[1190] To this subject belong the following works:--Ars Magna
Artilleriæ, Auct. Cas. Siomienowicz. Amst. 1650, fol. p. 61. The author
thinks that the nitrum of the ancients is not at present known.
Natural History of Nitre, by W. Clarke. Lond. 1670, 8vo. It is here
said that the nitrum of the ancients was impure saltpetre, and that the
latter is produced from the former by purification.
G. C. Schelhameri de Nitro, cum veterum, tum nostro commentatio, Amst.
1709, 8vo, contains good philological observations, particularly in
regard to the period, but leaves the question undetermined.
Saggi sul ristabilimento dell’ antica arte de’ Greci e Romani pittori,
del Sig. Doct. Vin. Requeno. Parma, 1787, 2 tomi in 8vo, ii. pp. 95,
131: a learned but diffuse work. He thinks that the _nitrum_ of the
ancients was our saltpetre; and what others consider as proofs of
its being mineralized alkali, he understands as indicating alkalized
saltpetre. I am not, however, convinced. Before I ascribe to the
ancients a knowledge of our saltpetre, I must be shown in their
writings properties of their _nitrum_ sufficient to satisfy me that it
was the same substance.
Commentat. de nitro Plinii, in J. D. Michaelis commentationes. Bremæ
1784, 4to. The author only illustrates the account of Pliny, and states
what, according to his opinion, we are to understand in it in regard to
alkali, and what in regard to our saltpetre.
[1191] [Since the discovery of the immense deposits of nitrate of
soda in Peru, this salt, from its being much cheaper, has replaced
the nitrate of potash in the manufacture of aquafortis, but it is not
adapted to the making of gunpowder owing to its deliquescent property.]
[1192] I found the account of the Portuguese saltpetre in Mémoires
Instructifs pour un Voyageur. The author of this work was the
well-known Theodore king of Corsica.
[1193] More accounts of native saltpetre may be found in Recueil
de Mémoires sur la Formation du Salpetre. Par les Commissaires de
l’Academie. Paris, 1776, 8vo. Del Nitro Minerale Memoria dell’ ab.
Fortis, 1787, 8vo.
[1194] The first, or one of the first, who was acquainted with and
made known the cubic saltpetre, was professor John Bohn of Leipsic,
in the Acta Eruditorum, 1683, p. 410; but with more precision in his
Dissertat. Chymico-Physicæ, Lips. 1696, 8vo, p. 36.
[1195] [It is scarcely necessary to inform the reader that the author
understands the soda of commerce, which is a carbonate of soda, and not
the hydrated or caustic soda of chemists.]
[1196] [Crude soda or _kelp_ was formerly manufactured to a very large
extent in the Highlands, by burning the sea-weed, but since the tax has
been taken off salt, most of the soda of British commerce is made by
decomposing this with chalk and some carbonaceous matter.]
[1197] In like manner, a heap of dung covered with earth is lixiviated,
and the result, without the addition of ashes, used as saltpetre.
[1198] The passage of Jerome relating to Proverbs, xxv. 20, I
here insert entire, because I shall often have occasion to employ
it:--“Nitrum a Nitria provincia, ubi maxime nasci solet, nomen
accepit. Nee multum a salis Ammoniaci specie distat. Nam sicut salem
in litore maris fervor solis conficit, durando in petram aquas
marinas, quas major vis ventorum, vel ipsius maris fervor in litoris
ulteriora projecerit; ita in Nitria, ubi æstate pluviæ prolixiores
tellurem infundunt, adest ardor sideris tantus, quod ipsas aquas
pluviales per latitudinem arenarum concoquat in petram; salis quidem
vel glaciei aspectui simillimam; sed nil gelidi rigoris, nil salsi
saporis habentem, quæ tamen, juxta naturam salis, in caumate durare,
et in nubilos, aere fluere ac liquefieri solet. Hanc indigenæ
sumentes servant, et ubi opus extiterit, pro lomento utuntur. Unde
Judæo peccanti dicit propheta Jeremias: Si laveris te nitro, et
multiplicaveris tibi herbam borith, maculata es in iniquitate tua,
dicit Dominus Deus. Crepitat autem in aqua quomodo calx viva; et ipsum
quidem disperit, sed aquam lavationi habilem reddit; cujus natura cui
sit apta figuræ, cernens Solomon ait: Acetum in nitro, qui cantat
carmina cordi pessimo. Acetum quippe si mittatur in nitrum, protinus
ebullit.”
[1199] Herodot. ii. cap. 86 et 87.
[1200] Histor. Ægypti Naturalis iii. 2. See also Forskäl Flora
Ægyptiaco-Arabica, p. xlv.
[1201] [Duhamel proved soda to be distinct from potash in 1736,
Marggraf _confirmed_ it in 1758.]
[1202] Lib. xxxi. cap. 10.
[1203] De Simplic. Med. Facult. ix. Dioscorides also, v. 131, speaks as
if it had been well known that _nitrum_ was commonly burnt.
[1204] Phil. Transactions, 1771, vol. lxi. p. 567.
[1205] De Igne, p. 435, ed. Heinsii, where he speaks of the heat
produced in lime by slaking it. Aristotle also mentions together κονία
and νίτρον, on account of similar properties. Problemat. i. 39. ed.
Septalii, p. 71.
[1206] Hist. Plant. iii. 9, p. 50.
[1207] xxvi. 8.
[1208] xiv. 20.
[1209] De Re Rustica, lib. i. c. 7. Little, however, depended on the
wood; the principal thing was the sprinkling with water.
[1210] xxxi. 10.
[1211] xxxi. 7. Here express mention is made of brine.
[1212] Taciti Annal. xiii. 57.
[1213] Lib. xxx. 7.
[1214] This is particularly the case in regard to Aristot. Auscult.
Mirab., as I have remarked in the preface to my edition.
[1215] In the island of Dagebull, and also in Faretoft and Galmesbull,
Frisio salt is made in the following manner. The inhabitants proceed
along the coast in small vessels, and at low water go on shore on
the mud, which they dig up till they come to a kind of earth called
_torricht_; it is of a turfy nature, and interwoven with roots. This
earth they convey to the islands, where they spread it out in the sun
and leave it to dry, after which it is formed into a heap and burnt to
ashes. What remains is again spread out, moistened and trod upon with
the naked feet; the small stones and other useless parts are picked
out, and being again dried and besprinkled with water, the ley is put
into salt-pans and boiled into salt.
[1216] Mémoires de l’Acad. de Bruxelles, 1777, i. p. 345.
[1217] Elementa Chemiæ. Lugd. Bat. 1732, 4to, i. p. 767.
[1218] Boyle considered the words of Solomon as a proof that _nether_
must be fixed alkali; and he was the more convinced of it when he saw
nitre obtained from Egypt effervesce with acids.
[1219] See the History of Soap in vol. i.
[1220] Plin. xxxvi. 26, § 65. The use of nitrum in making glass is
often mentioned.
[1221] Plin. xxxi. 10.
[1222] Lib. xxx. 10.
[1223] Forskäl Flora, p. xlvi.
[1224] Plutarchi Sympos. lib. vi. at the end.
[1225] Theophrasti Histor. Plant. ii. 5.--Geopon. ii. 35, 2; and ii.
41.--Palladius, xii. tit. i. 3, p. 996.
[1226] Virg. Georg. i. 193.--Plin. xviii. 7. 845.--Geopon. ii. 36, p.
184.
[1227] Columella, ii. 10, 11.
[1228] Plin. xix. 8, § 41.--Pallad. iii. 24, 6.--Geopon. xii. 17,
1.--Theophrast. de Causa Plant. vi. 14.
[1229] Plin. xxxi. 10; and xix. 5, § 26, 10.
[1230] Apicius, iii. 1, p. 70.--Martial, lib. xiii. ep. 17.--Plin.
xix. 8, §41, 3; xxx. 10.--Columella, xi. 3, 23. [Carbonate of soda, as
is well known, is still frequently used for this purpose in culinary
operations.]
[1231] Herodot. ii. 87.
[1232] Our tanners use unslaked lime for a similar purpose.
[1233] Annot. to Dioscorides, v. 89, p. 951.
[1234] A catalogue of such waters may be found in Baccii Liber de
Thermis. Patavii, 1711, fol. v. 5, 6, 7, p. 160. [Carbonate of soda
occurs for instance in the celebrated mineral waters of Seltzer and
Carlsbad, and also in the volcanic springs of Iceland, especially the
Geyser.]
[1235] Plin. xxxi. 6, § 32, p. 556. Vitruv. viii. 3, p. 158.
[1236] xxxi. 10.
[1237] Plin. xxiv. 1; xxxi. 3, § 22. Geopon. ii. 5, 14, p. 85.
[1238] Speculum Naturæ, vii. 87, p. 480.
[1239] Hieronym. ad Jerem. ii. 22.
[1240] “For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take much soap, yet
thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God.”
[1241] In regard to the two plants _usnee_, _asne_, and _usnem_,
_assuan_, see Avicennæ Canon. Medic. Venet. 1608, fol. pp. 338, 406,
407. Serapio de Temperam. Simplic. p. 164. In Du Cange’s Gloss. Gr.
p. 12, _addend._ ἀλκαλη, and in Gloss. Lat. v. the word _alcali_ is
quoted only from modern writers. That _kali_, however, does not mean
the plant, but the concrete ashes, is proved by the explanation in
Castelli’s Lexicon.
[1242] In the annotations to Scribonius Largus, p. 228.
[1243] Commentationes, p. 145. Recueil des Questions, &c., p. 231.
[1244] Such things were known to Aristotle. See Mirab. Ausc. c. 146.
[1245] Dissertat. de Igne Græco. Upsaliæ, 1752.
[1246] De Subtilitate, xiii. 3. p. 71. ed. Francof. 1612, 8vo.
[1247] De Mirabilibus Mundi, p. 201; at the end of the book De Secretis
Mulierum. Amst. 1702, 12mo.
[1248] Liber Ignium ad Comburendos Hostes, auctore Marco Græco; ou,
Traité des Feux propres à détruire les Ennemies, composé par Marcus
le Grec. Publié d’après deux manuscrits de la Bibliothèque Nationale.
Paris, 1804, three sheets in quarto.
[1249] Biblioth. Arab. Hisp. Escurial, ii.
[1250] See the works quoted in Fabricii Bibliograph. Antiquar. p. 978.
In the year 1798, M. Langles proved, in a paper read in the French
National Institute, that the Arabians obtained a knowledge of gunpowder
from the Indians, who had been acquainted with it in the earliest
periods. The use of it in war was forbidden in their sacred books, the
Veidam or Vede. It was employed in 690 at the battle of Mecca.
[1251] The following may be advantageously consulted:--Archæologia,
v. p. 148; Henry’s Hist. of Great Britain, vol. iv.; Muratori Antiq.
Italiæ Medii Ævi, ii. p. 514; Watson’s Chemical Essays, i. pp. 284,
327; Histoire de France, par Velly, xvi. p. 330; Dow’s Hist. of
Hindostan, vol. ii.; Erdbeschreibung der entferntesten Welttheile, ii.
p. 159; Stettler Schweitzer Chronik. p. 109. The inhabitants of Berne
purchased the first gunpowder from the people of Nuremberg in 1413.
[1252] A fragment from the writings of Synesius was printed, for the
first time, in Frabricii Bibliotheca Græca, viii. p. 236, where the
words occur.
[1253] Raspe on Oil-painting. London, 1781, 4to, p. 145.
[1254] Speculum Naturale, vii. cap. 13, p. 432.
[1255] Lib. vii. cap. 88, p. 480.
[1256] Symbola Aureæ Mensæ. Francof. 1617, 4to, lib. vii. p. 335.
[1257] De Asse, 1556, fol. lib. iii. p. 101.
[1258] Les Anciens-Minéralogistes de France, par Gobet. Paris, 1779, 2
vols. 8vo, i. p. xxxiv. i. p. 51, 284; ii. p. 847.
[1259] [The celebrated chemist Baron Berzelius, professor at Stockholm,
states in his Manual of Chemistry (edit. 1835, vol. iv. p. 86), that
every possessor of land in Sweden is still compelled to deliver a
certain quantity of saltpetre yearly to the state, and gives directions
for testing its goodness.]