Father Kircher was the first, who thought of substituting, for a

concave mirror, several plane mirrors, so disposed, that the sun's

rays reflected at their surface might converge towards the same

point. He employed five only of these mirrors, which he so arranged,

that the concurrence of the rays should take place at a distance

of more than one hundred feet, and he found the heat there to be

scarcely supportable. "Now," says Kircher, "if five mirrors produce

so considerable an effect, what would a hundred or a thousand do,

arranged in the same manner? They would excite so violent a heat,

that it would set fire to every thing, and reduce all to ashes."

Orpheus compares his _jaspis_ to rock crystal, and says that

it kindles fire, and that he knew how to use rock crystal as a

burning glass. Diodorus calls some kinds of jasper transparent, and

sky-coloured. The jaspis, described in the Revelation of St. John

(_chapter_ xxi, verse 11, 18, 19,) may have been the same stone.

It is not our intention, however, to notice the history of mirrors,

from the time of Moses, (_Exodus_, chap. xxxviii, verse 8,) or of

Job, (_Job_, chap. xxxvii, verse 18) through different periods of

time, to the present day; as the reader may find an interesting

account on this head in Beckman, (_History of Inventions_, vol.

iii, p. 154); but to state in particular the celebrated experiment

of Archimedes, which has indeed astonished men of science, who have

lived since that period. There can be no doubt of the fact, if we

reflect for a moment, that some modern experiments have justified

the conclusion which has been drawn; and, therefore, that the solar

rays may be concentrated to such a degree, as to inflame bodies at

some distance off: and as the heat produced is much greater than that

of our hottest furnaces, incredible as it may appear, there can be

no question as to the effect, which may be produced by a system of

mirrors.

By means of burning mirrors, Archimedes burnt the Roman ships, which

were beseiging Syracuse, and reduced them to ashes.

Descartes, among others, discredited the story as fallacious; but

Kircher made many experiments, with a view of establishing its

credibility. He tried the effect of a number of plane mirrors,

and with five mirrors of the same size, placed in a frame, he

contrived to throw the rays reflected from them to the same spot,

at the distance of more than one hundred feet; and, by this means,

he produced such a degree of heat, as led him to conclude, that,

by increasing their number, he could have set fire to inflammable

substances at a greater distance. He likewise made a voyage to

Syracuse, in company with his pupil, Schottus, in order to examine

the place of the supposed transaction; and they were both of opinion,

that the galleys of Marcellus could not have been more than thirty

paces from Archimedes.[42]

Proclus is also said to have destroyed the navy of Vitalian,

beseiging Byzantium, near Constantinople, by means of burning glasses.

Among the moderns, the most remarkable burning mirrors have been

those of Magine; of Septala of Milan, which was nearly three and a

half feet in diameter, and which burnt at the distance of fifteen or

sixteen paces; of Vilette, and Tschirinhausen; the new complex one

of M. Buffon; that of Trudaine, and that of Parker. Tschirinhausen's

burning glass was between three and four feet in diameter, and its

focus was rendered more powerful by a second one.

It may not be improper to notice the construction, as well as the

effect of some of these mirrors. La Brocquire, a traveller of the

15th century, says, that, at Damascus, they made mirrors of steel

that magnify objects, and one of them, when exposed to the sun,

reflected the heat so strongly, as to set fire to a plank fifteen or

sixteen feet distant.

M. Buffon constructed a machine consisting of a number of mirrors,

by which he seems to have revived the secret of Archimedes, and to

have vindicated the credit of history in this point. The experiment

was first tried with twenty-four mirrors, which readily set on fire

a combustible matter prepared of pitch and tow, laid on a deal board

at a distance of sixty-six French feet. He then pursued the attempt,

and put together a kind of polyhedron, consisting of one hundred and

sixty-eight pieces of plane looking glass, each six inches square;

and by means of this, some boards of beech wood were set on fire at a

distance of one hundred and fifty feet, and a silver plate was melted

at the distance of sixty feet. This machine, in the next stage of its

improvement, contained 360 plane mirrors, each 8 inches long, and 6

broad, mounted on a frame 8 feet high, and 7 feet broad. With 12 of

these mirrors, light combustible matters were kindled at a distance

of 20 feet; with 45 of them, at the same distance, a large tin vessel

was melted; and with 117, a thin piece of silver. When the whole

machine was employed, all the metals were melted at the distance of

twenty-five, and even of forty feet. Wood was kindled in a clear

sky, at the distance of 210 feet. Mr. Buffon afterwards constructed

a machine, which contained four hundred mirrors, each six inches

square, with which he could melt lead and tin at the distance of 140

feet.

Mr. Parker, an eminent glass manufacturer, in Fleet street, London,

constructed the most powerful burning mirror ever made. He erected an

out building at the bottom of his garden for the purpose of carrying

on his operations. He succeeded in forming a most powerful burning

lens. Its diameter was three feet. Platinum, iron, steel, flint, &c.

were melted in a few seconds, on being exposed to its immense focus.

A diamond weighing thirty grains was reduced to six grains, in the

space of thirty minutes. It opened and foliated like the leaves of a

flower, and emitted whitish fumes, (carbonic acid gas;) when close

again, it bore a polish, and retained its form. Garnets, clay, &c.

soon melted.

Seven hundred guineas were subscribed to indemnify the inventor, it

having cost him seven hundred pounds. It was purchased, however, and

presented by lord Macartney to the Chinese government, and remains

now at Pekin.

M. Payard, (_Archives des Découvertes_, &c.) has invented a burning

mirror, consisting of several plane mirrors so arranged as to

concentrate the solar heat into a focus with great precision. The

arrangement, it may be proper to state, is different from that

heretofore used, and the effect is said to be very powerful.

A polygonal mirror, from a suggestion of the celebrated Buffon, was

erected in the Botanic Garden at Paris, in 1747, and had also a

very powerful effect. This mirror was composed of one hundred and

sixty-eight plates of tinned or silvered glass, capable of moving

in every direction and of being fixed at different degrees of

inclination, so that there could be given to the whole, a form more

or less concave, and the focus be thrown to different distances. This

mirror set fire to wood at two hundred feet, and fused metals at

forty-five feet.

As caloric, like light, follows the same laws with respect to

its motion, and as the angle of incidence is equal to the angle

of reflection, the radiation of heat, conducted after the manner

of Pictet's experiment, has not only occasioned the combustion

of gunpowder, but of other inflammable substances. But, for this

purpose, the mirrors must be large and extremely bright. That heat

radiates in all directions, and is reflected, and that the calorific

rays may thereby be concentrated, are facts which are now universally

admitted. The application of this principle, by using concave mirrors

sufficiently large, has, we are informed, produced the explosion of

gunpowder. They were placed about twelve feet apart. In the focus of

one a live coal was put, which was constantly blown with a double

bellows, and in the focus of the other some gunpowder. In all our

experiments with the ordinary reflectors, we could never produce

any thing like the heat necessary to inflame gunpowder. That the

principle is substantiated by experiment is evident; for the rays

of a heated body, or a substance which produces heat, as a lamp or

candle, placed in the focus of a concave mirror, are reflected in

parallel lines, and if another concave mirror be placed opposite to

it at some distance, the calorific rays will be thus intercepted and

reflected back in a focus. This _focus_, therefore, like the focus

of a burning glass, is the concentration of all the parallel rays of

heat.

_Sec. XL. Of Incendiary and Poisoned Arrows._

The bow is a very ancient weapon of offence, made of steel, wood,

horn, or other elastic substance, which, after being bent by means of

a string fastened to its two ends, in returning to its natural state,

throws out an arrow with great force. That the bow was a weapon of

offence among the nations of antiquity, the inhabitants of Asia and

Africa, and the Aborigines of this country, and that it was used in

Europe, before the invention or use of fire-arms, are facts, of which

we have abundant proof. Bows are much the same in all countries. It

has generally two inflections or bendings, between which, in the

place where the arrow is drawn, is a right line. The Grecian bow

was adorned with gold or silver. The Scythian bow was distinguished

from those of the Grecians and other nations, by its incurvation,

which was so great, as to form a half moon, or semi-circle. The

Persian bows were made of reed. The Indians used the same material,

as well for their bows as their arrows. The Lycian bows were made of

the cornel tree; and those of the Ethiopians, which surpassed all

others in magnitude, were made of the palm tree. The Romans, although

they did not admit bows in the infancy of their republic; yet they

considered them as hostile weapons. They employed auxiliary archers

in all their wars. The Amazonians, as well as the primitive Grecians,

in drawing their bow, did not pull back their hand towards their

right ear, according to the fashion of the ancient Persians, and of

modern ages; but, placing their bow directly before them, returned

their hand upon their right breast.

While noticing this subject, we may also observe, that Louis XI first

abolished the use of bows in France, introducing, in their place, the

halberd, pike, and broadsword. The long bow was much in use by the

English archers, and many laws were passed encouraging its use. In

the time of Henry VIII, the parliament complained of the disuse of

long bows.

The bow is now laid aside altogether as a war weapon. The arrows,

made use of, were armed with barbed iron, and, among the aborigines

of this and other countries, with a stone, formed in a particular

manner, many of which are picked up in this country. We have found

them at West Point. The natives were in the habit of poisoning their

arrows, by using a particular composition, not known; the effect of

which, however, when the arrow penetrated into the flesh, is always

destructive.

Roggewein, (_Voyage for the Discovery of Southern Lands_) speaking

of Batavia, observes, that, at this place, there are some of the

Macassars, so famous for their little poisoned arrows, which they

blow through a trunk. This poison is the juice of a tree, that grows

in Macassar, and in the Bougie islands. They dip the points of their

arrows in this juice, and then let them dry. The wound they give is

mortal.

The natives of Ceylon are very dexterous with the bow and arrow; so

also are the Hottentots, according to Kolben, in his _Voyage to the

Cape of Good Hope_. A Hottentot arrow consists of a small tapering

stick or cane, of about a foot and a half in length, pointed with a

small thin piece of iron bearded, and joined to the stick or cane

by a barrel. Their bows are made of olive, or iron wood, and the

strings, of the sinews and entrails of beasts. When they attack a

lion, tiger, or leopard, which they do with wonderful resolution and

dexterity, they employ slings (_hassagayes_) and arrows, which for

that purpose are usually poisoned.

Ellis (_Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage_) speaks of

the bows and arrows of the Eskimaux Indians, and the facility with

which they use them, but not of poisoned arrows. Moore, (_Travels

into the interior of Africa_) observes, that a native took him to

his house, and showed him a great number of arrows, daubed over with

a black mixture, said to be so venomous, that, if the arrow did

but draw blood, it would be mortal, unless the person who made the

mixture had a mind to cure it. For the man observed to him, that

there were no poisonous herbs, whose effects might not be prevented

by the application of other herbs.

Poisoned arrows, according to various historians, were used in the

remotest periods of antiquity. The mode of treating wounds in the

twelfth century, by using membrane like the present gold-beaters'

skin, may be mentioned in relation to this circumstance. The Emperor,

John Commenus, accidentally wounded himself in the hand with a

poisoned arrow, while hunting, and applied a piece of skin to the

wound. The emperor, however, died in consequence of the wound, after

it had become inflamed under the pellicle; which, in large wounds,

and when the skin is suffered to remain too long, is commonly the

case, though the poison alone we are informed, would have been a

sufficient cause of death. Other instances are also mentioned of

death being occasioned by the poisoned arrow.

On the subject of poisoned arrows, the following outline is given on

the authority of the author of the _Dictionnaire de l'Industrie_,

vol. 3, p. 50.

The juice of the _Mancenilier_, or the _Lianes des Marais_, called

in Guyanne _Curare_, is employed by some savages. The Arabs use the

juice of a milky shrub, which they name _chark_, and called by the

Persians _gulbut samour_. Indian arrows are said to be poisoned with

the venom of serpents. The islanders of Java rub their darts with the

blood and venom of the lizard _Gecko_, which they kill by whipping it

to death. The needles of the Macassars, they poison with the juice of

a tree, which is said to belong to the _ahouai_ of America. At Ceylon

they extract the venomous matter from the _Nerium_, or _laurel rose_.

The ancient Gauls are said by M. Paw to have poisoned their arms with

the juice of the _Caprisiguier_. In some cantons of the Pyrenees and

Alps, they express the juice of the roots of the Aconitum, (thora),

which they put on weapons.

M. Charles Coquebert, in a memoir read to the Philomatic Society, in

1798, observes, that the ancient European inhabitants employed three

plants to poison their arrows; namely, _Veratrum album_, _Helleborus

viridis_, and _Aconitum Lysocitonum_.

There have been obtained from the Society Islands some poisoned

arrows, and a pot of the composition, in which they are dipped. It

has the appearance of a black fluid extract, and seems to be an

infusion or decoction of some plants, probably mixed with other

substances.

With respect to the poisons obtained from the animal kingdom, they

are principally liquid juices. Fontana, in particular, has paid

attention to this subject. The poison of the viper, which is

contained in two small vesicles of the mouth, when the animal bites,

is forced, through the fangs, into the wound. If the vesicles be

extracted, or the liquor prevented from flowing into the wound, the

bite is harmless. Sharp instruments, as arrows, when they penetrate

the skin, being covered with the poison, will have the same effect.

Fontana made a set of experiments on the dry poison of the viper,

and a similar set on gum arabic, and obtained the same results!

Small birds and quadrupeds die immediately, when they are bitten by

a viper; but to a man, the bite is not always fatal. The experiments

and observations of Francini, (_Abridg. Phil. Trans._ ii, 8,) Mead,

(_On Poisons_, p. 35,) Tyson, (_Phil. Trans._ vol. xii,) Fontana,

Redi, Russel, the late Dr. Ramsay, of Charleston, (_Phil. Mag._ xvii,

125,) and Dr. B. S. Barton, (_Amer. Phil. Trans._ vol. ii, p. 100,)

furnish an abundance of facts on the venom of the viper, and some on

the antidotes to the bite. Dr. F. G. Gren, late professor at Halle,

in Saxony, (_Principles of Modern Chemistry_, ii, p. 47), observes,

in speaking of the experiments of Fontana, as the poison of the viper

exhibits all the characteristic properties of gum, whether the gum

be merely the vehicle of a peculiar venomous substance, which, upon

investigation, escapes the notice of the senses? or whether this

action upon living bodies, so different from its usual nature, be

imparted to the gum, merely by a change in the proportions of its

radicals, so slight as to be unobservable in its chemical analysis?

Mr. Misson (_Travels through Germany and Italy_) observes, that,

at the arsenal at Venice, he saw some pocket cross bows, and steel

arrows, with which the late lord of Padua used to kill such as passed

by, without their knowing from whence they received their wounds.

Arrows were sometimes employed by the Grecians, for conveying their

Greek fire. It seems, according to Gibbon, (_History of the Decline

and Fall of the Roman Empire_, vol. vii, 284), that, among the

different means of discharging it, that with the bow and arrow was

one. For this purpose, flax or tow was dipped in the composition,

and wrapped round the arrow, which was discharged the moment it was

inflamed.

The Indians, and Africans in particular, have been very ingenious in

poisoning several kinds of warlike instruments. The blades of swords,

the barbs of arrows, balls, &c. they have prepared in such a way, as

to be extremely poisonous.[43] See _Poisoned Ball_.

With respect to incendiary arrows, it will be sufficient to remark,

that the barb, for this purpose, was furnished with a composition,

which, when inflamed, was projected by the bow to the spot designed

to be set on fire. They were not much employed, and at the present

day, are entirely out of use. Tow, for instance, previously prepared

with pitch, meal-powder, and turpentine, or a composition equally

combustible, when wrapped round the head of an arrow, and thrown

at the moment of its inflammation, would, in many cases, set fire

to buildings. But, as the present system of employing incendiary

fire-works, presents advantages decidedly in its favour, it is hardly

probable, that the bow and arrow will ever be employed by civilized

nations for that purpose. The ancient _catapulta_ was particularly

calculated for throwing incendiary compositions.

The catapulta was an engine, contrived for throwing arrows, darts,

and stones, upon the enemy. Their power was so great, that they would

project a stone of a hundred weight with an almost incredible force.

Josephus, in noticing this machine, says, that the stones thrown

out of it, beat down the battlements, knocked off the angles of the

towers, and had a force sufficient to level a deep file of soldiers.

_Sec. XLI. Of Pyrotechnical Sponge._

This name is applied to the German _black match_, or tinder, used

chiefly to receive the file from flint and steel. We have, on a

former occasion, noticed the preparation of the substance called

spunk; namely, by immersing the fungus in a solution of saltpetre,

and then drying it.

There are various species of agaric. The mushroom is a genus

belonging to the order Fungi, and the _boletus igniarius_, spunk, or

touch-wood, called also female agaric, is employed, not only as a

match, but as a styptic. The fungous excrescences, which grow upon

old oaks, ash trees, firs, &c. are all used for the same purpose. The

Germans take the soft inner substance in preference to the hard, and

after beating with a hammer to render it still softer, they boil it

in ley, then dry it, and boil it again, in a solution of nitrate of

potassa, and finally dry it in an oven for use.

The _amadou_ of the French, is the same as our spunk, or

pyrotechnical sponge. It is always made, like the latter, from

various kinds of agaric, which constitute the spongy excrescence of

trees. The French prepare it for use in the manner before stated.

They prepare _amadou_, also, by soaking blue paper in a solution of

nitre. They sometimes employ it in the state of tinder, and, for this

purpose, burn it to a coal.

In the East Indies, there is a white spongy plant, which, when

reduced to a kind of charcoal, furnishes a very good tinder.

Spunk, or pyrotechnical sponge, is generally made in Germany.

In the preparation of ordinary _tinder_, the best mode of carbonizing

the old linen, instead of burning and then smothering the flame, is

to char the rags in close iron vessels. It may be made more quick by

soaking it in a solution of nitre, and then drying it.

Dry turf, or peat, is susceptible of inflammation by the spark,

and, if previously soaked in a solution of nitre, the effect,

we are told, is much the same as with spunk. Professor Beckman

(_History of Inventions_, i, p. 333), remarks, that a spark falling

accidentally on a turf moor, during a dry summer, often sets it on

fire; and the conflagration it occasions, often lasts so long, that

it cannot escape notice. Of the earth taking fire in this manner,

there are many instances to be found in the ancients. One of the

most remarkable, is that mentioned by Tacitus, (_Annal._, lib. xiii,

cap. 57), who relates, that not long after the building of the city

of Cologne, the neighbouring land took fire, and burned in such a

manner, that the corn, villages, and every production of the fields,

were destroyed by the flames, which advanced even to the walls of the

city. This was certainly a morass set on fire.

Gmelin (_Travels in Russia_, 1768-69, vol. i, p. 22) speaks of a

morass in Siberia, where a village was erected, which, on account of

its situation, the inhabitants deserted. This morass was set on fire,

and when he was there, had been burning for more than six months; and

being very inflammable, produced much devastation.

Turf, which consists of a congeries of vegetable roots or fibres,

partly in a dry and decomposed state, or partly carbonized, when

separated from earthy matter, and treated in the same manner as the

medullary excrescence of wood, may be advantageously employed in like

manner; but it is to be remarked, that for this purpose, the small

and more friable, and consequently the more decomposed part, should

be preferred. That turf, or peat, has been used for fuel, from time

immemorial, there can be no doubt; since it is furnished in some

countries very abundantly, and its inflammability has been long known.

_Sec. XLII. Of Extinguishing Flame with Fired Gunpowder._

The different methods for extinguishing fire in chimnies, by using

salt, sulphur, &c. to _smother_ the flame, as it is called, depend

on one principle, that of producing either a gas or vapour, which

supplies the place of atmospheric air, and as it is a non-supporter

of combustion, extinguishes the flame. Carbonic acid gas would

have the same effect as the sulphurous acid gas, produced by the

combustion of sulphur, or the vapour of salt.

So long, however, as the air is permitted to have a draught, the

fire will continue to burn; and hence, without making any remarks on

the bursting of chimnies, by closing all the avenues, by which the

air enters, as the fire must exert a lateral pressure, this plan is

generally adopted.

It has been suggested, and in fact the suggestion is by no means new,

that the _smoke_ of fired gunpowder would extinguish flame. Some

recommend firing a pistol up a chimney for this purpose, and others

again, throwing gunpowder into the fire.

In the _Dictionnaire de l'Industrie_, iii, p. 31, I find some remarks

on this subject. Besides the use of gunpowder, the vapour of water

is recommended; but having some objections, among which, that of

accelerating the current of air in particular, it is laid aside.

Intercepting the passage of air seems to be preferred.

It appears, that the person, who first suggested the use of gunpowder

for this purpose, was a Zachariah Greyl, of Augsburgh, in 1720.

The effect was attributed to the _vapour_ of the gunpowder destroying

the elasticity of the air; and the same effect is said to take place

when the vapour of sulphur, or of volatile acids, is employed. It

is hardly necessary to add, that this conclusion, of the diminution

of the elasticity of the air, on which depends its fitness for

combustion, (according to the theory then advanced), is altogether

hypothetical; and the cause of the extinction of the flame, must be

sought for in the substances themselves, producing an atmosphere,

which is decidedly a non-supporter of combustion.

The _Journal de Paris for_ 1785, and the _Affiches de Province_ of

the same year, recommend the use of brimstone. In the same work,

page 454, it is said, that marine salt is employed with success for

the extinguishing of fires; and that, when a certain quantity is

thrown upon the fire, it evaporates in an instant, and displaces,

by its _fumes_, the atmospheric air. In 1723, M. Hoffer invented

his machine; and in 1781, M. Cadet de Vaux made some experiments

before Leroy, Lavoisier, and Macquer, on the means of rendering

bodies incombustible by saline substances, and different modes of

extinguishing flame.

In 1722, the Germans announced, that, by means of a certain quantity

of gunpowder, flame at all times might be extinguished. The secret,

for such it was then considered, has been revived; for the same

plan has lately been recommended by a modern writer. M. de Reaumur

communicated to the French academy, an account of this contrivance,

by which it appears, that the machine was a large box, or cask, that

contained a large quantity of water; in the centre of which, was

placed a case of sheet tin, containing some pounds of cannon powder.

To this was attached a fuse. When it was inflamed, the gunpowder

would burst the vessel, and disperse the water in every direction.

See the _Journal des Savants_, 1725, p. 671.

In the _Dictionnaire de l'Industrie_, a prompt and certain method is

recommended for cleaning the tunnel of chimnies. This is rather a

novel plan. Of its efficacy we know nothing. It consists in taking a

powder, composed of three parts of saltpetre, two parts of salt of

tartar, and one part of flowers of sulphur, (or fulminating powder),

and exploding it on a shovel up the chimney. The explosion indeed

may detach the loose pieces of soot; but it cannot remove the harder

crust, and besides, it would endanger the chimney taking fire.

We know that various contrivances have been used for the same

purpose; and of the chimney cleansing machines, calculated to

diminish the number of infant victims of a filthy and disgusting

operation, that of Mr. Smart appears to possess every advantage,

which (or a plan similar to it) is now in use in our cities. A

description of this machine, and another by Hornblower, are given

in Gregory's _Mechanics_, vol. ii, p. 138. The invention of Mr.

Hornblower consists of a vessel, into which air is condensed, that

communicates with a tube, charged with small gravel, which being

blown up the chimney, brings down the soot.

_Sec. XLIII. Of the Inflammable Dart._

This dart is made in the following manner. We take a common rocket

case, of one inch exterior diameter, and charge it solid with the

ordinary rocket composition. Some use one spoonful of earth, and

three spoonfuls of the composition for fire lances, piercing the

case, and attaching a quick match. This, however, appears altogether

unnecessary, as the rocket composition is sufficient for the purpose.

The match, in either case, is fixed in the end to set it off. To the

end of the case is attached a dart, made of iron, and very sharp.

This dart is secured in the head, in such a manner as to be kept

firm. A stick is then lashed to the case in the usual way. It may be

sent in the direction required. It appears, however, that, although

it is calculated to be thrown on an enemy, it has not been much used;

nor can it be considered an active weapon, compared with others,

employed for similar purposes. One use for which it is recommended,

is for the defence of buildings.

_Sec. XLIV. Of the Firebrand._

The _boute-feu_ of the French, which we have translated into

firebrand, as the most appropriate term in the present instance,

is used as an incendiary, and is nothing more than a long stick,

furnished at one of its ends with two iron prongs, with sometimes the

figure of a dragon's head, on which is rolled thick rope, previously

prepared in the same manner as tourteaux. One end of this rope passes

between the iron prongs. The boute-feu is calculated to set fire to

buildings, &c. after the retreat of an enemy. It is only a convenient

and expeditious mode of communicating fire. One end of the stick is

pointed, and usually covered with iron, so as to stick in the ground.

_Sec. XLV. Of the Fire Flask._

The fire flask, or fire bottle, is a bottle, either square or round,

and charged with grain-powder, mixed with fire-stone, which is

introduced and compressed with a stick. The bottle is then covered

with a cloth, sewed on it, which is coated with pitch. The mouth is

secured with parchment. When used, a match is inserted, and inflamed.

It is then thrown by the hand.

_Sec. XLVI. Of the Trompe-Route._

The _trompe-route_ of the French is a light made use of at sea, to

deceive the enemy. It is nothing more than a common fire lance, one

inch in diameter, and twelve inches long, fixed in the centre of a

round plank, which, when lighted, is let down upon the water. As it

floats from the ship, the lights of the latter being darkened, the

enemy, in pursuit, will follow the light, and by this means the ship

escapes.

_Sec. XLVII. Of Fire-Pots for Ramparts._

Rampart fire-pots are used, when an enemy approaches a work. They are

furnished with grain-powder, and charged grenades without fuses, and

sometimes also with fire stone. The pots are ordinary potters' ware,

and, when they contain the ingredients, are covered with parchment.

A match passes through the opening of the pot, and when used, is

inflamed with a port-fire. The following composition is also used for

rampart pots.

_Composition for Rampart Fire-Pots._

Saltpetre, 12 parts.

Meal-powder, 12 ----

Sulphur, 4 ----

Antimony, 4 ----

These ingredients are mixed in a mortar with the oil of petroleum,

or, if this cannot be had, good spermaceti oil, and made into a thick

paste, about the consistence of dough, and then rolled into balls.

The pots generally hold two rows of these balls, distributing through

them grained powder. They are then finished by using fire stone

composition, beaten into pieces, and mixed with an equal quantity

of grained powder, and covered with meal-powder to facilitate the

inflammation.

The pots are covered over with parchment, as in the former case.

It is doubtful, whether fire pots, prepared in this way, have any

advantages over those, made in the manner first described.

As to the shape of fire-pots, some are cylindrical, and others of

the common figure. Sometimes they are furnished with an iron hoop,

with a hook of iron, by which they are suspended. They are used, when

equipped in that way, more for sea service, as a defence against

small boats. They are hung over the side of the vessel, so as to come

in contact with the boats. When designed in particular for that use,

they are charged with the following composition:

_Composition for Fire-Pots, for sea service._

Grained powder, 6 lbs.

Meal-powder, 2 --

Saltpetre, 1 --

Sulphur, ½ --

Charcoal, 10 oz.

With this composition, grenades are used, which are put into the pot

with powder, fire-stone, &c. and a match is fixed as before mentioned.

We are told, that fire-pots, prepared in this manner, are a

defensive, as well as a dangerous weapon, and that a vessel in the

Indian seas was actually saved by them, when attacked by pirates.

It appears, that she endeavoured to escape from her pursuers, and

finding it in vain, the crew thought of making, and employing

fire-pots, for their defence; as the number of the pirates was

greater than their own crew. The effect was, that, not expecting that

kind of reception, they were obliged to abandon their enterprize.

There is an incendiary fire-pot, which differs from that used in

fire-works for exhibition, by being made of copper and very stout. It

is charged with pieces of fire-stone, previously rolled in a paste

of meal-powder and brandy. A charge of powder is put in the pot, and

quick-match is fixed, which must be sufficiently long to hang over

the pot, and then the fire-stone is thrown in. When the match is

inflamed, the powder takes fire, and disperses the fire-stone. The

better plan is to have a communication to the powder below, as in

the pots of ordnance, or mortars for throwing fire-balloons. We see

no particular advantage to be derived from the use of this pot; as a

carcass or fire-ball, thrown out of a mortar, will do more execution,

and at a greater distance than any of these contrivances. The carcass

rocket, however, may be an exception, if we believe the account we

have of it. As an incendiary, the fire-stone, put in a shell with

powder, is more effectual than the fire-pot, we have just described.

_Sec. XLVIII. Of Inflammable Balls._

Count Rumford (_Bibliothèque Physico-Economique_, 1812) has invented

a composition, which is very inflammable, and, as it is used in

balls, is for that reason so called. Equal parts of clay, pitcoal,

and charcoal of wood, are mixed together, (having previously reduced

them to powder), and made into a consistence with water fit to roll

into balls. These balls are then dried for use.

They may be rendered more inflammable, by soaking them in a strong

solution of saltpetre.

Count Rumford, when he recommended the use of clay with coal, was

aware, that, in the combustion of coal, a considerable part of the

heat was lost; whereas, although clay is incombustible, a greater

part of this heat is retained by the clay, and given out gradually.

The inflammable ball may be considered more in the character of an

economical fuel than in any other.

The only inconvenience attending these balls is, that, when prepared

without nitre, which must add to the expense, they do not readily

inflame; and, therefore, a fire must first be kindled, before they

are used.

While noticing the use of clay in this manner, we may remark, that

the _economical brick_, as it is called, is made nearly in the same

way.

Two parts of clay, separated from stones, are mixed with one part

of pitcoal. After the fire is kindled, the coal burns in the same

manner, and the clay bakes.

Another composition is given in the _Bibliothèque

Physico-Economique_, for March, 1812. It is composed of potters'

clay, cow dung, street dirt, saw-dust of wood, turf, horse dung,

straw, and tan. Besides these, pitch, tar, oils, and other

combustible substances, are occasionally used, either with the above,

or mixed with pitcoal in powder.

Observations on this preparation may be seen in the work quoted, or

in the _Archives des Découvertes_, v, p. 137.

_Sec. XLIX. Of Pauly's Inflammable Powder._

We mentioned, in a note to the article on guns, that M. Pauly had

invented a musket, or fowling piece, which was discharged by

percussion, instead of flint and steel, by using a priming powder

made of chlorate of potassa.

It may be proper, however, to state, that the Rev. Dr. Forsyth made

use of a similar powder, and for the same purpose, many years ago, of

which we have already spoken. M. Thenard also has given a formula for

a preparation of a similar powder.

A description of M. Pauly's improvement may be seen in the _Archives

des Découvertes_, for 1812, p. 158, and in that of 1814, p. 174,

where the composition of the powder is noticed; and also in the

_Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement_, for 1814.

This powder is composed as follows:

Chlorate, or hyperoxymuriate of potassa 8 oz.

Flowers of sulphur 3 --

Charcoal of light wood 2 --

They are mixed together with Cologne water, or in its place with

brandy, to which a small quantity of the solution of gum arabic is

added.

The ingredients must be made as fine as possible, and intimately

blended together.

This powder may be inflamed by a hammer, or by the condensation of

air in a piston, a mode recommended by Pauly.

We have seen a fowling-piece, constructed according to M. Pauly's

plan, and also the priming powder used.

_Sec. L. Of Extemporaneous Fire._

There are several preparations, which have the effect of producing

fire either by friction, or chemical action. Some of these

preparations, we have noticed. The causes of spontaneous combustion

may be referred to chemical decomposition, and the change of

quiescent into distributable heat. We remarked, that a mixture of

chlorate of potassa and sugar is inflamed, when brought in contact

with sulphuric acid; that, in the slaking of quicklime, the heat

is sufficient to inflame oils; that pyrites by decomposition very

frequently sets fire to combustible bodies; that oil of turpentine is

inflamed by nitric acid; that pyrophorus, when exposed to the air,

takes fire, and also phosphorus by slight friction; and that, in all

cases of combustion, either friction, an increase of temperature, or

the action of some body, which is brought in contact, are necessary

to produce the effect.

Water, when added to some substances and preparations, will produce

fire. Thus potassium readily decomposes it, and the potassuretted

hydrogen gas, which is produced in flames. The same may be said of

phosphuret of lime and water; for the phosphuretted hydrogen gas

inflames, when it comes to the air.

On some occasions, these substances may be employed as incendiaries.

Hanzelet remarks, that the following composition will produce

inflammation with water.

_Extemporaneous Fire._

Linseed Oil 3 lbs.

Spirit of Turpentine 1 --

White of egg ¼ --

Quicklime 8 --

It is doubtful, however, whether this composition will have that

effect; although the heat produced by the slaking of quicklime is

very considerable, and, as we remarked, spontaneous combustion, in

several instances, has been referred to its agency. Lime, in the act

of slaking, absorbs, and chemically unites with, water, which becomes

solidified, converting it into a hydrate, whilst its latent caloric

is set at liberty. This is a process, which puts quiescent heat in

motion, to become distributable heat. See _Introduction_.

If the quantity of free caloric, thus generated, be sufficient, the

turpentine and oil will necessarily inflame.

We may add, therefore, that a rapid transition of caloric, from a

latent to a free state, as in combustion, is all that is required to

produce effects of this kind; and, in short, all cases of spontaneous

combustion may be accounted for on this principle; by considering

the cause, which acts in those instances so powerfully, and in some

instances instantaneously, and which changes caloric from a quiescent

to a distributable state.

Dr. Irvine refers all cases of combustion to a change in the capacity

of bodies for caloric; which depends on the nature of the products:

if they have a greater capacity, no flame ensues, and the caloric

remains more or less quiescent; if they possess a less capacity,

flame is the consequence. There are exceptions to this doctrine.

In the emission of caloric, Dr. Black supposes, that it is given out,

in consequence of the resulting attraction of the new compound for

caloric being less than that of its ingredients, when separate. M.

Curadou (_Journal de Physique_, 1809) observes, that, in preparing

the _artificial stone_, one-half of which is composed of water,

by mixing one part of sulphuric acid with two parts of clay, and

a sufficient quantity of water, a higher temperature is produced

than that of boiling water. In this instance, we find that, in the

formation of sulphate of alumina, which envelopes the silica, the

water is solidified, as in many other cases, and, while it forms a

solid substance, the caloric of fluidity is liberated. The heat,

he remarks, is sometimes so great as to set fire to inflammable

substances.

_Sec. LI. Of the Indian White Fire._

This preparation (_feu blanc Indien_ of the French) is described in

the _Archives des Découvertes_, &c. vol. ii, p. 300. It appears, that

it was kept secret in France, and was used by the French astronomers

for signals.

In 1807, M. de Zach published some account of it, in his

_Astronomical and Geographical correspondence_.

The case, in which the composition is put, is ten inches in diameter

and four in height; but may be of any size, according to the quantity

of the composition to be burnt, and the degree of light required. It

was seen 40 miles at sea. General Ray lighted, on the English coast,

a case of this fire, which was seen very distinctly on the French

coast.

_Composition of White Fire._

Saltpetre 24 parts.

Sulphur 7 ----

Red arsenic 2 ----

This powder lights without explosion, and illuminates with great

brilliancy. Care must be taken not to breathe the Arsenical vapours,

which are produced by the combustion.

A case of six inches in diameter, and six inches high, burns three

minutes. The light is said to injure the eyes.

The price of this powder is equal to that of ordinary gunpowder.

The match, which accompanies this preparation when it is sold, is

made in the following manner: Pulverize four parts of saltpetre, two

parts of gunpowder, two parts of charcoal, and one part of sulphur,

and pass them through a sieve. Provide then a number of paper cases,

made in the usual manner, or a roller, about the diameter of a quill,

and two feet in length, and charge with the composition.

This match, when used, is attached to a stick. It will resist the

action both of wind and rain.

An artificer of Marseilles proposes the following composition for

matches.

Sulphur 8 parts.

Saltpetre 4 ----

Gunpowder 2 ----

_Sec. LII. Of the Pyrophore of Defence._

An apparatus for defence, called the _Pyrophore_, was announced in

a French publication in 1815. It may be applied, according to the

author, in 24 hours for the defence of towns, roads, passages, and

defiles.

The pyrophore itself is a square box furnished with a lid, and

sufficiently large to contain fifty pounds of gunpowder. When it is

filled, and to be used, it is fixed with cords, or chains, in such a

manner as to be conveyed to a given point. The lid is furnished with

cross pieces, which open it when necessary.

At the sides of the box are rings, made very strong and fixed in

bolts, which go through the sides, and clenched. To each of these

rings, a cord or chain is attached, furnished at each end with a

_crotchet_.

This cord or chain runs upon two fixed pulleys, placed for instance,

at the two extremities of a battery, and is managed by artillerists.

The pyrophore is under cover. When it is conveyed to a certain place,

where a bar or grate is fixed, it is stopped, by the contrivance

before mentioned, the lid is raised, and the powder falls into a kind

of funnel or gutter, at the end of which the explosion is made, to

take effect.

It appears that the inventor had in view the conveyance of a given

quantity of powder to a particular place, and by carrying a light to

it by means of a cord, similarly fixed, to inflame it, when it had

arrived at its destination.

It is impossible to make a machine of this kind effective; for the

difficulty in arranging, and finally managing it, the enemy taking

means to guard against it, are certainly obstacles, and strong

objections to its use. Other means of defence, which we have pointed

out, are preferable; although we admit, that, in _some_ situations,

a contrivance of this sort might be advantageously used, where,

for instance, we wish to deposite a quantity of powder, to be in

readiness for the approach of an enemy, without exposing men to an

attack. What is more destructive than the thundering barrel, which

is furnished with grenades, &c. &c. if set off among the assailants?

See, for a minute account of this contrivance, the "_Pyrophore, ou

Moyen de defense générale_, par un garde national: 20 pages grand

in 8vo. avec un planche. _Paris Dondey Dupré_, 1815," and also the

_Archives des Découvertes_, tome 8. p. 281.

VOCABULARY

OF FRENCH TERMS, WHICH OCCUR IN THE WORK.

_Aigremore._ Pulverized charcoal, proper for fire-works.

_Aigrette._ An imitation in fire of the aigrette; like the aigrette

of glass.

_Ailerons._ They are used in making rockets.

_Amadou._ A kind of tinder made with agaric.

_Ame._ This is more particularly used to express the kind of work,

put in the head of a rocket. The term, however, is arbitrary.

_Amorce._ Priming: a paste of powder and spirit of wine.

_Arquer._ A name given to a particular shaped case.

_Artifice, feu d'._ Fire-works; artificial fire.

_Auget._ The wooden trough to contain the saucisson, which

communicates fire to a mine.

_Baguette._ A rammer, roller, former, &c.

_Baguette à charger._ Rammers or chargers, pierced with holes

in their length, more or less, to receive the piercer. They are

applicable to the charging of rockets, if they are to be driven

hollow; if not, solid rammers are employed.

_Baguette à feu._ Fougette; East Indian rocket. See page 529.

_Baguette à rouler._ A former, on which the pasteboard or paper is

rolled, in forming cases for rockets, port-fires, &c. &c.

_Baguette de fusée volante._ Rocket stick. A stick, attached to the

rocket, before it is set off.

_Baguette en massive._ Rods or rammers, which are not bored.

_Bague suspendue aux cendres d'un fil._ A ring suspended to the

ashes of a thread.

_Ballon._ Balloon; a bomb or shell, made of pasteboard, which is

thrown in the air by means of a mortar.

_Ballon à bombes._ A large globe, filled with bombs, grenades, &c.

fired by means of a fuse, and thrown into the works of the enemy.

_Ballon d'Artifice._ A bomb, or spherical case, containing sundry

compositions.

_Ballons d'air._ Air-Balloons.

_Ballons d'eau._ Water-Balloons.

_Battage._ The process of pounding, grinding, and mixing, with

water, the three substances, composing gunpowder, to reduce them

to a proper consistency. It is performed in wooden mortars, with

wooden pestles, furnished with a brass box to agitate the water.

The time, employed in the battage in France, is from 14 to 22 hours.

_Bateau-poisson._ A diving boat.

_Billot à charger._ A billot for charging; used occasionally in the

place of a mallet.

_Boîte._ A species of small mortar. It is used, also, to express

a piece of wood or pasteboard, used in the arrangement of some

fire-works.

_Bonnetage._ The covering of priming over a case, or fuse.

_Bouffées._ Literally puffs, or blasts: in Pyrotechny, a kind of

fire-works, used in theatres, to represent the flames, issuing from

gulfs, or the caves of Cyclops. They are also called Cornets, from

their resembling horns in their shape.

_Boute feu._ Lintstock.

_Bouton._ The extremity of the culot is sometimes so called.

_Brin._ Frame. The frame on which are placed or fixed, fire-pots,

saucissons, &c. Hence _pots de Brin_, &c.

_Carabé or Karabé._ Yellow amber.

_Carte de Moulage._ Means in general, the paper for cases.

_Chapiteau d'artifice._ Conical head of a rocket.

_Chasse._ Charge of grained powder for mortars, &c.

_Chevelure de feu._ A species of furniture for rockets, in the form

of serpents.

_Chelingues._ A marine term. A kind of flat bottomed boat, used on

the coast of Coromandel.

_Corde à feu._ Match rope. Slow match. A match to preserve a small

quantity of fire.

_Courantin._ A messenger, runner, or flying dragon; a rocket, that

flies along a rope or string. See page 345.

_Courantin simple._ A line-rocket. A rocket fixed on a cord,

stretched horizontally on which a rocket moves.

_Courantin double._ Two line-rockets.

_Courier pigeon._ Carrier pigeon. See page 490.

_Culot._ Bottom; the thickest part of a shell, opposite to the

eye; also called reinforcement. The round iron plate, fixed upon

the sabot, or shoe, for cannister shot, or at the bottom of the

cannister, to project the shot with more force:--The bottom, or

block, which supports the piercer and mould for charging rockets,

(see plate, fig. 1):--That part of a cannon cartridge, which

remains in the piece after firing.

_Camouflet._ A small fougasse, to act against the enemy's miners,

who are heard at work, to suffocate them and poison their branch.

_Dauphin._ A fire-work in water.

_Debonneter une fusée._ The paper cover, put over the priming of a

fuse.

_Eaux de cuite._ Literally, water of boiling. The strongest

lixivium obtained in extracting nitre from plaster rubbish. It must

mark more than five degrees of Baumé's areometer, and is called

water of boiling, on account of its being sufficiently strong, to

be immediately subjected to boiling, for further concentration.

_Eaux forte._ Lixivia from plaster rubbish, which mark between

three and five degrees of the areometer.

_Eaux faibles._ Lixivia from plaster rubbish, whose strength is

under three degrees of the areometer.

_Eclair, ou jet de flame._ Several fire-works are so called from

their effect.

_Eclatante._ A case charged with brilliant fire.

_Epoussetage._ The process of separating the dust from gunpowder;

also of separating mealed powder, from that which is not reduced.

_Eprouvette._ Gunpowder triers: an instrument for proving gunpowder.

_Etoile._ Star.

_Etoiles à pet._ Stars which explode.

_Entonnoir._ The crater or tunnel of a mine, as formed by its

explosion.

_Etoupille._ Quick match, leader, match of communication; cotton or

thread mixed in a paste, composed of meal-powder, spirits, and a

small portion of gum.

_Etrangler._ Strangling; choaking. The closing of a case, and tying

it.

_Fanaux de Mer._ Ship lights;--Beacons for vessels in the

night;--watch-lights.

_Feu blanc Indien._ Chinese fire.

_Feu brilliant._ A bright vivid fire. Thus the fire, produced by

steel and iron, in fire-works, is denominated a brilliant fire.

_Feu commun._ Common fire. A fire produced by the mixture of powder

and charcoal.

_Feu mort._ Dead light; dead fire. See page 485.

_Feux de Gouvernement._ State or public fire-works.

_Filagere._ The thread used for strangling.

_Flamboyante._ A species of rocket, which, from its effects in the

atmosphere, is called the comet.

_Foudres._ Thunderbolts, lightnings; in pyrotechny, the

preparations, used to imitate thunderbolts; thunder powder.

_Foudroyante._ A case or rocket, which imitates thunder: Fougette.

(See Baguette à feu.)

_Fougasse._ A small mine.

_Fougues._ Small rockets, without sticks.

_Fourneau._ Furnace. A mine. The chamber of a mine.

_Fusée._ Any sort of composition, put in a cylindrical case.

In English, however, the term fuse is confined to particular

compositions; as fuse for bombs, howitzes and grenades.

_Fusées chevelues._ Bearded rockets. See page 424.

_Fusées d'amorce._ Priming fuses.

_Fusées volantes._ Flying or sky-rockets.

_Garniture._ Garniture, furniture, embellishment, ornament: in

pyrotechny the small fire-works, such as stars, serpents, marrons,

&c. which are put into the pots of sky-rockets, into fire-pots, &c.

The petards with which the pots of incendiary rockets are charged.

_Gargousse._ Cartouch, cartridge. It more properly means the sack,

or bag for containing the charge of powder for a cannon, _when the

bag is made of paper or parchment_; but when it is made of serge,

it is called sachet. (See sachet.)

_Girandole._ Chandelier: in pyrotechny, two or more horizontal

wheels, placed above one another and turning upon the same vertical

axis. When of different sizes, these wheels resemble a chandelier;

hence the name.

_Girande._ A cluster, or assemblage, of several hundreds or

thousands of rockets, thrown up at the same time. Several clusters

may be arranged in different boxes, and fired separately with

regular intervals, or all at the same time. In either case, the

assemblage is called a Girande. It is also called _gerbe_. See

gerbe, and page 455.

_Gerbe._ Sheaf; a fire-jet case, charged with the composition for

brilliant or Chinese fire, which is thrown out in such a manner

as to represent a luminous sheaf. A group of fuses, or fire-jets,

fired at the same time, also bears this name: A Chinese tree.

_Grenage._ The graining of gunpowder.

_Glace Inflammable._ Inflammable ice.

_Lissage._ The glazing of gunpowder.

_Lardon._ This term generally signifies all those small fire-works,

which are sold in shops; such as serpents, squibs, crackers, &c.;

but, more strictly, it signifies the largest, and strongest kind of

serpents.

_Lance à feu._ Squib, fire-lance, or simply lance.

_Lance de feu._ A species of lance used by garrisons against

scaling parties.

_Lance à feu puant._ Stink-fire lances, used by miners.

_Lanterne._ Literally lantern; a copper spoon, or ladle, used

instead of cartridges for conveying the charge to the bottom of a

cannon. They were formerly used in all pieces, but at present only

in siege and garrison pieces.

_Larmes à feu._ Fire-tears, or drops; tears.

_Lianes des Marais._ A species of convolvulus; bind weed.

_Marquise._ Marchioness; a rocket having an interior diameter of

two-thirds of an inch. When it has the diameter of five-sixths of

an inch, it is called a double marquise.

_Machine Infernale._ Infernal machine.

_Mosaique._ Mosaic; the imitation of mosaic in fire-works.

_Meurtrières._ Literally Murderers: applied to those modifications

of any species of fire-work, which fit them for the destruction of

an enemy.

_Partement._ See fusée de partement.

_Partement, fusées de._ Sky-rockets, having an interior diameter of

half of an inch. When the diameter of the rocket is only one-third

of an inch, it is called _Petit Partement_.

_Paratonnerre._ Lightning rod.

_Patte d'oie._ A goose's foot: a kind of fire-works, so called from

their resemblance to a goose's foot:--A term in mining to signify

three small branches, which run out at the extremity of a gallery.

_Pots à feu._ Fire pots: they are thrown upon the enemy in the

attack or defence of places; but are not so much used as fire-balls

and carcasses: pot granado.

_Pots des Brins._ See page 364.

_Pots de Chasse._ See page 360.

_Pots des Saucissons._ The pots of saucissons.

_Pluie d'or._ Golden rain.

_Poudre d'or._ Gold powder.

_Porte feu._ Port-fire; also a leader.

_Pièce pyrique._ This name is generally given to all kinds of

fire-works; composed of fixed and turning pieces, which would

require a great number of words to describe separately; but it is

more particularly given to a kind of mechanical contrivance of

fixed and turning wheels, one of which communicates fire to the

other, and vice versa. See page 412.

_Ricochet._ A bound, leap, or skip, such as a flat piece of stone

makes, when thrown obliquely along the surface of a pond: The

bounds, which are made by balls, fired with small charges, and

under angles of little elevation, either upon land, or water:

Fire-works, which leap or roll on the ground.

_Roche à feu._ Fire-stone.

_Séchage._ The process of drying either gunpowder or fire-works.

_Saucisson._ Sausage: in pyrotechny, a sort of fuse or petard,

still larger than the lardon:--A cylindrical bag of powder to

convey fire to a mine:--A bundle of sticks, used in fortification.

_Soleil montant._ Rising sun.

_Sachet._ Satchel: the bag or sack of a cannon cartridge, when made

of serge.

_Tourteaux._ Links: see page 500.

_Tourteaux goudronnés._ Tarred links.

_Tourbillon._ Whirlwind, vortex: a table wheel.

_Tourbillon de feu._ A whirlwind of fire; fire-wheels, which rise

or fall in the air; also called rising or falling suns.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] We deem an outline of the nature and effects of caloric as, in

some respects, indispensably necessary; for caloric, it is to be

observed, is an agent, whose effects are recognised in every species

of fire-work.

[2] That the terms _hot and cold_ are relative, as to our feelings,

fact and observations abundantly prove. Dr. Fordyce (_Phil. Trans._

vol. 64 & 65) heated a room by stoves to two hundred and sixty

degrees of Fahrenheit's scale, and remained in it for some time

without great inconvenience. But different metallic substances, as

the lock of the door, his watch and keys lying on the table, could

not be touched without burning him: and although an egg became

hard, and his pulse beat one hundred and thirty-nine per minute,

yet a thermometer placed in his mouth was only two or three degrees

hotter than common. He perspired profusely. Jenning's steam bath

will heat the air in contact with the naked body from one hundred

to one hundred and twenty degrees, a _heat_ sufficient, as it is

in the aqueous vapour, resulting from the combustion of alcohol or

strong spirit, to induce a copious diaphoresis in less than half

an hour. Having tried this experiment in several cases, I can only

say, that I effected in the course of an hour, what, under ordinary

circumstances, would require twelve or twenty-four, viz. a _copious

perspiration_, and that too without the exhibition of sudorifics.

The practice is an old one not only among civilized nations, but

aborigines. It is nevertheless worthy of adoption.

Frozen mercury cannot be touched without experiencing a sensation

similar to that of an ignited body, although directly opposite to

heat.

[3] A writer of the last century remarks, that "he cannot possibly

admit the sun to possess the least manner of heat, but rather to

contain the capabilities of fire, like a stick, or a flint, though

with a faculty of expressing it, by its own action, which the others

have not. I imagine its beams not to be hot, in their rectilineal

direction, but productive of this effect, from reflection,

only. If the rays of the sun were fire, in the first instance,

those consequences would naturally follow, that our friend and

correspondent _Tria_ so well describes in his _Day of Judgment_, 'The

rivers were dried up, and liquid ore supplied their burning channels.

The clouds were turned to fire, and shot through the astonished sky.

The air was flame, and breathing was no more. The firmament was

melted down, and rained its sulphur o'er the prostrate globe, &c.'

The sun emanates light only, in the direct line, but owes its heat

to reflection. We feel it, therefore, more intensely, in a valley,

than on a hill. Why are the Alps and Pyrennees crowned with eternal

frosts, while the shepherds, with their flocks, are sheltering their

scorching heads from the heat of the sun, at the foot of them? Why do

the upper regions of the air shower down their hail and snow, to be

thawed and melted here below? Why shall a _lens_ of ice receive the

rays above, so coldly, and transmit them so intensely hot, beneath?

Why is it warmer, in summer, though the sun is farther off, than in

winter, when 'tis so much nearer to us? Because of our situation,

in regard to it, only. In the first case the rays are vertical, in

others lateral; and perpendicular reflections are stronger, than

oblique ones. We judge of fire above, from what we feel below, &c."

The summit of Ætna, notwithstanding the fire of the volcano, is

covered almost all the year with snow. Fazello, speaking of this

says, that "this region extends nearly twelve miles; and, even in

summer, is almost perpetually covered with snow, and extremely cold:

which is the more wonderful as the summit continually produces,

nourishes, and pours forth flames amid the ice and snow with which it

is enveloped." Solinus says, "Ætna, in a wonderful manner, exhibits

snows mixed with fires; and retains every appearance of the severest

winter, amid her vast conflagrations."

Silius Italicus, and Claudian, and Pindar, who lived 500 years before

the Christian era, bear testimony to the antiquity of this fact.

'Where burning Ætna, towering, threats the skies,

Mid flames and ice the lofty rocks arise,

The fire amid eternal winter glows,

And the warm ashes hide the hoary snows.'

_Silius Italicus_, from the Latin.

'Amid the fires accumulates the snow,

And frost remains where burning ashes glow;

O'er ice eternal sweep th' inactive flames,

And winter, spite of fire, the region claims.'

_Claudian_, from the Latin.

----'Snowy Ætna, nurse of endless frost,

The mighty prop of heaven.'

_Pindar_, from the Greek.

The height of Ætna is generally estimated at 11,000 feet above the

sea. In 1755, it issued out a torrent, not of mud, as was supposed,

but of snow and ice melted by the lava. The same thing happened at

the volcano of Cargarossa in South America.

The celebrated Herschel, (Phil. Trans. 1801, and Nich. Jour. 1.

13), in considering the construction of the sun, infers it to

be a habitable globe more magnificent than our earth, or other

planets, and that its lucid substance is not a liquid nor an

elastic fluid; but that it exists in the manner of luminous clouds,

swimming in the transparent atmosphere of the sun, or rather of

lucid decompositions taking place within that atmosphere. The

_Philosophical Transactions_, 1795, p. 72, also contains remarks on

this lucid matter. Having rejected the old terms of spots, nuclei,

penumbræ, and luculi, he has substituted those of openings, shallows,

ridges, nodules, corrugations, indentations, and pores. The openings

are places where the luminous solar clouds are removed, which he

thinks are produced by a wind or gas from the sun's body. Shallows

are depressions below the luminous clouds, and are caused by the

propelling gas, which produces the openings. They are tufted like

masses of clouds. Ridges are elevations of the luminous clouds. The

length of one of the longest was found to be 75,000 miles. They

generally surround the openings. Herschel thinks it probable, from

appearances, that the luminous matter is disturbed at top by the

transparent elastic fluid, which issues from the openings. Nodules

are small elevations of the luminous matter. Corrugations are smaller

elevations and depressions of the same matter. Indentations are the

dark places of corrugations. That they are not much depressed, is

deduced from their visibility near the margin of the sun. They are

of the same nature as shallows, and of different sizes. Pores are

the low places of indentations. The doctor is of opinion, that the

phenomena before described could not appear, if the shining matter

were a liquid; because, by the laws of hydrostatics, the openings,

shallows, indentations, and pores would be filled up. Still less

could these phenomena exist with the supposition of elastic fluidity.

The shining matter, he concludes, must exist in the manner of

empyreal luminous or phosphoric clouds. The planetary atmosphere of

the sun, its great height, its density, as inferred from the power of

gravitation, which is known to be twenty-seven times stronger at the

sun's surface than with us, and other subjects are also discussed. He

supposes the gas to pass from the sun itself upwards to the region of

the clouds, so as to generate pores, corrugations, &c. He concludes

finally, that if this view of the solar appearances be well founded,

there will be no difficulty in ascertaining the actual state of the

sun with regard to its energy in giving heat and light.

In a paper on the "_Construction of the Heavens_," the doctor thinks

it probable, that the great stratum called the milky way is that in

which the sun is placed, though perhaps not in the centre of its

thickness. The celebrated astronomer Lalande supposes the _spots_

before mentioned to be parts of the solid body of the sun, but admits

not a luminous atmosphere, but a luminous ocean. For the observations

of Dr. Young, see his _Natural Philosophy_, and of sir _Isaac

Newton_, his _Principia_, &c. Consult also Biot.

Sir Isaac Newton has asserted, according to Nicholson, (_British

Encyclopedia_) "that the density of the sun's heat, which is

proportioned to his light, is seven times as great in Mercury as

with us, and that water there would be all carried off in the shape

of steam, for, he found, by experiments with the thermometer, that a

heat seven times greater than that of the sun's beams in summer will

serve to make water boil." That fixed stars are of the same nature as

the sun, since they agree with it in several particulars, as in the

property of emitting light continually, and in retaining constantly

their relative situation with but little variation, is generally

admitted. They are supposed also to emit heat as well as light. The

sun is, therefore, considered a fixed star comparatively near us, and

the fixed stars, which seem as centres to other systems of worlds,

as suns at immense distances from us. Taking the distance of the

sun from us to be, as is found by calculation, 95,000,000 miles, we

may infer, that every thing must be scorched up at its surface; but

this question is put at rest, if we consider that the sun's rays

act on a calorific medium, as the cause of changing quiescent into

distributable heat. May not light itself, by some process unknown to

us, produce calorific rays? That heat and light are both material,

and possess some properties in common, that for instance, of

reflection and refraction, are facts well known; but to account for

the peculiar agency of light, if it be admitted, is a problem, which,

perhaps, will never be settled?

[4] _Fire_ must have been a very potent instrument in the hands

of Hannibal, if we believe what Livy and Pliny assert respecting

the means he employed in crossing the Alps, which took him fifteen

days, after meeting with almost every obstacle. Livy tells us, that

Hannibal softened the rock by pouring vinegar upon it, after it had

first been made hot under flaming piles of huge trees! M. Rollin

quotes Pliny to prove that vinegar has the _force_ to break stones

and rocks! This story is altogether fabulous; for in the first

place, had he vinegar sufficient; and, secondly, who ever knew that

vinegar had force, or even the power of dissolving primitive rocks,

such as granite or gneiss; and, thirdly, if it possessed the power

stated by Pliny, and had he a sufficient quantity, where was his

wood? For Polybius assures us, that Hannibal had no wood to make a

fire with, and that there was not a tree in the place, where he then

was, nor near it. That Hannibal passed over the Alps into Italy, and

at an inclement season of the year, is certain, and that it was one

of the greatest achievements that an enterprising commander ever

accomplished, is generally admitted.

[5] Respiration is a mechanical and chemical process, and consists

in alternate inhalation and exhalation, which, in consequence of

the oxygen gas in the air, effects a change in the venous blood

that enters the lungs from the pulmonary artery. Now as this blood

is charged with carbon, to which its dark purple colour is owing,

it is carried off in union with oxygen in the form of carbonic

acid. Hence carbonic acid is produced in respiration and the venous

blood is changed into the bright red arterial blood. A common sized

man will consume about 46 thousand cubic inches of oxygen _per

diem_; equivalent to 125 cubic feet of air, and makes about twenty

respirations in a minute, or for every seven pulsations breathes

twice.

[6] Of this fact the reader may form some idea, when he is informed,

that Newton's Principia, Biot's _Physique_, _Hatchette_, _Gregory_,

&c. &c. form the class books of instruction, works which require deep

study, and profound thought.

[7] Various applications of chemistry, among which that to gunpowder,

drew my attention at an early period of life. In the Aurora of

Philad. I published a series of essays on this and other subjects,

which, from the letters received at that time, I flatter myself

tended in some degree to advance the manufacturing interest in the

United States; an interest, which is connected with our individual

and national prosperity, and the _permanent_ and _practical_

independence of the republic. These essays were entitled "Application

of chemistry to the arts and manufactures," and published in 1808.

I have since enlarged that plan in the Artist's Manual, &c. 2 vols.

8vo. While noticing this subject we may add, that, having the honour

of being one of the few of the original society of Philadelphia

for the promotion of National Industry, whose essays excited, as

they claimed, the attention of the citizens of the United States,

much is due to the indefatigable labours of some of the members of

that association. We are greatly indebted to the able and masterly

pen of SAMUEL JACKSON M. D. Professor of Pharmacy in the college

of Apothecaries, of Philadelphia, for many of the best essays it

produced, whose disinterested motives, liberal and exalted mind, and

pure patriotic feeling prompted him to the laudable undertaking;

and whose essays were full, clear, and comprehensive. Viewing his

talents, his worth, his merit, we may truly add, that he is not

only an honour to the country which gave him birth, but an ornament

to the age in which he lives. The able address of the Philadelphia

Linnæan society, penned and signed by him, the late Samuel Benezet

M. D., and the author, as a committee, although written many years

ago, contains the principles, which are now advocated for the support

and encouragement of national industry. This address was calculated,

however, to promote, at the same time, the interests of Natural

History.

[8] Incombustible cloth made of this substance was formerly in use,

not only for domestic purposes, but, also to retain the ashes of the

dead from those of the funeral pile. Cloth made of amianthus, when

greased, or soiled, may be cleansed by throwing it into a bright

fire. It is then restored to a dazzling white colour. Pliny, the

naturalist, saw table cloths, towels, and napkins of amianthus taken

from the table of a great feast, thrown into the fire, and burnt

before the whole company; and by this operation, he says, they became

better cleansed than if they had been washed.

Pontoppidan (_Natural History of Norway_) remarks, that he has a

piece of paper made of the Norway asbestus, which, when thrown into

a fierce fire, is not in the least wasted, but what is written on it

totally disappears. In Norway, the stone flax is prepared by beating

it in water, till the fibres separate, which are repeatedly washed,

and then dried in a sieve. It is afterwards spun, observing to

moisten the fingers with oil.

[9] In the year 1601, a horse, which had been taught to perform a

number of tricks, was tried, as possessed by the devil, and condemned

to be burnt. Joblonski affirms in his _Lexicon, &c._ that he was

condemned to the flames in Lisbon. Nothing was a greater imposition

on mankind than the Oracles. The imposition of causing statues to

speak, as the head of Orpheus in the island of Lesbos, the Æsculapius

of Alexander, &c. may be readily perceived, when Lucius relates,

that, in the case of Alexander's oracle, he took instead of a pipe,

the gullet of a crane, and transmitted the voice through it to the

mouth of the statue! Bishop Theophilus, in the fourth century, broke

to pieces the statues at Alexandria. He found some which were hollow,

and placed in such a manner against a wall, that a priest could

slip unperceived behind them, and speak to the ignorant populace

through their mouths. Professor Beckman observes, "that the Pagan

priests, like our jugglers, were afraid that their deceptions, if

long practised, might be discovered. They considered it, therefore,

as more secure to deliver the answers themselves, or cause them to

be delivered by women instructed for that purpose, or by writings,

or by any other means. We read, nevertheless, that idols, and the

images of saints once spoke; for at present the latter will not

venture to open their mouths. If their votaries ever really heard

a voice proceed from the statue, it may have been produced in the

before-mentioned manner." We think, that a contrivance, similar to

the bull of Phalaris, in the place of hollow statues, would furnish a

good reality.

The oracle of Apollo at Delphos, says Percy, having been consulted

about the manner of stopping a plague then raging at Athens, returned

for answer, that the plague should cease, when Apollo's altar,

which was cubical, should be doubled. The philosophers of Athens

immediately applied themselves to discover the duplicature of the

cube, which henceforward was called the Delian Problem, and continued

for a long time to be an object of the keenest pursuit to the

curious. The first who discovered the solution was Hippocrates Chias.

[10] Signs in the heavens were believed by the ancients; and even

with regard to natural occurrences, they produced melancholy and

awful reflections. Augustus Cæsar was so afraid of thunder and

lightning, that, though he carried about him a skin of a sea-calf,

which was in those days accounted an excellent _paratonnerre_, yet,

whenever he saw a tempest coming, he used to fly for refuge to some

vaulted place underground. Caius Caligula rivalled Augustus in this

respect; for Suetonius observes, that when it thundered, he would

wrap his head in some covering; or, if in bed, leap out of bed and

hide himself under it.

[11] By means of a solar microscope, I have seen the animalcula in

vinegar several inches in length, some of which had the appearance of

eels, and in motion.

[12] There is a sort of mountebanks not only in Ceylon, but in

many other parts of the East Indies, who make a trade of taming

serpents, which they pretend to do by _incantation_, and carry them

about by way of show. I once witnessed the _taming_ of a serpent, a

black snake about four feet in length, by an English gentleman at

Harrowgate, in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. He was remarkably

fond of snakes for _pets_, and had them not only to follow him, but

also to be about in the house among his children, who became familiar

with them; and, although young myself, I observed that they were

passive and obedient, and knew by instinct their _dependence_ on his

favours.

The _incantation_, that Mr. C--d used, was simply this: The snake

was put into a room, and Mr. C. took in with him a bowl of milk, and

the door was closed. Having taken off his coat, and put on a glove,

he proceeded towards his antagonist, who, being prepared for the

attack, made at him, but was repulsed; a second and third attempt was

made, but he was thrown back as before. The snake finding himself

_mastered_, did not think proper to renew the combat, and crawled

into the corner panting for breath. Mr. C. now took some of the milk

and placed it before him, without the least fear, and after he had

finished it, he gave him more. This he continued until the snake was

satisfied. After which, to the astonishment of all who witnessed the

experiment, he took it up, and having wound itself round his arm, he

carried it home. Whether he examined his mouth, destroyed the fang,

or the vesicular sac, (if it had one), I do not recollect; but this

same snake was afterwards a _great favorite_, and would follow his

master like a dog, and even play about with the children. I mention

this incident to show, that serpents possess considerable instinct,

and are, like domestic animals, conscious of their friends and

benefactors, and may be trained in the same manner.

In the island of Ceylon, there is a small animal called the

Indian Ichneumon, which destroys snakes in abundance; but, what

is remarkable, he only attacks them in an open place, where he

has an opportunity of running to a certain herb, which he knows

instinctively to be an antidote against the poison of the bite, if

he should happen to receive one. The monkeys of India, knowing the

malignity of snakes, make a business of hunting and destroying them

at night; after seizing them, they carry them to a stone, and beat

their heads until the fangs are destroyed, and then exultingly throw

them in the air. The poison is lodged in two small vesicles, and when

the animal bites they are squeezed, and the poison is forced through

the fangs into the wound. If the vesicles be extracted, or the liquid

prevented from flowing into the wound, the bite is harmless.

[13] The great cave on Crooked Creek, was discovered about the year

1800, by Mr. Baker. He proceeded only a small distance into it. On

the succeeding day, he brought his wife, and two or three children to

explore it. He carried a torch, which he accidentally dropped. During

two days and two nights, this family wandered in total darkness,

though sometimes within the hearing of a cataract, when, fortunately,

Mrs. Baker, in attempting to support herself on a rock, perceived

that it was wet. She conjectured that it was caused by the mud, which

they had brought in upon their feet. Baker immediately ascended the

rock, and saw the light of day.

[14] There can be no doubt, as we observed, that miasma is variously

compounded; but there is no certainty, as to what it is composed of,

or what modifications it may assume. That it is, however, a chemical

combination, and may be decomposed, and destroyed by chemical agents,

appears equally true. The disinfecting apparatus of Morveau, sundry

fumigations, &c. are used for this purpose. The proper destroyers of

these gaseous poisons, are nitric acid vapour, muriatic acid, and

chlorine. The two last are the most effectual. How would chlorine

gas act on prussine gas, or cyanogen? Would it not deprive it of its

carbon, forming the chlorocarbonic acid, and thus set the azote at

liberty, or might it not unite with the nitrogen, and form a chloride

of nitrogen? Suppose the cyanogen to be combined with hydrogen, the

decomposition of the hydrocyanic acid would be effected first by the

chlorine combining with the hydrogen, forming muriatic acid, and

secondly with the carbon, forming chlorocarbonic acid. If hydrogen,

in any other combination, should exist, would not the chlorine

in every case decompose such compound, and thereby destroy its

deletereous properties by taking away its hydrogen? I think it will

be proved, some time or other, that the miasma, which produces yellow

fever, is a compound of carbon and azote, with hydrogen, acting under

particular circumstances and conditions.

Various other means, besides those we have stated, have been

recommended to prevent the effect of contagious matter, such as

odoriferous substances, preparations of camphor, aromatic vinegar,

called the vinegar of four thieves, &c. but all come short of the

effect, and may be regarded as nostrums. The vapour of burning

sulphur, or sulphurous acid, is used in the East against the plague;

but this is inferior to either of the other acids, of which chlorine,

formerly called oxymuriatic acid, is to be preferred. A mixture of

four parts of common salt, one of black oxide of manganese, and two

of sulphuric acid, or muriatic acid poured on manganese or red lead,

will generate chlorine gas. Morveau's disinfecting apparatus contains

the above mixture. The free use of this gas in apartments, &c. &c.

cannot be too strongly recommended.

[15] On this subject, see a paper by Mr. Howard in the English

Philosophical Transactions, for 1802, and by Vauquelin in the

_Journal des Mines_, No. 76.

[16] For the history of saltpetre, the reader may consult, with

advantage, Beckman's _History of Inventions_.

[17] "The affinity of charcoal for oxygen is so considerable, that

instances have been known of its undergoing spontaneous combustion by

simple contact with the air. An occurrence of this kind took place

at the powder mills of Essonne, in France. (An. de Chim. 36, p, 93.)

A large quantity of recently burnt charcoal had been ground in the

usual manner, and was deposited in a large receptacle for future use;

some days after, the door of the magazine being opened, in order to

remove a part of the charcoal, an extraordinary heat was perceived,

and immediately a train of fire was observed, spreading over the

surface of the charcoal, and which was not extinguished without much

difficulty." Aikin's _Chemical Dictionary_, vol. i, p. 238.

[18] This apparatus will heat the air in a room to 84° in the coldest

weather, and is particularly calculated for cotton mills, and other

purposes. His invention is considered to be a judicious application

of a well known principle. Count Rumford heated rooms in a similar

manner by steam, which may be seen in the Repository of Arts vol.

xv, p. 186. A Mr. Green of Wandsworth, England, obtained a patent

in 1793, for warming rooms, by heated air, heated with steam. Steam

pipes, however, are now in use in the United States. In consequence

of the great quantity of latent caloric in steam (about 1000 degrees)

which is given out as free heat in its condensation, this principle

has been judiciously applied not only to the warming of apartments,

but to the boiling of dye kettles, and other purposes. See an account

of Woolf's steam apparatus, subsequent pages.

[19] The principal workmen they describe, are a master powderer, a

master carpenter, a master cooper, a head boy, (_Garçon_) employed

in the pulverization of the substances, another for the fabrication

of charcoal, one for every mill, besides workmen for aiding in the

charring, for the mill, &c.

[20] _Traité sur l'art de fabriquer la poudre à canon_, par MM.

Bottée et Riffault may be consulted.

[21] This is a mixed gas, composed of carburetted hydrogen, and

carbonic oxide.

[22] His son wrote a work, having the following title: "Thoughts

concerning that last and most perfect work of nature, and chief

of metals, gold, its wonderful properties, generation, affection,

effects, and fitness for the operations of art; illustrated by

experiments," from the Latin. Hamburgh, 1685, 8vo.

[23] In the year 1777, Lord Mahon, afterwards Earl Stanhope,

exhibited some experiments, to prove the certain, cheap, and simple

method of securing houses against fire, without making use of either

brick, stones, tiles, iron, or any such incombustible material. A

building, entirely constructed of wood, and of lath and plaster, with

a very small quantity of sand laid under the floors, which were of

deal, was attempted to be set on fire by means of a large quantity of

dry burning fuel, faggots, straw, pitch and other combustibles, with

which the lower room of this building was filled, from the floor to

the ceiling almost in every part. The whole mass of fire burnt out

without doing the least damage. Those who were in the next story,

directly over the conflagration, did not perceive the least degree of

heat. A wooden stair case, made in the same manner, also resisted the

flames.

[24] The imitation of thunder, rain, hail, &c. for theatrical

purposes, is variously performed. Mr. Nicholson, in describing an

exhibition he saw in London, (See Phantasmagoria,) remarks, that

thunder was imitated very accurately, by means of sheet iron plates.

The noise of rain and hail may be imitated by procuring a thin hollow

cylinder of wood, about ten inches wide, and two or three feet

long; dividing its inside into five equal parts, by boards, placed

obliquely, of five or six inches, observing to let there be between

them and the wooden circle, a space of about one-sixth of an inch,

and then introducing about four or five pounds of shot, and turning

it upside down. The shot will pass through the various partitions,

and resemble the fall of rain. If large shot be used, the noise will

be increased, and resemble hail.

According to the _Dictionnaire de l'Industrie_, (article _Tonnerre

artificiel_), thunder is imitated, by making a hexangular case of

sheet iron, and putting stones or small balls into it, and rolling

it more or less swiftly. Another mode is to roll cannon balls on a

floor, on which is loosely nailed, at certain distances apart, strips

of wood or lath. A clap of thunder is imitated by letting fall on

each other, very suddenly, a number of sheet iron plates, having them

previously suspended, or strung on a cord, which must be vertical. In

1784, M. Michael, (_Journal de Paris_) made a machine, which imitated

thunder, so completely, as either to produce the most violent

clap, or the most distant rumbling, with intermediate variations.

Parchment, stretched over a frame, has likewise, been used for the

same purpose. The distant thunder may be represented in this manner;

but, to produce a sharp noise, or clap, something more is required.

[25] Whoever walked the streets of Rome, at night, without a lantern,

was under the necessity of creeping home in perfect darkness, and

in great danger, like Alexis, in Athenæus. Antioch, Rome, and a

few other cities had public lanterns in streets which were most

frequented. Libanus, who lived in the beginning of the fourth

century, in praising his native city, Antioch, says, that "the light

of the sun is succeeded by other lights, which are far superior to

the lamps lighted by the Egyptians on the festival of Minerva of

Sais. The night differs from the day only in the appearance of the

light. With regard to labour and employment, every thing goes on

well. Some work continually; but others laugh and amuse themselves

with singing." In another passage, in the oration to Ellibichus,

the same author tells us, that the ropes from which the lamps that

ornamented the city were suspended, had been cut by some riotous

soldiers, not far from a bath. "Proceeding," says he "to a bath, not

far off, they cut, with their swords, the ropes, from which were

suspended the lamps that afforded light in the night-time, to show

that the ornaments of the city ought to give way to them." Jerome

also makes it appear, that Antioch was lighted with lamps; for, he

remarks, that, in an altercation between a Luciferan and an Orthodox,

an adherent to the schismatic Lucifer disputed in the street with

a true believer, till the streets were lighted, when the listening

crowd departed, and that they spat in each other's face, and retired.

Edessa, in Syria, was lighted in the fifth century, and the governor

of that city ordered, that a part of the oil, which was before given

to the churches and monasteries, should be burnt in the streets.

While illuminations were considered emblematical of public rejoicing,

the reverse was considered a token of public sorrow; to denote which,

on occasions of great misfortune, it was customary not to light the

streets. Valerius quotes a passage of Libanius in proof of this

assertion, where it is said, that the people of Antioch, in order to

mitigate the anger of the emperor, bethought themselves of lighting

either no lamps, or a very small number. In 1588, Paris was lighted

up with _falots_, or vases filled with pitch, rosin, and other

combustibles. The Abbé Laudati let out torches and lanterns in Paris,

in 1662.

[26] In the _Archives des Découvertes_, &c. several new lamps are

described, as follows: A lamp, invented by count Rumford noticed by

him in a memoir on the light of lamps, and the means of increasing

it; a new lamp with a double current of air, by Lenormand; star lamp

by Bordier; reverberatory lamp for towns, &c. by de Thirville and

Bordier; a modified thermo-lamp by Winsor; a new lamp by Baswell; the

economical lamp of inflammable gas, by Murdoc, and economical lamp

by Lambertin; the cupola lamp by Vivien; new lamp with a porcelain

reflector by L'Ange; the hydrodynamic and chemical lamp, by L'Ange;

the portable lamp by count Rumford; horizontal reflectors, with

parabolic surfaces in revolving, and parabolic reflectors, simple

and double, by Argand and Bordier Marcet; improved lamp, by Marcet;

thermo-lamp by Sobolewsky and Horrer; watch lamp by Dumouceau;

various lamps, with carburetted hydrogen; the polyflame lamp, of

Rumford; the curved lamp by Connain; the enamellers' lamp, and

hydropneumatic lamp by Tilley, &c. Davy's safety lamp is described

in Brande's _Chemistry_, and in Ure's _Chemical Dictionary_. See

_Aphlogistic lamp_.

[27] A solution of muriate of copper gives a green, of sulphate of

copper and muriate of soda, a light green; of sulphate of copper,

and ammonia in excess, a deep blue; a decoction of cochineal, or of

brazil wood, and a solution of tin, a deep red or scarlet, &c. These

solutions may be used for that purpose.

[28] Having mentioned in this article, the use of candles for

illumination, it may not be improper to observe, that they were also

employed for cooking, as will appear from the following incident.

In 1172, Henry II, of France, collected together the _feigners_ of

Languedoc, in order to mediate a peace between the count of Toulouse,

and the king of Arragon, at which Guillaume Gros de Martel gave a

sumptuous dinner, the viands being all cooked by the flame of _wax

tapers_!

[29] In the Archives des Découvertes et des Inventiones Nouvelles,

are several new inventions and improvements, relative to fire arms,

among which are the following: New fire arms, invented by Pauly,

which are said to carry a ball double the distance of ordinary

muskets, and to possess other advantages; for a particular account

of which, the reader is referred to the Bulletin de la Société

d'Encouragement, No. 99; another kind, by MM. Pauly and Prelat, which

primes itself, &c. and goes off by percussion; an improvement in guns

by using platina bushing, &c. by Lepage, with the use of priming,

composed of powder made of chlorate of potassa in lieu of saltpetre;

the improvement of Regnier in guns; improvement in the use of platina

for guns, to be used with the oxymuriated powder, by Debourbet; a gun

which fires fourteen times in succession without new loading, by M.

Henri; an improved carabine, which is discharged by percussion, by M.

Gosset, &c.

[30] Since 1792, musket-balls are seven-twelfths of an inch in

diameter, and twenty go to the pound instead of eighteen. In the

British service, eleven bullets to the pound are used for the proof

of muskets, and fourteen in the pound, or twenty-nine in two pounds,

for service; seventeen for the proof of carbines, and twenty for

service; and twenty-eight in the pound, for the proof of pistols, and

thirty four for service. The diameter of musket-bullets differs but

one-fiftieth part from that of the musket bore; for if the shot but

just rolls into the barrel, it is sufficient.

The diameter of any bullet is found, by dividing 1.6706 by the cube

root of the number, which shows how many of them make a pound, or it

may be done in a shorter way. From the logarithm .2228756 of 1.6706,

subtract continually the third part of the logarithm of the number

of bullets in the pound, and the difference will be the logarithm of

the diameter required. Thus the diameter of a bullet, whereof twelve

weigh a pound, is found by subtracting .3597270, a third part of the

logarithm of 12, from the given logarithm .2228756; or, when the

logarithm is less than the former, a unit must be added, so as to

have 1.2228756, and the difference .8631486 will be the logarithm of

the diameter sought, which is .7297 inches; observing that the number

found will always be a decimal, when the logarithm, which is to be

subtracted is greater than that of the pound; because the divisor is

greater than the dividend in this case.

Hence, from the specific gravity of lead, the diameter of any bullet

may be found from its given weight: for, since a cube foot weighs

11325 ounces, and 678 is to 355, as the cube 1728 of a foot, or 12

inches, is the content of the sphere; which therefore is, 5929.7 is

to 16 ounces, or a pound, as the cube 1728 is to the cube of the

diameter of a sphere which weighs a pound; which cube therefore is

4.66263, and its root 1.6706 inches, the diameter sought.

[31] A term used in the French Navy, to signify a wooden case or box,

in which cartridges are brought out of the powder-magazine for the

purpose of serving the guns; also a spoon or ladle, made of copper,

and fixed to a long pole, which serves to convey gunpowder into a

piece of ordnance.

[32] If sugar of lead cannot be had, and a substitute is required

which in fact is the same, we may dissolve white lead in vinegar,

until the latter is saturated. This may be used with water in the

same manner, using, however, more of it as it is in solution.

[33] Lee's adventure, just related, brings to mind another, by a man

of same name, not, however, with a submarine torpedo, or any thing of

that kind; but with a _sublunar_ aerostatic vessel, made about two or

three years ago, at Camden, opposite Philadelphia. This was a balloon

of an oblong shape, intended to float in the air like a ship on

water, and furnished with oars or wings. It was filled with hydrogen

gas. The object was to direct it, (a desideratum in aerostation),

like a vessel on water; but the aeronaut, having arose in his car

to the height of a lombardy poplar, which came in contact with it,

and judging a retreat was preferable, leaped on a limb, where he

had the misfortune to be caught by the seat of his pantaloons, and

appeared, as it were, suspended between heaven and earth, to the no

small diversion of thousands of spectators. The balloon ascended to

some height, and then turned, throwing out his sand bags, &c. which,

in the city, were taken for the unfortunate aeronaut, and produced,

of course, a contrary feeling. Lee called on me the next day, and,

in explanation of the cause, observed, that, when he ascended to the

height mentioned, he found the centre of gravity was shifting, and

thought it prudent not to venture. I observed, that it was well he

changed his gravity, but was sorry to find, that he had transferred

his centre a posteriori.

[34] A friend, who was a prisoner on board of Hardy's ship, very

facetiously observed, such was the dread of torpedoes by the British,

that they were literally afraid of _eating a potato, lest it should

contain a torpedo_!

[35] We are informed, that some rockets, which were made at the U. S.

Arsenal at Troy, were charged with the usual rocket composition, and

a small portion of quicklime, in consequence of which their power was

greatly augmented; a useful hint for their improvement.

[36] Star composition:--meal-powder 5 parts, saltpetre 16 parts,

sulphur 8 parts, antimony 2 parts.

[37] Four inches more likely.

[38] General Lallemand (Treatise on Artillery, vol. i, p. 26,)

observes, that the Congreve rocket is thirty inches in length, and

three and a half inches in diameter; that a part of its charge

consists of fire stone and small grenades; that their range is equal

to a long gun, but their direction is very uncertain; so much so

as to render them of little service, except to set fire to objects

with extensive surfaces; and that they will not pierce through solid

buildings, and in battle are at best only fit to frighten horses.

[39] In a note to Gibbon, page 283, we read, "The naphtha, the oleum

incendiarum of the history of Jerusalem (Gest. Dei per Francos, p.

1167,) the oriental fountain of James de Vitry (l. iii, c. 84,) is

introduced on slight evidence and strong probability." The name by

which Cinnamus call the Greek fire, corresponds with the locality

where naphtha was found, between the Tigris and the Caspian sea.

Pliny (Hist. Natur. ii, 109,) says, it was subservient to the revenge

of Medea, and according to the etymology, naphtha was signified.

[40] The _Fougasses_ and _Camouflets_, used in mining, are employed

for different purposes. The fougasses are small mines, whose line of

resistance is only six to six and two-thirds feet. They are used to

defend large posts. Bomb fougasses are nothing more than fougasses,

charged with bombs containing powder. To estimate the effects of

bomb fougasses, artillerists have ascertained the exact quantity of

powder contained in each kind of bomb. A bomb of eight and a half

inches weighs forty-six and a half pounds; it requires four and a

half pounds of powder to fill it; but one pound will burst it. The

eighteen inch bomb, or _cominage_, weighs nearly five hundred and

seventy-one pounds, and contains forty pounds of powder Thirteen

pounds of powder will burst it. The _camouflet_ is a small fougasse,

made to act against the enemy's mines, to suffocate and poison their

branch. The _camouflet_ is also used to act against the sides of

the crater of a mine that has been sprung. See _Science of War and

Fortification_, vol. 2d, p. 286.

[41] The _gramme_ is the French unit of weight, and is equal to the

weight of a cubic centimetre of pure water; it weighs 18.84 grains,

French. The kilogramme is equal to 1000 grammes. (2 lbs., 5 drachma,

49 grains, French.)

[42] Among other inventions, by this philosopher, such as the

detection of the adulteration of the crown of Hiero, mentioned by

Vitruvius, the cachleon or Archimedes' screw, the Helix for launching

large ships, the Trispaston for drawing immense weights, Pneumatic

and Hydrostatic engines, sphere, which exhibited the celestial

motions;--there are two in particular, which relate to the defence

of Syracuse, as well as the destruction of the enemy. Besides his

burning mirrors, Polybius, Livy, and Plutarch assert, that his

inventions for defence consisted of Tormenta, Balistæ, Catapults,

Sagittarii, Scorpions, Cranes, &c. Archimedes died in the 143d

Olympiad, 210 years before the birth of Christ.

[43] Certain plants, we have said, are made use of for this purpose.

Botanists have certain rules for distinguishing poisonous plants,

from those which are innocent. Professor Eaton (Manual of Botany,

&c. p. 17) observes, that plants with five stamens and one pistil,

with a dull coloured lurid corol, and of a nauseating sickly smell,

are always poisonous; as tobacco, thorn-apple, henbane, night-shade.

The degree of poisonous property diminished, when the flower is

brighter coloured, and the smell, less nauseous. He also observes,

that umbelliferous plants of the aquatic kind, and of a nauseating

scent, are always poisonous; as water-hemlock and cow-parsley. But

if they grow in dry land, and their smell is pleasant, they are not

poisonous; as fennel, dill, &c. Snap dragon, foxglove, and plants,

generally, with labiate corols, and seeds in capsules, are poisonous,

and also those plants which exude a milky juice when broken, unless

they bear compound flowers; as milk-weed and dog-bane. It is

understood, also, that plants having any appendage to the calyx or

corol, and eight or more stamens, are generally poisonous.

INDEX.

A.

Accension of _glace inflammable_, 40

Accension of spirit of turpentine, 51

Accension of phosphuretted hydrogen gas, 85

Accension, spontaneous, remarks on, 288

Acid of borax, use of, in fire-works, 227

Aigrette, pots of, 363

why so named, _ibid_

Air works, 347

Alcohol, 168

the flame of, how coloured, 20, 269

its compound with water, &c. 169

its use in fire-works, 168

its proof, or strength, how ascertained, 170

used in the preparation of fulminating mercury, _ibid_

burns without smoke, _ibid_

Alexander the Great, surprised with the effects of naphtha, 32, 153

Albertus Magnus, published an account of the ordeal by fire, 38

on the Greek fire, 98

_Amadou_; see Pyrotechnical sponge.

Amber, 156

used in odoriferous fire, 157

found in the United States, _ibid_

black; see Jet.

Ambergris, _ibid_

American Turtle, what, 515

Ammonia, muriate of, 184

Analysis of gunpowder, in what it consists, 140

Ancients, fire-works of the, 261

as exhibited in theatres, _ibid_

made chiefly in wooden tubes, 262

illuminated on birth days, 428

Anelzin, Constantine, supposed to have invented gunpowder, 99

Animal poisons, for what used, 568

Animalcula, 34

Anglesea, Island of, furnishes sulphur from copper pyrites, 80

Antimony, 188

Antioch, had some public lamps, _note_. 428

Anna Commena, her formula for Greek fire, 98

Aphlogistic lamp, 170

with camphor, 171

Aquatic fire-works, 21, 442

Aquafortis, 49

Archbishop of Magdeburg had nitre districts, 52

Arrow, poisoned, 567

Archbishop of Triers, granted privileges for searching for nitre, 53

Artifice of destruction, 267

Artificial nitre beds, 69

Artificial flower pot, 10

Artillery, how fired by sulphuric acid, 75

match, 471

rod, 474

Arsenic, sulphurets of, 187

Arrows, used to attract lightning, 31

Asbestus, or Amianthus, wicks of, 26

Ashes, wood, 192

Asphaltum, 155

used as a cement, _ibid_

Aurum Musivum, 200

Auger rammer, what, 238

size of, for boring rockets, _ibid_

Auget in mining, what, 551

Automatons of fire, 419

Aurora, composition for, 272

Azote, iodide of, a fulminating compound, 177

in nitre beds, furnished by animal matter, 70

quantity of, in nitric acid, 122

disengaged from gunpowder, _ibid_

quantity of, disengaged from powder, 123

exists in miasmata, 60

carburet of, in miasmata, 61

different combinations of, _ib._

B.

Bacon, Roger, 98

received his knowledge of gunpowder, _ib._

his work, containing the composition of powder, _ib._

his opinion of the manner the Midianites were defeated, _ib._

knew gunpowder before Schwartz, 99

Balls, incendiary, 92

smoke, 449

stink, _ibid_

poisoned, _ibid_

inflammable, 577

red-hot, 449

Balloon wheels, 394

Balloons of grenades, bombs and stone, 559

Coehorn, 351

Republican, 352

of serpents, 353

of crackers and marrons, 352

compound, _ibid_

eight-inch, &c. 353

ten-inch, &c. 354

observations on, 355

Table respecting, 356

Mortars for the charge of, _ibid_

fuses of, 354

composition for the, 358

cases for, 245

Barbadoes tar, 155

Barras, 148

Bar-Cochebra, the rabbi, his deceptions on the Jews, 31

Barrow's account of Asiatic fire-works, 255

the nitre caves of Africa, 58

Battle of the kegs, 523

Batteries of Roman candles, 406

Mosaic candles, _ibid_

Bavins, for fire-ships, 509

composition for, _ibid_

Beckman, his remarks concerning jugglers, 27

Bengal lights, 377

Benzoin, 161

Benzoic acid, _ibid_

Benzoin, why used in fire-works, 162

flowers of, _ibid_

Berard, his improvement in refining nitre, 67

Berthollet, proposed chlorate of potassa for gunpowder, 76

his fulminating silver, 174

Bergamot, the essence of, used in odoriferous flambeaux, 288

Bigot, his observations on rockets, 540

Bistre, how prepared from wood-soot, 146

Bitumen, elastic, 155

solid, _ibid_

Black, ivory, 90

Black lead, 209

Black amber, 157

Blue vitriol, 222

Blue stars, 18

Boat, plunging, 514

Bodington, invented a machine to prove powder, 139

Bologna phial, 214

Bones, charring of, 94

Bone and ivory, 220

Borello, his process for regeneration, 34

Bottle, phosphoric fire, 85

Bombs, howitzes and grenades, 487

tables respecting, 489

incendiary, of Ruggeri, 537

composition of, 556

where said to have been invented, 504

succouring, an account of Bell's, 544

Brass, 197

Brand, fire, 574

Brick, economical, 577

Brilliant stars, 18

fire, 271

Brins, pots de, 364

Brimstone, 78

roll, 80

how obtained, _ib._

how to determine its purity, 83

flowers of, 82

Browning of gun barrels, 204

Browne, Dr. on nitre caves, 54, 55, 58

Bronze, 198

Brongniart's directions for refining saltpetre, 62

Brugnatelli's fulminating silver, 174

Bullock's blood, paste made with, 253

Burgundy pitch, 147

Burning barrel, 503

composition for the, 504

Byzantium, illumination of, 24

C.

_Cabinet de composition_, 235

Cadet, his mode of discharging guns, 477

Caduceus rocket, 341

Cagliostro, the imposter, 33

his pretensions to the miraculous, _ib._

his phial, _ib._

Cardan's account of his phial, _ib._

Cæsalpinus, his comment on Aristotle, 34

Callinicus, the inventor of the Greek fire, 544, 548

Calamine stone, 195

Calcareous caverns mostly contain nitre, 54

Caligula, caused Rome to be illuminated, 24, 428

Camphor, 157

used in candle-making, 159

obtained from the _Laurus Camphora_, 158

crude, how refined, _ibid_

properties of, 158

use of, in fire-works, 160

the flame produced by, _ibid_

Candles, Roman, 380

cases for, and effect of, _ibid_

manner of charging the, _ibid_

manner of firing, _ibid_

Mosaic, 381

duration of, 439

light of, _ibid_

Ure's experiments on, _ibid_

Cannon, history of, 456

how originally made, 457

different kinds of, 459

opinions respecting, 458

Carbon, gaseous oxide of, 89

different combinations of, _ib._

quantity in different coals, how ascertained, 151

Carbonic acid, 88

Carbonic oxide gas, 89

Carburetted hydrogen gas, _ib._

Cartwright's fire-works, 20

Caromel, 165

Carbonate of Ammonia, 185

zinc, impure, 195

potassa, 189

Castera's Plunging boat, some account of, 514

Caprices, 400

cracking, 407

Cascades of fire, 404

Carney, M. his process for gunpowder, 110

Carcass rocket, 530

Carcasses, 492

how made, 493

table of the dimensions of, 494

uses of, 492

composition of, 494

a general rule for their preparation, 495

composition for covering, 496

how discharged from mortars, 497

inextinguishable, 493

Cartridges, 462

musket, 464

cannon, 467

used in seiges, what kind of, 466

cost of, in France, _ibid_

ball for, calculations respecting, 463

dimensions of the sacks for, 468

cannon, of what composed, _ibid_

table relative to, 469

Bigot's table on the charge of powder for, 471

Cases, when drove solid, observations on, 237

how distinguished by their diameters, _ibid_

charging of, without moulds, _ibid_

nipples for, _ibid_

when charged solid, how bored, 238

rolled wet, for wheels and fixed pieces, 244

for turning pieces, of what length, 245

for Roman candles, _ibid_

for serpents, _ibid_

for fixed stars, _ibid_

tourbillon, _ibid_

balloon, how made, _ibid_

for illumination port-fires, 246

lances, 247

for common port-fires, _ibid_

paper for, 250

paper, preferred to wooden tubes, 262

used by the Chinese, _ibid_

for reports, 301

for crackers, 300

for fire-pumps, 322

for scrolls, 344

priming of, 370

whitening of, _ibid_

standing and fixed, compositions for, 388

Catamarin, 514

invented by Fulton, _ibid_

Caves, nitre, of the United States, 54

Celsius, his writings against the Magi, 27

Cement, Japanese, 252

Cerasin, 219

Chained rockets, 342

Chaptal, his approval of Carney's process, 110

his observations on saltpetre, 67

Christians in the first century, illuminated, 24, 428

Charcoal, 87

accension of, by nitric acid, 51

from damaged gunpowder, 72

quantity of, for decomposing 100 parts of nitre, 96

used in fire-works, 87

decomposes nitric acid, _ib._

nitrate of potassa, 96

properties of, 87

destroys the empyreumatic flavour of liquor, _ib._

burns in oxygen gas, &c. 88

one of the constituents of gunpowder, 89

how made, 90

how made intensely black, 96

for gunpowder, how prepared, 94

wood used for making, 94

Charred pitcoal, 90

Chargers, 231

Characters, used in pyrotechny, 230

Champy, M. his process for gunpowder, 109

Changes, in sun pieces, how effected, 396

Chemical effects in fire-works, 2

changes, _ib._

Chimnies, different modes of cleansing, 573

Smart's machine for, 574

Chinese fire, 19, 371

works, 255

preparation of the iron for, 201

composition of, as used in theatres, 265

for table works, 272

peculiar art of the, in making fire-works, 255

flyers, 303

cases for, _ibid_

how filled, _ibid_

use of, _ibid_

fountains, 405

paste, how made, 252

iron sand, different numbers of the, how made, 202

Incarville's account of the, 202

Chlorate of potassa, in fire-works, 7

accension by, 22

experiments with, _ib._

how made, 74

composition of, 75

decomposed by combustibles, 75

and sugar, give fire with sulphuric acid, _ib._

effects of, with charcoal and sulphur, 76

in lieu of nitre for gunpowder, _ib._

serious accidents from, _ib._

proportions of, for powder, _ib._

powder made with, stronger than the common, _ib._

powder of, experiments with the, _ib._

for rockets, 77

how used to discharge cannon, 75

Choaker, 233

Choaking, how performed, 243

contrivance for, 244

Cicero, lamps lighted in honor of, 24, 428

Clay, uses of, in pyrotechny, 193

how prepared for use, 194

Cleaveland, professor, his notices of saltpetre caves, 54

Coal, 149

common, _ibid_

pit, _ibid_

component parts of, _ibid_

character of, _ibid_

what kind of, best for fire-works, _ibid_

surcharged with bitumen, how it burns, 150

American, _ibid_

use of, in the arts, _ibid_

kinds of, _ibid_

quantity of carbon in, how ascertained, 151

why used in fire-works, _ibid_

analysis of, _ibid_

origin of, 152

Coke, 90

ovens, 150

Coehorn balloon, 351

illuminated, _ibid_

of serpents, _ibid_

of crackers, _ibid_

compound, 352

Colophony, 147

Colours, how communicated, 19

Combustion, spontaneous, how occasioned, 323

accelerated or retarded, 1

produces new compounds, 2

products of, _ib._

of metals, 4

of sulphur with nitre, 49

Common stars, 18