"Greek fire is made in the following manner. Take pure sulphur, tartar,
sarcocole, (a kind of resin,) pitch, fused saltpetre, and oil of
petroleum. Boil them well together. Dip tow in the mixture, and set fire
to it. This fire cannot be extinguished but with vinegar or sand."
The close analogy, or rather the identity, of these compositions with
gunpowder as at present made, requires no comment. The more important
question is the date at which this work was written. This is a matter of
great doubt. Messrs Reinaud and Fave, from the fact that the receipt for
the preparation of saltpetre to be found in this same book of Marcus is
much more imperfect than that in the Arabian MSS., place the date of his
book earlier than the thirteenth century. Again, Geber, an oriental
writer, the date of whose life is doubtful, but whom our authors fix at
the eighth century, has described the preparation of a salt which has
been translated _nitre_, but which our authors consider to have been a
sesqui-carbonate of soda, _natron_, not _nitrum_. They thence conclude
that nitre was unknown to Geber, and thus, because it was known to
Marcus, that he lived subsequently; and for this reason they place
Marcus between the ninth and twelfth century.
We have seldom seen an instance of more loose deduction than this. It is
required to find the date of Marcus. Geber, whose date is unknown, is
set down, upon rather weak data, as of the eighth century. Geber's
translator is corrected to prove that Geber did not know saltpetre.
Hassan Alrammah, an Arabian, is considered as more recent than Marcus, a
Greek, because his process for saltpetre is somewhat more perfect; and
from the cumulative effect of these data, each of which is very
insufficiently established, and which, if established, only go to prove
differences in the degrees of perfection of their respective receipts,
the date of Marcus is fixed: this certainly is pushing _incertum per
incertius_ very far. We fear that if no more accurate information be
brought to bear on it, the epoch of Marcus Graecus will be a subject of
as much controversy as ever.
The paragraph in the treatises _De Mirabilibus_ of Albert the Great is
so identical with that of Marcus Graecus, that there can be no doubt of
its being copied from it, or derived from the same source, and is a
strong additional instance of the general progress of inventions. A
received publication calls attention to a fact already disclosed but
forgotten, the knowledge acquired by the world since is brought to bear
on the old fact; and a consequent improvement results.
Roger Bacon, to whom the invention or knowledge of gunpowder has been
attributed by some, would stand a very poor chance among the men of
science of the present day: it is not now the man who conjectures a
possibility, but he who demonstrates a fact, that is hailed as the
discoverer.
The following series of possibilities are curiously interesting, both
from their partial subsequent realization, and from the simple credulity
with which Bacon gives us that which he had known "a wise man explicitly
excogitate."
"Instruments of navigation can be made, men being the propelling agents,
that the largest river and sea barks can be borne along (one man only
managing them) with greater speed than if they were full of navigators.
Carriages can also be constructed which may be moved without animals,
with an inestimable impetus; so that one would think that they were the
armed chariots with which they fought in ancient times. Instruments for
flying can also be made, so that a man sitting in the centre of the
machine, and turning an engine, by which artificial wings may strike the
air in the manner of a bird flying. An instrument also can be made,
small in magnitude, for elevating and lowering almost infinite weights,
than which nothing is more useful in mischances, for by an instrument of
the length of three fingers, and of the same breadth or less, a man may
extract himself and companions from all danger of prison, and elevate
and lower them. An instrument can also be made by which one man may
draw to himself a thousand men, by force and against their will.
Instruments for walking on the sea can also be made, and in rivers to
the bottom without corporal peril. For Alexander the Great used them
that he might see the secrets of the sea, according to the relation of
Ethicus the astronomer.
"These things, indeed, are of antiquity and of our times, and are
certain, except the instrument for flying, which I have not seen, nor
have I known a man who has, but I know a wise man who has explicitly
excogitated it; and an infinity of other things can be made, as bridges
over rivers, can be made without columns or any support, and machines or
unheard of engines."
The ultra admirer of the ancients will see in this, if not an accurate
relation of facts, which with the exception of the flying it purports to
be, at least a wonderful perception of practicabilities; and railroads,
diving-bells, suspension-bridges, &c., will be so many circumstantial
corroborations of the correctness of his view. We, however, are rather
disposed to regard them as ingenious extravagances. Predictions of the
success of science are always on the safe side. If in the present day
one were to say, that we shall be able to see the inhabitants of
Jupiter, or even converse with them, it would be a prophecy which could
never be negatived, which might be the case if we said such things were
impossible.
Bacon's obscure intimations of gunpowder are not so clearly derived from
the same source as the receipts of Marcus Graecus and Albertus Magnus
are; but they are apparently derivatives from what was then known to a
few, of nitre compositions, and are very analogous, though not quite so
extravagant as some of his other deductions.
Bacon also speaks of a child's toy (_ludicrum puerile_) which was made
with saltpetre, the explosion of which produced a report, "quod fortis
tonitrui sentiatur excedere rugitum."
As with this, so with the greater number of Bacon's observations; they
bear reference to facts, or relations received as facts, which were at
that time either generally or partially known, and do not profess to
give to the world his own inventions, though the theories deduced from
those asserted facts are frequently the produce of his own imaginative
brain. Upon the whole, we are fully disposed to agree with Messrs
Reinaud and Fave, that the invention of gunpowder is by no means due to
Bacon.
We now pass to the Arabian manuscripts of the 13th century, to which we
have before alluded, and which constitute the principal discovery of our
authors. The same word (_baraud_) which is now used by the Arabs as
signifying gunpowder, was originally used to signify saltpetre; and even
in this application had a secondary meaning, its more primitive meaning
being "hail." The whiteness and crystalline form of saltpetre presented
a sufficient analogy to attach to it a similar name, neology being in
those days not quite so common or so easy as at present.
Various salts were also included under the same name, their specific
differences not being then known. This fact had probably much influence
in retarding the pyrotechnic art, as accurate means of testing the
purity and chemical character of the salt were not distinctly
understood. A receipt successful in one case, because a proper salt was
used, failed in another, because the salt was totally unfit for
supporting combustion, though passing under the same name.
In these MSS. occur a vast number of receipts for pyrotechnic
compositions, of which we may here give one or two as specimens, and as
instances of the close approach made at that time to the composition of
gunpowder as manufactured at the present day:--
_Proportions of the Sun's Rays._
1st Composition.
Saltpetre, 10--Sulphur, 1-1/8--Charcoal, 2-1/4.
2nd Composition.
Saltpetre, 10--Sulphur, 1-7/8--Charcoal, 2.
_Proportions of the Garland of Golden Flowers._
Saltpetre, 10--Sulphur, 1--Steel filings, 1/2--Bronze filings, 1/2.
_Flashing Rocket._
Saltpetre, 10--Sulphur, 1-3/8--Charcoal, 2-1/8.
Each substance to be separately pounded; the charcoal and saltpetre are
then mixed, and gently pounded; moisten with spittle, and then add the
sulphur.
_White Rocket without sparks._
Saltpetre, 10--Sulphur, 1-1/4--Charcoal, 2-1/4.
To be mixed as before directed.
_Egyptian Moonshine._
Saltpetre, 10--Sulphur, 2-1/4--Charcoal, 1/4.
Add 4 parts of Lead or Black Ointment.
These instances will be sufficient to show the general character of the
Arabic receipts. Saltpetre is used in all of them--in most of them
sulphur or charcoal; while arsenic, incense, camphor, iron and bronze
filings, are occasionally used to vary the colour and character of the
light produced. The Arabs were also in possession at this period of a
vast number of instruments of war in which similar combustible matters
were employed, such as lances and clubs, with fires at the extremity,
girdles for the waist with fires attached. We translate the description
of one of them:--
_War Club._
"Get the glass-maker to make a club, which shall be pierced at its
extremity like an iron club. Get the turner to turn a stick, which
you will fasten strongly to it. You may give it whatever form you
please. Arrange on the sides three 'tubulures,' and at the bottom
also three for the 'roses,' (one class of the compositions,) then
make the usual compositions. When you wish to set fire to them,
arrange them in the form of a segment, set fire to the club, and
break it, for the love of God."
The termination of this receipt is a very usual one, and applied to
several other receipts--instruments of destruction being then, as now,
considered a most appropriate method of serving God.
Another ingenious weapon was called "the egg which moves itself and
burns;" and this consisted of two long fuses, which seemed to give force
and direction to the firework, and a shorter one, which was directed
forwards, the object of which was to burn the enemy. This projectile was
cast by the hand, and then, to use the quaint language of the receipt,
"it walks, it starts, and it burns extremely well."
Many other compositions were known to the Arabs, as appears from the two
curious MSS. above mentioned; such as compositions for covering the body
to protect from fire, others to emit a suffocating smoke.
The performances of these instruments were, doubtless, what we should
now consider very insignificant; but they must have produced upon the
excited imagination of the warrior of those days an effect which it is
very difficult to conceive in the present day.
Nothing, probably, has occasioned more frequent historical errors, than
forming deductions as to real effects from the exaggerated descriptions
of ancient writers.
When Musschenbroek (not a superstitious soldier, but an inductive
philosopher) first discovered the Leyden Phial, he declared he would not
take a second shock for the kingdom of France; and yet we well know that
a schoolboy would not now be frightened at a much more powerful shock
than he then experienced. Want of familiarity with a phenomenon, and
ignorance of its proximate cause, will ever make it terrible. We cannot
see any thing terrible in a sky-rocket, because we have been early
influenced by those on whom we rely to regard it as an amusement; but
had they brought us up in fear of it--had they magnified these accounts,
having some foundation in fact, as to its destructive power, we may well
understand what effects of terror it would produce.
Thus regarded, the _ignotum pro magnifico_ appears quite sufficient to
explain the narrated effects of the Greek fire. But there was also
another reason--viz. that all results, not of continual occurrence, and
within the range of ordinary experience, were attributed to magic, and
consequently spread a terror far disproportioned to the real effects;
for this reason, the means of producing then were prohibited by the
hierarchy, and, as they gradually acquired a more extensive use, were
then only permitted against the enemies of the religion of the people
who used them; hence the expression so frequent in the Arabian receipts,
"You shall burn your adversary for the service of God;" and similar
language is used by the Christian writers, when similar compositions
became used by Christian warriors.
A narration, taken from the Sieur Joinville's History of St Louis, will
place before our readers the contemporaneous description of the effects
of the pyrotechny of the Arabs.
The following is the account of Joinville of one of the skirmishes of St
Louis on the borders of the Nile. We should premise that Turk is the
term generally applied by Joinville to all Mussulman soldiers; and
though the army was generally recruited from Turkish slaves, yet the
country was possessed by Arabs, and the language and arts were theirs.
"One evening it happened that the Turks brought an engine called '_la
perriere_,' a terrible engine for doing mischief, and placed it opposite
the '_chaz chateils_,' (wooden towers to shelter the advanced guard,)
which Messire Gaultier de Carel and I were watching at night, by which
engine they cast at us Greek fire, which was the most horrible thing
that ever I saw. When the good Chevalier Messire Gualtier, my companion,
saw this fire, he exclaimed and said to us, Sirs, we are lost for ever
without any remedy; for if they burn our '_chaz chateils_' we are
broiled and burned, and if we leave our watch we are disgraced. From
which I conclude that there is no one can defend us from this peril,
except God our blessed Creator. So I counsel you all, that whenever they
cast at us the '_feu Gregeois_,' that each of us throw himself upon his
elbows and knees, and cry mercy to our Lord, in whom is all power; and
as soon as the Turcs threw the first charge of fire, we threw ourselves
upon elbows and knees, as we had been instructed. And the fire of this
first discharge fell between our two '_chaz chateils_,' in a space in
front which our people had made for damming the river; and immediately
the fire was extinguished, by a man whom we had for this purpose. The
manner of the Greek fire was such, that it came forth as large as a tun,
and the tail extended as long as '_une demye canne de quatre pans_.' It
made such a noise in approaching, that it seemed like thunder which had
fallen from heaven, and seemed to me a great dragon flying through the
air; and threw out such a blaze that it appeared as clear as the day, so
great a flame of fire was there. Three times during the night they threw
this Greek fire at us from the above-mentioned '_perriere_,' and four
times with the '_arbaleste_.' And every time that our good king Saint
Loys heard that they thus threw the fire, he cast himself upon the
ground, and stretched his hands to heaven, and cried with a loud voice
to our Lord, and said, shedding copious tears--'Good Lord Jesus Christ,
preserve me and all my people;' and, believe me, his good prayers and
orisons did us good service (_nous eurent bon mestier_)."
It is impossible to render, in literal translation, the quaint
simplicity of the old French; but the fact that this terrible fire was
extinguished by a single man, would tend very much to lessen our belief
in the marvels attributed to it by the narrator.
Be that as it may, we have, in the extract quoted, the expression Greek
fire, (_feu Gregeois_,) which will connect the effect then produced with
that known as pertaining to the Greek fire. There is every probability
that the compositions here used were the same or similar to those
generally known under that title, while the MSS. above quoted detail the
compositions used by the Arabs at that period: the evidence is,
therefore, very strong that the Greek fire was a composition closely
resembling, if not identical with, those indicated in the Arabian
receipts.
If we trace back the effects of the combustible compositions to the
period of the Crusades, anterior to the time when Joinville wrote, we
shall find a strong analogy with those described by him; but the use of
saltpetre appears to have been more rare, and that of bituminous
substances more frequent.
From an Arabian author of the middle of the 13th century, Casiri
translates a passage into Latin, which Reinaud somewhat alters. We
render it as nearly as we can in English. "It creeps along with
scorpions of nitre powder (_baraud_) placed in cases. These scorpions
take fire, and wherever they fall they burn; they spread abroad like a
cloud; they yell like thunder; they burn like a brazier; they reduce all
to cinders."
This passage is important, as showing the connexion of nitre or
_baraud_--a word, as we have before stated, applied to nitre and nitre
compositions--with a class of effects analogous to those attributed to
the Greek fire.
The passage of incendiary compositions into gunpowder is still involved
in much obscurity. Messrs Reinaud and Fave consider that a treatise,
printed at Paris A.D. 1561, entitled _Livre de Cannonerie_, throws much
light on the subject--"_vient de l'eclairer d'une lumiere nouvelle_;"
but we cannot at all agree with them in this view, and for the simple
reason, that neither the names of the authors of the receipts contained
in it, nor the dates, nor the countries, are given. Without either of
these data, our readers, we think, will find it difficult to conceive
that much new light can be thrown on the subject. The treatise contains
a number of receipts for mixtures of oils, bitumens, sulphur, and nitre;
and, as appears to us, all the aid given by this work towards
elucidating the subject is, that these receipts are analogous to those
of Marcus and of the Arabs, and have some internal evidence of having
been written or copied from writings of an early date, though probably
subsequent to Marcus; and, secondly the term Greek fire (_feu Gregeois_)
being employed, and receipts for it given, would lead to the inference
that the compositions here used under the same title were analogous to
those which originally constituted the Greek fire. It is, however,
certainly open to the remark, that Greek fire having become, in a great
measure, a generic name for violent incendiary compositions, the term
may have been applied to compositions analogous in their effects, though
of more recent discovery. When, however, we find, in various distinct
quarters, similar receipts; when we find these appearing at different
epochs, and having different degrees of approximation to the explosive
compounds which a more matured experience has rendered certain in their
composition, the discovery of such a book as this becomes certainly a
corroborative circumstance in favour of that view which regards the
Greek fire as never having become extinct, and as having, by progressive
but unequal gradations, changed into gunpowder.
In discussing the treatise above mentioned, there is a naive expression
of our authors, who, in remarking the necessary slow combustion of these
compounds from the imperfections of the processes of manufacturing
saltpetre, also given in the same book, say:--"One sees how much there
is that is providential in the progress of human invention. If man had,
in the first instance, a powder as strong as at present, he would
probably have been unable to master this force, or to use it with
suitable instruments, and the discovery would have remained without
application. We see that, thanks to the primitive impurity of the
saltpetre, man employed mixtures of it with sulphur and charcoal, which
produced a force suitable for throwing to short distances feeble parcels
of incendiary matter. This force increased little by little, as men
became better able to refine saltpetre, and ends by enabling them to
employ it for throwing projectiles."
We have frequently heard the word providential applied in a strange
manner; but this is one of the most novel views of providential
intervention we happen to have met with. The quiet gravity with which
Providence is assumed to have interfered in favour of the progress of
destructive implements, is about as instructive an instance of the
unconscious devotion of an author to his speciality as could easily be
selected.
In the treatise of 1561 are some receipts, assumed to be taken from
works of an earlier date, in which saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, are
submitted to a considerable degree of heat. The following is one:--"Take
of saltpetre 100 lbs., sulphur, 25 lbs., charcoal, 25 lbs., put them
altogether, and make them boil well, until the whole be well united, and
then you will thus have a strong powder." Mixed in these proportions,
and submitted to such a temperature, the chance of explosion is very
great; and, as our authors observe, "the essential fact of the tradition
respecting the invention of gunpowder is confirmed;" or rather,
strictly speaking, the probability of its truth is strengthened. We
therefore do not see very clearly why they should be anxious to divest
Schwartz of the merit of its discovery, while they produce arguments to
show the probability of the discovery being so made. The results of
these arguments would only tend to show that the tradition is not
sufficiently explicit, in not stating why the three ingredients were
mixed together; and Schwartz would, according to this view, be regarded
as the first who remarked and applied, or suggested the application of
gunpowder, as supplying an explosive projective force.
Though the probabilities of the use of gunpowder, as an explosive
compound, being suggested by accidents occurring in the manufacture of
combustible compounds, are thus shown to be very great, the actual step,
if step it were, still remains in obscurity. Most probably, like many
other inventions, the fact was observed again and again with different
degrees of accuracy and different resulting suggestions; until, at
length, growing intelligence seized on it, and increasing facility of
publication rendered its development more rapid and general. The actual
date of its general introduction or use in war is still uncertain.
Schwartz's discovery is stated by Kircher at 1354; but gunpowder is
stated to have been used at the siege of Stirling in 1339; in Denmark in
1340; in Spain in 1343; at Cressy in 1346; at the siege of Calais in
1347.
Without entering into the critical discussions which the vagueness of
the historical records of these periods might tempt, we can scarcely be
far wrong in setting down the general introduction of gunpowder during
the first half of the fourteenth century, although any attempt to
specify, from existing data, the exact date of its invention, would be
vain. With regard to its connexion with Greek fire, we may sum up by
stating, that during different periods, extending from the eighth to the
fourteenth century, combustible matters, in which saltpetre was one
ingredient, have been used; and that the term Greek fire has been, at
various times within this period, applied to them. Although it does not
necessarily follow that the Greek fire alluded to in the more recent
works was identical with the Greek fire of an earlier period, yet the
probability is strong that there was at least a striking analogy in
effect, or the name would not have been used. There is, moreover, some
internal evidence of community of origin in these various receipts, when
we find that in different parts of the world, in China, in Arabia, and
Greece, one general characteristic ingredient is present, viz., nitre;
when also the history and progress of chemistry have taught us that no
substance, other than nitre or a salt of nitric acid, has ever been, or
is now known, which would produce similar effects, (for the
comparatively recent discovery of the chlorates would produce effects of
detonation by friction or percussion, of which we find no records,)
there can, we think, be little doubt that Greek fire was of the same
chemical character as gunpowder; that it passed by a transition, which
may have been in particular cases more or less sudden, but which upon
the whole was gradual, into gunpowder; and that the history of the
progress of one of these manufactures is, in fact, the history of the
progress of the other. In this history there are still many gaps to be
filled up, many errors to be rectified.
The book of Messrs Reinaud and Fave, though somewhat inartificially
arranged, has given to the public much valuable information; but there
is still room for an elaborate and well-digested treatise on the
subject, in which the whole progress of pyrotechnic invention may be
arranged in chronological order, and more lucidly expounded than are
antiquarian matters in general. This is a task, however, which few, if
any, are capable of undertaking, as it requires for its successful
execution a combination of extensive antiquarian, chemical, and
philological acquirements. In the mean time, our authors may say, and we
say with them,
"Si quid novisti rectius istis,
Candidus imperti; si non, his utere mecum."