of your chemical and antiquarian readers. They will be found to contain some notices which (so far as my reading extends) have escaped the observation of former inquirers, and I have endeavoured to render them as concise as possible. Fully agreeing with Dr. Macculloch that more than one substance may have been used and described under this name, and' that in all probability we are ultimately indebted to the east for the knowledge both of these compounds, and of gunpowder, I' would still venture to suggest on the latter point that our acquaintance with Indian and Chinese literature (great and creditable as it is to our learned countrymen) has not yet made such advances as to entitle us to quote even with tolerable confidence, documents, in the languages of those regions, pretending to remote antiquity. The critical tests which have been so rigorously and successfully exercised on the classical remains of Greece and Rome, have been as yet but sparingly applied to the examination of the Sanscrit and the Chinese. Our orientalists, like the scholars of the fifteenth century, have been employed in the more important task of mastering the difficult and obsolete dialects of their new empire; in searching out, collecting, and making public, the materials for future criticism; but at present we can scarcely hope to separate with any precision that which is fictitious or interpolated from that which is genuine and uncorrupted; and the almost uniform tone of oriental literature is such as in truth to induce all sober inquirers to lean much to the side of caution. There is also, as Dr. M. observes, a fabulous air about the Indian story related by Philostratus (a writer in no case of very high authority). I would suggest too that it bears every appearance of being a direct imitation of the more classical tale which records the protection twice afforded to the sanctuary of Delphi by its tutelary god, first against the Persian, and in later times against the Celtic invaders. Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus relate the former, and Pausanias the latter. If these accounts be not altogether fabulous, it seems probable that the sacred College of Delphi possessed the secret of fabricating some powerfully explosive compound. The Grecian Camden describes the continued thunders and lightnings, destroying not, as usual, single individuals only, but burning and injuring all who stood within reach. These were accompanied by repeated shocks of earthquakes (earthquakes, it will be recollected, were also among the prodigies of the Eleusinian mysteries). Immense masses of rock were launched, he tells us, upon the aggressors, wherever collected in any numbers, as at a mark, “ σκοπον τους βαρβαρους ειχον.” As this took place during the night, it might indeed have been done by mere mechanical force, the Greeks profiting by the cover of darkness; but a warm fancy might, from the words quoted, conclude at once that, if not artillery, some means were used which enabled 66 the defendants to take aim. One regrets that Apollo had not reserved a portion of his bolts to avenge the later depredations of Nero. But to leave the regions of conjecture, I am indebted to that strange mixture of learning and absurdity, the Magia Naturalis of Baptista Porta for reference to an earlier authority on the subject of the Greek fire (or of a compound at least answering closely to its description) than any of those produced by Beckman, Dutens, or Dr. M. It seems indeed to have escaped the notice of Gibbon himself, who must nevertheless have read it. Ammianus Marcellinus, in detailing the immense preparations of Julian for his last campaign, particularizes among the warlike engines one which was named Malleolus. He describes it as a dart having between its shaft and point a species of iron cradle with many apertures. The interior of this was filled with an inflammable compound (ignem cum aliquo alimento). It was to be thrown from a weak or slackened bow (arcu invalido aut remissiore), as it was liable to be extinguished (perhaps, before it was fully ignited) by passing rapidly through the air. Whereever it fell, it burned tenaciter; water served only to increase the vigour of the flame which was extinguishable by dust alone (nec remedio ullo quam superjacto pulvere consopitur). This is precisely the "non enim extinguitur aquâ sed arenâ” of the monkish rhymer. Within a few pages, Ammianus has another passage which seems to establish the identity of one variety of naphtha with the inflammable ingredient which gave its chief energy to the Greek fire. "Hic (in Assyriâ) naphtha gignitur picea, specie glutinosa, similis ipsa quoque bitumini et cum hoc liquoris ardere cœperit genus, nullum invenit humana mens præter pulverem exstinguendi commentum." He soon afterwards describes the oleum Medicum as used in the same manner with the charge of the malleolus (he nearly repeats indeed his former words), and states it to be prepared by mixing common oil with a species of herb, and, after long digestion, thickening it yet more by the addition of a species of naphtha. "Oleum usûs communis herbâ quâdam infectum condiunt harum rerum periti, ad diuturnitatem servantes, et coalescens durant ex materiâ venæ naturalis similis oleo crassiori, quæ species gignitur apud Persas quam ut diximus Naphtham vocabulo appellavere gentili." Thus a composition answering in its use and effects to the Greek, or as it is termed by Theophanes, the Roman fire, appears to have been well known at least 300 years before its supposed invention by Callinicus. He may indeed have revived its use, or improved its composition.* In fact, Pliny, at a yet earlier period, describes the maltha nearly in the same manner, and as employed for the It may be observed that the Malleolus is mentioned by Livy and other writers anterior to the age of A. Marcellinus (V. Forcellini Lex. in voce); but as they appear to be silent with respect to the composition of its charge, I forbear to quote them. same purposes. "Cum quid adtigit solidi adhæret præterea tactus sequitur fugientes. Sic defendêre (Comagenes incolæ) muros oppugnante Lucullo, flagrabatque miles armis suis aquis etiam accenditur terrâ tantum restingui docuere experimenta."* In the age then of Lucullus, we have the use of this compound, (or at least of its most energetic constituent) restricted to an eastern people, a strong corroboration of the conclusion at which Dr. M. has arrived from other premises. But there is a yet earlier though less respectable testimony to the existence of a like oleum incendiarium to be found in the remains of the marvel-monger Ctesias. He affirms that the mountain chimæra sends forth constant flames, which are increased by water, but extinguished by earth.† Elian has preserved a still more curious version of the properties and use of naphtha from the same Ctesias. He relates that a gigantic worm is found in the Indus, from whose body is obtained an oil capable of burning any thing with which it comes in contact, even without the application of fire. With this, it is said, he adds, that the Persian monarch besieges and subdues towns, needing and using no other engine. He has merely to throw an earthen vessel filled with the destructive fluid within the walls, or against the gates, and resistance becomes useless. It can be extinguished only by heaping on it earth and rubbish. Photius has an extract from the same quarter to the same purpose.§ Strabo also mentions both the solid and liquid varieties of naphtha. He states that may be extinguished by a very large quantity of water; but that it may be quenched by dust, alum, vinegar, or birdlime (1). He alleges the authority of Eratosthenes. It would probably be no difficult task to multiply yet further our references to early authorities, but enough has been, I think, adduced to show that the Greek fire was known to the Romans before the time of Callinicus, or even of Constantine. it 1 pass to the paragraph quoted from the Speculum Regale. This is, as Dr. M. justly remarks, very obscure. To me it bears the appearance of an extract from some Scaldic poem; at least, it is conceived in the metaphorical style of their versification. I should decidedly prefer reading with the MSS. elldligum for eiturligum loga (q. d. ignes flammeos). Skialldar Jautun would poetically be used to express the gigantic destroyer of shields, or even of fortifications (hostis giganteus testudinum): the incurvus (biugur) may refer either to a large cross bow or to the spring of the balista. This, it may be said, is a forced inter * Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. 2, c. 104. + V. Ctesiam in app. Herodot. Wesseling. p. 860. V. et. Plin. Hist. Nat. 1. 2, c. 106. Ctes. ut supra, p. 864. Strabo. Ed. Oxon. p. 1055. Ctes. p. 832. I have not had the opportunity of consulting Vegetius, the Poliorceticon of Lipsius, the works of Arrian, or of Quintus Curtius, or the Glossary of Ducange. My editions of Pliny and Ammianus Marcellinus are unfortunately without notes. pretation, but many of their well-knowu metaphors have an aspect far more harsh and enigmatical. On the subject of the Greek fire mentioned by Joinville, I regret that I cannot see quite so clearly as Dr. M. does, the proof of its resemblance to any thing in our modern artillery. The term petrarium or perriere seems to have been applied commonly to that variety of balista which threw large stones. Had i tbeen a mortar, Joinville would, I should think, have mentioned its novelty. There must be some discrepancies too in the MS. text of his description. The only edition within my reach (Paris, 8vo. 1785) does not any where mention the carcase as sent from the bottom of the Perriere. Allowing this, however, to be the correct reading, it would be equally descriptive of that variety of balista in which the missile body was projected from a cup attached to the end of a lever strained backwards. until parallel, or nearly so, with the horizon. Joinville, moreover, states, that the fire was extinguished, and that in one case by a single man, "par ung home que avions, propre a ce faire." In fact, the dread of the honest chronicler and his companions was not so much that of personal injury from the fire, as from the destruction of their wooden cuniculi or cat-castles (chatz chasteilz). It would surely be beyond the power of a single man to extinguish a caisse filled with an inflammable compound of which nitre made a part, while a barrel or cradle-full of tow dipped in bituminous matter, if at a distance from any thing else inflammable, might be smothered up with sand and dirt at no great peril.* In later times, the use of artillery appears, as Dr. M. remarks, gradually to have driven the Greek fire off the stage; but as its use decreased, the recipe for its fabrication became much more complicated and mysterious. V. Biringuccio † gives a most formidable list of the substances required for ensuring the highest degree of success in such compounds. Among these the oleum sulphuris is almost invariably prominent, an addition which must, by decomposing the nitre, have rather lessened than added to their force. The very intricacy and clumsiness of his formulæ show that such mixtures were becoming rapidly the objects rather of quackery than of practical use. At a still more recent period, Fludd, the well-known mystic, declines revealing the composition used for fire-pots, as being a secret which belonged to his country.‡ * My edition of Joinville contains a long note on the Greek fire by the learned Du Fresne he carries it no higher than Callinicus. He quotes two remarkable passages from the Tactics of Leon and the Alexias of A. Comnena; but there is some obscurity in his interpretations, especially of the latter; and I have not at present access to the original text of either. + Pirotechnia, 1, 10, c. 9. The same writer gives (1. 10, c. 5) a curious description of a squib or rocket, made of wood or iron, and capable of throwing stones or balls. This, which has been transcribed into later works on pyrotechny, or some like rude attempt, may have suggested the rockets now in use. Fludd Macrocosmus, p. 422. I fear that the best apology which can be offered for the length of this memorandum will be found in its date. It is at least seasonable. Believe me, my dear Sir, very truly yours, In looking over Ctesias, I found a curious anticipation of the use of conductors for lightning which I do not recollect to have seen noticed. He relates that a certain variety of iron is found in India, which, when fixed into the ground (yvousvos En T ), has the power of averting storms and lightnings (poτпpas).* I would take this opportunity of correcting an apparent inaceury in my account of V. Biringuccio. He is the first writer with whom I am acquainted who mentions manganese by its present name. Earlier writers (as quoted by Beckman) allude to its use, but term it magnes, or magnesia. I might have added, that Biringuccio is mentioned with respect by Du Fresne and Beckman. Allow me to apologize for a few errors of the press which have crept into that article (originating, I fear, in the indistinctness of my own handwriting): the Italian scholar will readily discover and correct them.-J. J. C. On an Electrical Phenomenon. By M. P. Moyle, Esq. SIR, (To the Editor of the Annals of Philosophy.) Helston, Nov. 6, 1822. THE following circumstance being new to me, and finding no mention made of it by chemical writers, induces me to present it to your readers, some of whom it may possibly interest. On constructing a thermometer after the usual manner, with a glass tube having an oval base, and after it had been hermetically sealed, I found, on the subsidence of the mercury, that the tube was not perfectly free from damp, so that some of the mercury adhered to its sides, and prevented its regular fall. It is necessary in this case to subject the tube to the heat of a spirit-lamp to expel it; this I did without admitting the air; and when the * Ctes. Indica. ut supra, sub initio. |