 5.
[495] Sir James Turner’s _Pallas Armata_, 1670, p. 188.
[496] Robins’ “New Principles of Gunnery,” 1742, p. 120.
[497] Bishop Watson’s “Chemical Essays,” 1781, ii. 16.
[498] MS. in _Bib. Nat._, Paris, given in Lacabane’s _Bib. de l’École
des Chartes_, 2 ser., i. 51. The quantity of charcoal is not given.
[499] Spak’s _Öfversigt öfver Artilleriets Uppkomst_, &c., Stockholm,
1878-81, p. 66.
[500] Ib., p. 62. Spak gathers from Fronsperger that the manufacture
of powder in Germany was in a very backward state during the second
half of the sixteenth century: “att kruttillverkning i Tyskland äfven
under senare hälften af 1500-talet befann sig på en särdeles primitiv
ståndpunkt, framgår af Fronspergers beskrifning öfver krutets korning.”
A Brandenburg MS. of 1597 gives a powder of 73.5 : 13.7 : 10.8, but
this must have been for small arms. C. von Decker’s _Geschichte des
Geschützwesens_, &c., 1822, p. 87, powder No. 31.
[501] Blom’s _Kristian d. IV.’s Artilleri_, Copenhagen, 1877, p. 49.
[502] Napoleon III., iii. 329. The grains of this powder were as large
as hazel nuts.
[503] Spak, p. 166.
[504] Castner’s cocoa powder, ballistically the best powder ever made.
Romocki, ii. 31.
[505] "Romaunt of the Rose," 4196, attributed to Chaucer.
[506] _Original Parchemin parmi les titres scellés de Clairambault_,
xxv. fol. 1825; Bib. Nat., Paris (in Brackenbury, iv. 291).
[507] Estimated by Sir H. Brackenbury.
[508] Reinaud and Favé, p. 168.
[509] “Calendar, State Papers,” Dom. Ser., 1581-90, March 30, 1588.
[510] “Acts of the Privy Council,” New Ser., xvi. 25.
[511] Napoleon III., iii. 96.
[512] Wright and Halliwell’s _Reliquiæ Antiquæ_, London, 1841.
[513] Muratori, _Rer. Ital. Script._, xv., col. 182.
[514] Rymer’s _Fœdera_, vii. 187.
[515] No reliance can be placed on the document given in Libri’s _Hist.
des Sciences Mathém. en Italie_, iv. 487, which states that there were
cannon and iron shot in Florence on the 11th February 1326. Libri
was expelled from the French Academy, and sentenced to ten years’
imprisonment in 1850 for falsifying and selling public documents which
he had stolen from various institutions.
[516] Napoleon III., i. 358.
[517] Beringuccio calls iron shot “cosa nova all’ uso della guerra;
perchè non prima (che io sappi) furono vedute palle di ferro in Italia
per tirarle con artiglierie, che quelle che ci condusse Carlo Re di
Franchia contra Re Ferdinando l’anno 1495.”—_Pyrotechnia_, Venice,
1559, p. 247.
[518] MSS. germ, qu., 1018.
[519] Meynert’s _Gesch. des Kriegswesens_, &c., Vienna, 1868, i. 378.
[520] _A Rege ipso institutum_; Heidenstein, _De Bell. Moscovito_,
1588, p. 40. They were in use in Denmark in 1592. Blom’s _Kristian d.
IV.’s Artilleri_, p. 266.
[521] Geneva, 1645, p. 303.
[522] _De Re Militari_, Verona, 1472, lib. 10, c. iv. p. 267.
[523] Napoleon III., iii. 80.
[524] Mr. J. Burtt, in _Archæol. Journal_, xix. 68.
[525] W. L. Clowes, “The Royal Navy,” 1897, i. 149.
[526] Benedict. Veron., _De Rebus Carol_. VIII., in Eccardi, _Script.
Rer. Germ._, ii (Jähns).
At the siege of Bilqan in Persia by the Moguls under Prince Hulágu in
1256, stones not being procurable for the machines, wooden shell filled
with lead were employed with good effect.—_Heft Iqlim_, Persian MS. in
Bib. Nat., Paris, No. 356, fol. 500.
[527] Average price, 1371-80. Rogers’ “Hist. of Agriculture and
Prices,” i. 484.
[528] 90.5 per cent. copper and 9.5 per cent. tin; copper at 2s. 34d.
per lb. (average, 1303-53); tin at 3.41d. per lb. (average, 1371-80).
Mr. Rogers notices the rareness of copper, 1350-1400. Ib., i. 484; ii.
531. The bronze of an Egyptian mirror, _cir._ 1750 B.C., was found
by M. Berthelot to consist of 91 per cent. copper and 9 per cent.
tin.—_Introd. Alchimistes Grecs_, p. 221.
[529] Ib., i. 605 (average, 1371-80). There is some little uncertainty
about the exact price of lead owing to the “fother” having three
meanings. “In the Book of Rates it is said to be two thousand
pound-weight; at the mines it is twenty-two hundred and a half; and
among the Plummers at London, nineteen hundred and a half.” “The New
World of Words,” 6th ed., by E. Phillips, London, 1706. I have taken
the 2000 lbs. of the Book of Rates.
[530] There was no cast-iron in the fourteenth century.
[531] I have taken the proportions for bronze as given for shell by G.
della Valle in his _Vallo_, Venice, 1521: 75 per cent. copper and 25
per cent. tin, which had a sp. gr. of 8.4 and cost 2.6d. per lb.
[532] This gives a sp. gr. of 3.1, and shows that the stone was
probably limestone, although Nye objects to “freestone” for shot and
recommends “marble, pibble stones, and hard blew stones,” p. 58.
“Pibbilston” is found in Wiclif´s Bible, Prov. xx. 17, _cir._ 1383.
[533] Limestone sold in 1664 at 3s. 6d. a ton; Rogers, v. 508. But the
wages of a gunstone-maker in Queen Elizabeth’s reign were 6d. a day, or
about 3s. 6d. of our money. Brackenbury, v. 2 _n._.
[534] See p. 185.
[535] The early gunners suffered terribly from the bursting of their
guns. James II. of Scotland was killed in 1460 by the bursting of a
gun, and a bombard burst near Paris in 1479, killing fourteen men, and
wounding fifteen or sixteen. _Libre de Faits_, Jean de Troyes, ed.
Bouchon, p. 340. The Emperor Babar tells us of a gun that burst in
India in 1527-8, killing eight men. Elliott’s “Hist. of India,” iv.
272. And so on.
[536] Brackenbury, v. 30.
[537] Muratori, _Rer. Ital. Script._, xvii., col. 558.
[538] R. Norton, “The Gunner,” &c., London, 1628, p. 158.
[539] _Entwickelung des Kriegswesens_, Breslau, 1886, iii. 266.
[540] _Quellen zur Geschichte des Feuerwaffen_, 1872, A, viii., xix.
[541] Ducas, _Hist. Byzant._, Bonn, 1831, p. 211.
[542] Sabellicus, _Hist. Venet._, Dec. iii., lib. 10 (Jähns).
[543] Clarendon’s “Hist. of the Great Rebellion,” p. 522. Boillot calls
orgues “barriquades,” _Modelles Artifices de feu_, &c., Chaumont, 1598,
p. 189.
[544] See Admiralty survey of Gibraltar, by Capt. Aldrich, R.N.
[545] “Die Granate vor dem Stück crepirt ... wodurch ein Artillerist
das Leben verloren habe.” _Neues militärisches Hannovranisches
Journal_, Stück iv., p. 225, kindly communicated to me by Major W.
Balck, German General Staff. Apparently by an eye-witness.
[546] Drinkwater’s “Siege of Gibraltar,” 1786, p. 87.
[547] “Die Bomben fielen so tief in den Sand, dass die Stücke niemand
schaden konnten.” _Hannovranisches Journal_, as above.
[548] Capt. Sayer’s “Hist. of Gibraltar,” 1862, p. 291.
[549] Drinkwater, p. 89. The Hanoverian officer, speaking of the trial,
says: “Versuch, welcher der Erwartung vollkommen entsprach.” Of the
effect of the fire on the enemy he says: “ Die Brandröhren (waren) so
genau bestimmt, dass die Bombe oft den Feind über den Köpfen crepirte
... und incommodirte den Feind unaufhörlich.” _Journal_, as before.
[550] “Universal Military Dictionary,” by Capt. G. Smith, R.A., 1779,
art. “Shell.”
[551] Writing on 5th April 1813, Shrapnel said it was “nearly thirty
years” since he began his experiments. “Synopsis of Reports and
Experiments by the Ordnance Select Committee: Shrapnel Shell,” 1858.
[552] “Ammunition,” by Capt. (afterwards Col. Sir V. D.) Majendie,
R.A., 1867, i. 350 _ff._; “Memoirs of Sir J. Sinclair,” ii. 244.
[553] Shrapnel’s shell failed at the first trial, 3rd June 1803—they
were too thin. After the second trial, 29th June 1803, “about a dozen”
were recommended to be supplied to ships for each carronade.—Ord. Sel.
Committee, “Shrapnel Shell,” p. 2.
[554] _Die Shrapnels: eine Erfindung des 16-ten Jahrhunderts_, in
“_Archiv für die Officiere der K. Preuss. Artillerie, &c._,” Berlin,
1852, Band 32, p. 160. Toll does not allude to Shrapnel personally. He
gives the text of Zimmerman’s MS., which I quote above.
[555] One of Boillot’s mortar shell, which nobody has yet claimed to
have been a Shrapnel, was of _minimum_ thickness, “afin qu’elle rompe
plus facilement”—_Modelles, Artifices de feu, &c._, Chaumont, 1598, p.
163.
[556] Some of Boillot’s mortar shell contained bullets, not only inside
but outside, where they were stuck into some glutinous substance with
which the shell was covered. Ib., p. 167.
[557] Capt. May, R.A., reported that before reaching the Great Belt,
1807 (on the voyage to the siege of Copenhagen), Shrapnel’s own fuzes
were found to be so affected by the damp as to be unserviceable, and
that others had to be improvised.—Ord. Sel. Com., “Shrapnel Shell,”
for 19th June 1809.
[558] “Ehe die Zünder nicht zu der Vollkommenheit gekommen waren, genau
tempirt werden zu konnen, was erst gegen das Ende des vorigen (18-ten)
Jahrhunderts eintrat, konnte uberhaupt von der Erreichung einer
Wirkung, wie sie Shrapnel vor Augen hatte, gar nicht die Rede sein; und
es ist das unstreitbare Verdienst Shrapnels, dass er die Vervollkommung
der Zünder zur Erreichung bis dahin nicht gekannter Kartätschwirkung
benuzte.”—“Notiz über die Geschichte der Shrapnells,” by Hauptmann
Meyer, in _Archiv für d. Offic. d. K. Preuss. Art._, _&c._, 5 Band,
zwieter Heft, p. 157.
[559] Given further on.
[560] “Mag auch nicht ain Hagel gemacht werden der ganntz vom Rohr fert
und sich erst uber etlich hundert Schrytt nachet oder feer wie man will
von einander thut und sich austhaylet?”
[561] Napoleon III., iii. 264.
[562] _Modelles_, _&c._, p. 163.
[563] “Hydrodynamics,” in _Ency. Brit._, p. 457.
[564] “Instrumenta naviganda possunt fieri sine hominibus remigantibus,
ut naves maximæ, fluviales et marinæ, ferantur unico homine regente,
majori velocitate quam si plenæ essent hominibus.... Item possunt fieri
instrumenta volandi.”—_De Secretis_, _c._ iv.
[565] “Inventions and Devices,” No. 42, fol. 31-2.
[566] Cæsar, _De Bell. Gall._, v. 43. See also p. 90 here.
[567] Tacitus, “Hist.,” ii. 21.
[568] See p. 202.
[569] See p. 4.
[570] “Das es dir den hals nit abstoss.” Romocki, i. 189.
[571] Romocki, i. 192 _n._
[572] Napoleon III., iii. 156. Whitehorne describes a similar fireball,
in which tow is used instead of cloth.
[573] Jähns, 810.
[574] “Ungefähr aus derselben Zeit.” Romocki, i. 189.
[575] Valturio’s plate is reproduced, ib., p. 193.
[576] “Ye vester darynn gestozzen, ye pesser.” Berlin Firebook, in ib.,
p. 192.
[577] “Es waren eiserne Kugeln von geringer Cohärenz, die, mit, Pech
und Harz gefüllt, angezündet, aus den Mauerbrechern geschossen wurden.
Beim Aufschlagen zerschellten diese Kugeln und die Stücke, von deren
jedem eine heftige Flamme emporloderte, wurden umhergeschleudert. Das
kleineste von ihnen konnte schwer verletzen, weil das Pech hinderte,
es abzuschütteln. Niemand vermochte vor diesem Feuer auf den Mauern zu
bleiben.” Bembo, _Opera_, 1556, i. 15, in Jähns, 810.
[578] Romocki, ii. 21.
[579] “Haec vocatur scientia experimentalis quæ negligit argumenta,
quoniam non certificant, quantumcunque sint fortia, nisi simul adsit
experientia conclusionis.... Sola experientia certificat hic, et non
argumentum.” _Opus Tertium_, _c._ 13.
[580] Daniel’s _Hist. de la Milice Française_, 1724, i. 240.
[581] Major Ralph Adye, R.A., “The Bombardier,” &c., 1802.
[582] “Annals,” &c., p. 584, for the year 1543. Stow died in 1605. The
15½″ mortar, under Firemaster Thomas Wright, which accompanied a
small force sent by Cromwell in 1651 to reduce the Royalist castle of
Elizabeth in Jersey, may have been one of Bawd and Collet’s. Between
five and ten rounds were fired daily for several days without any
damage to the piece, although the carriage broke down completely on
two occasions. The range was 1540 yards, and the shooting accurate.
The first round, we may feel certain, was laid with extreme care. “I
proffered to lay a wager of ten pounds with Captain Dover,” says the
Firemaster, “that my first shot should strike the Castle, ... and by
God’s providence it did strike one side of the great Tower, where
the Granado brake” (_i.e._ exploded). The second shell “brake verie
kindly,” and for the third he “altered (the) degrees of elevation.”
Captain Dover may have paid his bet, but the Ordnance Office forgot
to remit Wright’s pay; hence the “Perfect Narrative of the Particular
Service performed by Firemaster Thomas Wright,” &c. &c., 1651. The word
_explode_ is not found before the seventeenth century—see Dr. Murray’s
“New English Dictionary”—and was sparingly used in Wright’s time.
[583] “Italus a Parmensi ad Foederatos perfugiens, inauditam artem
jactabat parandi vasa, cavatosque e ferro aut lapide globos, qui in
obsessas urbes adigerentur, impleti ejus naturæ materiâ, ut simul ignem
concepissent, in innumeros quasi acinos dissilirent.”
[584] See the accounts of the bailiffs of St. Omer in 1342, in Napoleon
III., iii. 77.
[585] Ib., p. 149.
[586] Reinaud and Favé, p. 158.
[587] Whitehorne, _c._ 25.
[588] Portfires go back to about 1700. Muller’s “Treatise on
Artillery,” p. 202.
[589] The battle of Uddevalla in Sweden, 1677, was decided by _armes
blanches_, a prolonged storm of rain having put a stop to all firing.
Crichton and Wheaton’s “Scandinavia,” p. 109.
[590] Père Amiot, in Reinaud and Favé, p. 183.
[591] Hassan, ib., 37.
[592] Nye, p. 68 _bis_, where it is called “priming.”
[593] “Quickmatch,” in official “Treat. on Ammunition,” p. 430.
[594] Muller’s “Treatise on Artillery,” 1768, p. 203.
[595] General Sir Howard Douglas, “Naval Gunnery,” 1860, p. 458. Sir
Charles Douglas also introduced into his ship (at his own expense) the
quill tubes he had invented for naval use, and flannel cartridge cases
which at that time were used “for artillery cartridges of all sorts.”
Captain G. Smith, “Univer. Mil. Dict.,” 1779; “Laboratory.”
[596] “Artillery Equipment,” Colonel F. Miller, _V.C._, R.A, Pt. II.,
p. 84. It is uncertain to what extent flint-locks were adopted for the
Artillery. “Ammunition,” by Sir V. D. Majendie, i. 192.
[597] “Naval Gunnery,” as before.
[598] The above facts are chiefly taken from the “Treatise on
Ammunition,” by the late Colonel Sir V. D. Majendie, R.A., 1867; and
the work on “Artillery Equipment,” by the late Colonel F. Miller,
_V.C._, R.A.
[599] “Elementary Lectures on Artillery,” by Major C. H. Owen and
Captain T. L. Dames, Woolwich, 1861.
[600] Reinaud and Favé, p. 44.
[601] “Quand tu voudras attaquer ton adversaire, mets le feu à la
rose,” ib., 38. “Tu mets le feu aux roses et tu lances la marmite,”
ib., 43.
[602] “Inventions and Devices,” 1578, p. 39.
[603] For instance: “Adviserez que le trou d’icelle (the shell) soit du
costé de la bouche dudit mortier.” _Modelles, Artifices du Feu_, &c.,
1598, p. 163.
[604] As happened centuries afterwards with Shrapnel’s fuzes when cut
“short.”
[605] “Art of Shooting in Great Ordnance,” p. 13.
[606] Ib., pp. 30, 31.
[607] Among the stores detailed by Firemaster T. Wright in his “Perfect
Narrative,” &c., of his expedition to Jersey, 1651, are found “1000
Fuzes for shels, 600 hand Fuzes.”
[608] “Invention die bishero noch nit ist gebraucht worden.”
_Archeley_, 1621, p. 119. The Spanish _Tratado de Artilléria_, 1613,
I have not seen and rely upon the French and German translations,
both by J. T. Brey, the former entitled _Artillerie_, &c., the latter
_Archeley_, &c. Either of them has been carelessly executed—perhaps
both of them.
[609] “La bouche du tuyeau sur la poudre de la charge de la ditte
pièces.” _Artillerie_, p. 119.
[610] “150 schritt”—geometrical paces, I presume: 1 geom. pace = 5 ft.
[611] _Wachthaus._ The French translation has _corps de garde_.
[612] Blom’s _Kristian d. IV.’s Artilleri_, p. 277.
[613] P. 63 _bis_.
[614] Pr. Lieut. W. Ritter von Breithaupt, _Der Entwicklungsgang und
die darauf gegründete Systematik der Zünderwesens_, &c., 1868, p. 18.
[615] “Gegen das Ende des 16 ten Jahrhunderts fiel man darauf,
Granaten aus Kanonen zu schiessen. Da aber die ersten Versuche nicht
mit gehöriger Vorsicht, und überhaupt mit zu starker Pulverladung
angestellt wurden, so misslangen sie, und man behielt die sicherere
Art, sie aus Haubitzen zu werfen, bei.” Major C. von Decker,
_Geschichte des Geschützwesens_, &c., 1822, p. 74.
[616] In firing against buildings, “ist es nicht eben von nöthen auf
das Tempo genau Achtung zu geben.” Mieth, _Artill. Recent. Praxis_,
Leipsig, 1683, lib. iii. c. 34.
[617] In firing against troops, “the fuze must have such a length as
... to set fire to the powder as soon as the shell touches the ground.”
“Universal Mil. Dict.,” Captain G. Smith, R.A., 1779; “Laboratory.”
[618] A Chinese shell was thrown from the deck of one of our vessels
into the sea, I forget by whom, in the attack on the Peiho Forts, 1860.
[619] As was done more than once during the dynamite outrages in London
some years ago.
[620] At the siege of Gloucester, during the Great Rebellion, a grenado
fell near Southgate; “but a woman coming by with a pail of water, threw
the water thereon and extinguished the phuse thereof, so that it brake
not.” Vicars’ “Jehovah Jireh,” 1646, i. 402.
[621] “Per tempus quo quispiam non festinanter Symbolum Apostolorum
recitare possit,” p. 174. Watches were invented by Huygens in 1674,
and independently by Hooke in 1675. Ball’s “Mathematical Recreations,”
1892, p. 216.
[622] _Zur Geschichte der Artillerie_, by Hauptmann C. Schneider, in
_Oesterreichische Mil. Zeitung_, Wien, 1863, No. 79.
[623] _Theoria et Praxis Artill._, Nürnberg, 1682, Part II., p. 62.
[624] “Brände von Holtz, Papier oder Eisen,” ib.
[625] “Man das Tempo entweder durch einen perpendicul oder nach einem
perfecten und gewissen Tacte erkundigen muss,” ib.
[626] “Das rechte Tempo nun zu finden, kan auf keine audere Weise, als
aus den ersten Würffen erlernet werden.” _Artill. Recent. Praxis_, l.
iii., c. 34, p. 45.
[627] “Treatise on Artillery,” 1768, p. 204.
[628] Ib., p. 203.
[629] MS. letter kindly lent to me by Col. F. Whinyates, late R.H.A.
[630] Gen. Piobert’s notes, communicated to Prof. Turquem and Capt.
Favé, the translators of Gen. C. von Decker’s _Expériences sur les
Shrapnel_, Paris, 1847, p. 320.
[631] “Ammunition,” by Col. Sir V. D. Majendie, i. 235. The Prussians
had a similar series of fuzes about the same time; Breithaupt, _Der
Entwicklungsgang ... der Zünderwesens_, p. 21. On the 21st Nov. 1808,
Shrapnel proposed to carry the bored fuzes in canvas bags painted
different colours. Ord. Sel. Com., “Shrapnel Shell.”
[632] Hasans er-Rammah in Reinaud and Favé, p. 25. This composition was
called “priming,” and belonged to the “slow receipt” family.
[633] Napoleon III., iii. 275.
[634] Nye, p. 63, _bis_.
[635] Spak’s _Öfversigt öfver Artilleriets Uppkomst_, &c., p. 157.
[636] Muller’s “Treatise on Artillery,” 1768, p. 203.
[637] J. G. von Hoyer’s _Allgemeines Wörterbuch_, Tübingen, 1804.
[638] 5″ fuze, official “Treatise on Ammunition.”
[639] _Beitrag zur Gesch. d. Artillerie_, Haupt. C. Schneider, Wien,
1864.
[640] See plate in Romocki, i. 343.
[641] _Art. Mag. Artilleriæ_, &c., pt. i. bk. 4, c. 3. They were called
“blind shell” because they gave out no light in their flight.
[642] “Wer ein wenig Vernunft hat und nicht gar tumm ist, wird klar
sehen dass dieselbe Invention einen sehr bald in die andere Welt
schicken kan.” _Artill. Recent. Prax._, c. xi. p. 13.
[643] _Theor. et Praxis Artill._, pt. i. p. 68.
[644] “Cutting the Rigging,” Proposition iii.
[645] MS. in Royal Library, Berlin, q. in Romocki, i. 347.
[646] Cap. 48.
[647] See his Patent, No. 3032, 11th April 1807.
[648] We are told by Mr. Greener that “all the gunsmiths in England”
laid claim to the invention of the cap: “The Gun and its Development,”
3rd ed., 1859, p. 110. How many of them, if any, established their
claim I do not know; but it is absolutely certain that the notion of a
copper cap struck Colonel Hawker in 1818. He gave a sketch of what he
wanted to the celebrated Joe Manton, who made him some caps and adapted
a gun for their use. “Instructions to Young Sportsmen,” by Col. Peter
Hawker, 11th ed., 1859, p. 76.
[649] The concussion fuze was set in action by the shock of discharge;
the percussion fuze by the shock of impact with the target.
[650] Reinaud and Favé, p. 180.
[651] Marcus Græcus, recipe 33.
[652] Hassan er-Rammah in Reinaud and Favé, p. 24.
[653] 1, 2, and 3 oz. rockets in Nye, p. 82.
[654] Signal rocket, official “Treat. on Ammunition.”
[655] Hassan, as above.
[656] Official “Treat. on Ammunition.”
[657] Hassan, in Reinaud and Favé, p. 27.
[658] Kentish’s “Pyrotechnist’s Treasury,” 1878, p. 187, No. 13.
INDEX
Abd Allah ibn al-Baythar (_d._ 1248), 16
Abd ur-Razzak on Bijanagar (1441), 115
Accent de Sincérité, 126
Africanus, Sextus Julius, 40
Agniastra, 105
Al-Bunduqani, meaning of, 91
Alor, taking of (A.D. 712), 91
Amiot, Father, on Chinese powder, 128
Ammianus Marcellinus on fire-arrows, 30
Anagram, Friar Bacon’s, suggested solution of, 157
Anna Comnena, Princess, on crossbows, 48
—— on sea-fire, 44
—— on siphons, 43
Antiquity, Chinese veneration for, 125
’Arába (_Persian_), its double meaning, 114
“Arabian Nights,” mention of astrolabe in, 78
—— mention of _qaus bunduq_ in, 93-4
Arabic language, general ignorance of, in Middle Ages, 82
—— words in _Liber Ignium_, 77
Arangal, siege of (1309), 119
Arderne’s recipe for powder (_cir._ 1350), 177
Arquebuse, original meaning of the word, 92
Arrows for muskets (1588), 200
Artillery, original meaning of the word, 7
Assos, flower of the stone of, 17, 151
Assyrians, early use of incendiaries by the, 29
Astrolabe = Asturlab = Usturlab, origin of, 78
Astronomy, Chinese, 113, 126
Babar’s projectiles, size and price of, 122
Bacon’s (Friar) charcoal, 149
—— mode of refining saltpetre, 25, 151
—— recipe for gunpowder, 157
Baghdad, siege of (A.D. 813), 96
Baldwin I. on Byzantine defences, 84
Balls, hot clay, British and Arabic, 90, 217
Barbour’s “Bruce,” mention of incendiaries in, 50
Barúd (_Arabic_), successive meanings of, 6
Baza, siege of (1325), 100
Bengali gunners, Babar on, 121
Benjamin of Tudela on Byzantines, twelfth century, 53
Bergen op Zoom, siege of (1588), 226
Beringuccio on iron round shot, 201
Berwick, Greek fire at (1319), 50
Bijanagur, alleged use of cannon at (1368), 113
Bilqan, siege of (1256), 203
Bitar taken by a single rocket (1657), 172
Bokhara, siege of (1067), 96
Bombshells originally oblong, 238
Bourne’s “box” for testing powder (1578), 192
Bows, cross-, 48
—— slur-, 168
—— stone-, 93
Boxer’s (General E. M.) wooden time-fuze (1849), 243
“Brazen Head,” legend of Bacon’s, 161
Breteuil, Greek fire at (1356), 51
Bristol, fire-pikes at siege of, (1643), 169
Bronze, Egyptian, 1750 B.C., analysis of, 203
—— price of, at various times, 204
Bullets, hot, for small arms, 202
Bunduq (_Arabic_),successive meanings of, 6
Calthrops = crowsfeet, 170
Cannon, invention of, ascribed to the Germans, 54
Cap, percussion, invention of (1818), 245
Carcasses, invention of (1672), 224
Carriages, gun-, field-, introduction of (1461-83), 114
Cartridge-cases, Artillery, flannel (1770-80), 230
Cartridges, Infantry, early composite (1590), 179
Case, early use of, 208
—— Zimmermann’s, 212-13
Casiri’s translations, 99
Caxton on price of naphtha (1480), 187
Chalcocondyles on early cannon, 54
Charcoal, hazel and willow wood for, 62, 137, 149
Charleston, siege of, 1863, incendiaries at, 49
Chen-tien-lui, Chinese projectile, 130, 138
China, early communication of, with the west, 136
Chinese historical works, 124, 126
—— snow, 17
Chronoscope, Wheatstone’s electro-magnetic (1840), 194
Combustion, progressive, 3
Compass, Mariner’s, 112
Comte, A., on the invention of powder, 111
Concussion fuze, invention of English (1850), 245
Conde’s metaphor, _trueno con fuego_, 101
Congreve, on his rockets, 175
Constantine VII., on sea-fire, 34, 46
Copredy Bridge, action at (1644), 208
Corning (graining) powder, first mention of (1429), 182
Cracker of Marcus Græcus, 87
—— of Friar Bacon, 87, 159
Creed, Apostles’, used to measure time, 239
Cressy, English guns at, 7
Crusades, no explosive used during the, 97
Crusoe’s (Robinson) wildfire, 52
Cunningham, General, on decay of Indian temples, 111
Cuprum (copper), origin of word, 80
Dahir, King of Alor (712), 91
Darts for cannon, 199
Delium, siege of (424 B.C.), 31
Dickson, General Sir A., on port-fires, 230
Discoveries, accidental, 162
Douglas, Captain Sir C., R.N., inventions of, 230
Drake, Sir Francis, demands arrows for muskets (1588), 200
Dunnett, Sergeant D., rockets at Waterloo under, 176
Dunois’ capture of Pont Audemer (1449), 173
Dutens on Marcus Græcus, 84
Encyclopædias, Chinese, 124
Espingarda, meaning of, 117
Europeans in China in early times, 135
—— in India in early times, 114, 121
Existence, the struggle for, 108
Explosion, meaning of, 3
Famagusta, Greek fire at (1571), 51
Feringiha, meaning of, 121
Firdusi, mention of incendiaries by, 96
Fire-arrows, defects of, 30
—— early use of, by Greeks (429 B.C.), 29
—— early use of, in Greece (480 B.C.), 55
Fire-ships, early use of (413 B.C.), 31
Firework, an Arabic and English, 247
—— soft or slow, as time-fuze, 233
Flexible instruments, Byzantine, meaning of, 48
Flint and steel as percussion fuze (1596), 244
Forsyth, Rev. A., applies fulminates to priming (1807), 245
Fother, an ancient English weight, 203
Fouling of serpentine powder, 179
Franks, Portuguese guns called, by Chinese (1520), 139
Freeburn, Quartermaster, R.A., invents concussion fuze (1846), 245
Friction tube invented by Mr. Tozer (1851), 231
Fulminates, first use of, in priming (1807), 245
Furtenbach’s instrument for testing powder (1627), 193
Fuze, concussion, first English (1846), 245
—— hand (1651), 236
—— percussion, earliest proposal of (1596), 244
—— —— first English (1850), 245
—— time, Boxer’s wooden (1849), 243
—— —— calculated, the phrase (1779), 210
—— —— early Arabic, 231
—— —— early Danish, 237
—— —— early English (1543), 235
—— —— proposed adjustment of (1596), 239
—— —— length of early, constant, 237
—— —— nineteen in English service (1850), 242
—— —— short, difficulties with, 241
—— —— short, Shrapnel’s mode of cutting, 242
—— —— Shrapnel’s, rendered useless by damp (1807), 213
—— —— Ufano’s experiments with (_cir._ 1600-13), 236
Gama, Vasco da, in Calicut (1498), 117
Gauttier on _al-Bunduqani_, 92
Geber. _See_ Jabir
Gentoo Laws, code of, 105
Gibbon on firearms in China, 140
—— on gunpowder, 111
—— on Jesuits in China, 126
Gibraltar, hot shot at siege of (1779-83), 217
—— shell-fire from guns at, 209
Glazing gunpowder, mentioned in 1684, 182
Golail, a two-stringed long-bow, 93
Gold, alchemical preparation of, resembled that of saltpetre, 153
“Golden Garlands,” an Arabic firework, 247
Grain, influence of size of, of gunpowder, 195
Gram, the sword of Sigurd, 105
Greek fire, a Crusader’s term, 49, 76
—— —— composition of, 31
Greenhill, Professor, on stability of projectiles, 215
Grenados, spherical shell, 238
Guisarme, meaning of, 117
Gun, or gonne, triple use of, 7
—— pressure on bore of, with different projectiles, 206
—— nature of earliest missiles for, 199
—— flint-lock for, invention of (1778), 230
Gun-carriages, field, introduced (1461-83), 114
Gun-metal, composition of, 203-4
—— price of, 204
Gunpowder, Arderne’s recipe for (_cir._ 1350), 177
—— Friar Bacon’s recipe for (_cir._ 1248), 157, 177
—— Chinese, badly made, 134
—— composition of, at various times, 197-98
—— compressed, 222
—— corned (grained), advantages of, 182
—— —— too strong for guns at first, 183
—— damage to, by damp, 180
—— definition of, adopted here, 3
—— effects of invention of, 111
—— fouling of serpentine (ungrained), 179
—— French adopt one kind for all arms, 194
—— ingredients of, carried separately at first, 181
—— invention of (_cir._ 1248), 162
—— Louis XIV.’s Ordonnances about, 193
—— price of English, at various times, 184
—— ramming-home serpentine, 181
—— silent, 197
—— smokeless, 196
—— sulphurless, 196
—— tests of, 192-94
Gunstone-maker’s wages in the sixteenth century, 205
Halhed on early Indian firearms, 105
Hälle on time-fuzes and percussion shell (1596), 239, 244
Harquebuss, _see_ Arquebuse
Hassan er-Rammah (_d._ 1295), 17
Havre, experiments with naphtha at (1758), 49
Hawker, Colonel P., invents percussion cap (1818), 245
Heraclea, siege of (805), 91
History, Chinese, the Jesuits on, 126
Homer, no mention of incendiaries in, 29
Hookah (_Persian_) = grenade or fire-pot, 94, 117
Huo-p’áu (_Chinese_), meanings of, 6
Igor, Russian Admiral, defeated by Greeks (941), 34
Ikreekh (_Arabic_), for igniting shell, 231
Incendiary, earliest, consisted of sulphur and pitch, 30
—— meaning of word, here, 3
Index, chemical, to Marcus’ _Liber Ignium_, 68
Iron, price of, at various times, 204
Jabir, the true and the false, 14
Jesuits superintend gun-casting at Peking (1618), 140
Jodhaimah possesses first Arabic machines, 90
Joinville on Arabic incendiaries, 4, 98, 102
Ka’aba, burning of the (683), 90
Kallinikos, the inventor of sea-fire (670-80), 33
Kallisthenes in Babylon (331 B.C.), 80
Khalid, Prince, the first Arab writer on incendiaries (_d._ 708), 72
Khubelai Khan sends for western gunners (1270), 133
Lateran Council, decree of, against incendiaries (1139), 88
Lead, price of, at various times, 204
Leipsig, battle of (1813), English rockets at, 176
Leo VI. on sea-fire, 46
Leo’s metaphor, _thunder and smoke_, 38
_Liber Ignium_ of Marcus Græcus, a composite work, 83
“Light of the Moon,” Arabic fixed light, 246
Louis XIV., Ordonnances of, about powder, 193
Lys, Passage of (1382), hand-grenades at, 169
Machine, meaning of, here, 3
Maghribiha, meaning of, 119
Mahmoud Shah Begurra of Gujarat (1482), 116
Mangonals in China, 133
Manjánik (_Arabic_) = machines, 90
Manu’s “Code of Laws,” 106
Marcus Græcus, a mere name, 86
Marsh’s percussion tube (1831), 231
Masawyah (Mesué), Arab physician, 84
Masudi on autumnal rains, 77
—-— on _qaus al-bunduq_, 92
Match, time-fuze called so by Stow, 235
Mecca, siege of (A.D. 638), 90
Mercier, Captain, 39th Regiment, proposes shell-fire from guns (1779),
209
Mercury, fulminate of, first used in priming (1807), 245
Metaphors, difficulties created by, 4, 101
Meyer, Hauptmann, on Shrapnel shell, 214
Mieth on early percussion shell, 244
Mills, powder, 187
Mithkal (or Miskal), a Persian weight, 122
Modhaffer Shah of Gujarat (1511), 118
Money, English and French, in fourteenth century, 186
Mons Meg, materials for repairing, 139
Moorsom’s (Commander, R.N.) percussion fuze (1850), 245
Mortar _éprouvette_, 193
Moyria de Maillac, Father, on Chinese historians, 126
Naphtha, Plutarch on, 39
Nassau, Graf. Johann von, proposes a percussion shell (1610), 244
Navez’s (Captain) electro-ballistic pendulum, 195
Niébla, siege of (1257), 101
“Nitiprakásika” on arms and armies, 107
Norton, time-fuzes called “pypes” by (1628), 237
Nye proposes mortar _éprouvette_ (1647), 193
Oppert, Professor, on early Hindu gunpowder, &c., 107
Orgue, meaning of, 207
Paris, use of incendiaries in (1870), 49
Pellet, for bullet, 183
Pendulum, ballistic, of Robins, 194
—— electro—ballistic, of Navez, 195
—— for timing fuzes, 240
Percussion powder, earliest, 245
Persia, late in adopting firearms, 116
Peshawur, battle near (1008), 94
Petroleum mentioned in Anglo-Saxon work (_cir._ A.D. 900), 82
“Piber til Granater,” early Danish time-fuzes, 237
Pien-king, siege of (1232), 130
Pikes, fire, at the siege of Bristol (1643), 169
Placentia, attack on (A.D. 69), 217
Platæa, siege of (429 B.C.), 29
Pont Audemer, taking of (1449), 173
Porcelain, dates of, forged by Chinese, 125
Portfires (_cir._ 1700), 229
Pressure on bore, comparative, with different projectiles, 206
—— gauge, Rodman’s, 195
Printing press, invention of, 113
Projectiles for cannon, nature of earliest, 199
Pype, early time-fuze called a, 237
Quicklime, Pliny on, 39
Rain, autumnal, in _Liber Ignium_, 77
Ramming home serpentine powder, on, 181
Rantambhor, attacks on (1290 and 1300), 119
Rāy, Professor, on the Sukraniti, 110
Ribaudequin, 207
“Richard Cœr-de-Lion,” metrical romance (1272-1307), 50
Robins’ ballistic pendulum, 194
Rockets at Leipsig (1813), 176
—— Chinese, 135
—— Marcus Græcus’ (_rec._ 13, 32, 33), 62, 67
—— Tipu Sultan’s, 174
Rodman’s pressure gauge, 195
Roman candles, Chinese, 132
—— Marcus Græcus’ (_rec._ 12), 61
Romerentin, Greek fire at (1356), 51
Rose (_Arabic_), for igniting shell, 231
Round, one, comparative cost of, with different balls (_cir._ 1375), 205
Sal coctus, 13
—— Indicus, 15
Salonika, siege of (904), 40
Saltpetre, approximate date of discovery of, 28
—— Indian, price of (1580), 187
—— modes of refining:—
Hassan er-Rammah’s, 24
Marcus Græcus’, 23
Friar Bacon’s, 25
Waltham Abbey’s, 18
Whitehorne’s, 20
Sauverchala (_Sanskrit_), meaning of, 16
Sea-fire, composition of, 41
—— unknown to Westerns, 41, 84
Seringapatam, rockets at (1792, 1799), 174
Shahnama, mention of incendiaries in, 96
Shatagni (_Sanskrit_), meaning of, 105
Shell, common, first use of, 227
—— —— number of pieces into which it broke, 210
Shell-fire from guns (1779), 208
Shot (cannon), hot (1579), 217
Shrapnel’s fuzes indifferent, 213-14, 242
—— mode of cutting short fuzes, 242
Shrapnel shell, experiments with (1819), 242
—— principles of, 211, 213
Siang-yang-fu, siege of (1269-73), 133
Sieves for coming powder, 190
Silver, fulminate of, 245
Sincérité, Accent de, 126
Siphon (_Greek_), meaning of, 46
—— two kinds of, 43
Slur-bow, 168
Smith, Captain G., R.A., on shell fire, 241
Sora (_Indian colloquial_), meaning of, 16
Spanish words, &c., in _Liber Ignium_, 81
Spell, Indian, to ensure victory, 107
Steganogram, Friar Bacon’s, suggested solution of, 151
Stirling, siege of (1304), Greek fire at, 50
Stone, best, for round shot, 205
Stone-bow, a golail, 93
“Stone which is not a stone,” 151
Stow on shell (1543), 225
Strada, Father, on bombshells, 226
Struphnos, Admiral, sale of naval stores by (1200), 53
“Sukraniti,” recipe for powder in the, 109
Sulphurs, several (so-called), in early times, 80
Talwood, 179
Tampions for musket-arrows (1588), 200
Tayif, siege of (A.D. 630), 90
Tea in China and Europe, 113
Tell, William, legend of, 127
Temples, Indian, causes of decay of, 112
Testing powder. _See_ Gunpowder
Theophanes on invention of sea-fire, 33
Toll, Hauptmann, on Shrapnel shell, 212
Tourbillion, a firework, 247
Tozer’s friction-tube (1853), 231
Train of powder to fire early guns, 228
Translations, specimens of, 9
Trombes, or tronckes, 51
Tubes, friction (1853), 231
—— percussion (1831), 231
—— quill, for navy (_cir._ 1778), 230
_Tung-kian-kang-mu_, Chinese Encyclopædia, 130-31
Uddevalla, battle of (1677), 229
Ufano’s experiments with fuzes (_cir._ 1600), 236
Valturio´s bronze shell (1463), 138, 221
Wachtendonck, siege of (1588), 227
Watches invented (1674), 239
Weissenburg, siege of (1469), 220
Wheatstone’s electro-magnetic chronoscope, 194
Whitehorne on silent powder, 197
—— on serpentine and corned powder, 183
Wildfire, history of the word, 51
Words, changes in the meaning of, 6
Wright, Mr. Thomas, on mariner’s compass, 112
Xerxes’ fire-archers, 55
Yavakshara (_Sanskrit_), meaning of, 16
Yo (_Chinese_), successive meanings of, 6
Yung Loh, Chinese Emperor (1403), 133-34
Yusuf ibn Ismaël al-Juni on saltpetre (1311), 103
Zarb-zan = swivel gun, Babar’s, 121
Zembaq (_Arabic_), doubtful meaning of, 81
Zimmermann’s projectile (1573), 212-13
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