Dr. Cutbush on the Greek Fire. 309 
ge te Tie Td 
invented an inexti » which is thrown 
by fire arms, and calculated to set oe eine rigging of ships. 
It appears also, that Dr. Dupre, whose name we have men- 
tioned, published in the French Journals that he had invent- 
ed a composition, which had the same properties and effects 
as the ancient Greek fire, and possessed the means of ex- 
tinguishing it. An experiment was made at Versailles, to 
the satisfaction of all, and the secret was purchased by sas 
is KV. The Rev. J. P. Caste in 1794 laid before the 
French National Convention, a new invention for the pur- 
pose of war, consisting of a carcass-composition, which noth- 
ing could extinguish, and resembled in that respect the 
k fire 
At the commencement of the late war with Great Brit- 
"ain, several persons directed their attention to the discovery 
some new incendiary preparation, which would possess 
- properties of Greek fire; but none of them proved suc- 
ssful. Of one in particular I was an eye-witness. A 
apart of the kind was shown to the corporation of 
pean of whichI was then a member, isd some ex- 
periments made with it. It was nothing more than spirits 
of turpentine, holding in solution camphor, and mixed I 
think with turpentine varnish; it was, when used, to be put 
into bottles, and by means of a fuse similar to that of a 
grenade, set on fire—the bottle being thrown by the hand 
into an enemy’s ship or among sails or rigging. 
Ruggeri, a modern Pee ee in speaking of incendiary 
fireworks, mentions also re. He observes that it 
was composed of naptha, gia bitumen, camphor and 
petroleum, ra mixed together; that it was invented by Cal- 
linicus, and employed against the Saracens as an incendia- 
ry; that Pliny in his time mentioned a combustible cated 
stance, which was thrown upon armed men, and burn 
and destroyed them in the midst of the battle; that it was 
employed successfully by the successors of Constantine, and 
that its composition was kept a state secret; that the Turks 
used it, or a composition of a similar nature, at the seige of 
Damietta in 1249, forty-five years after the death of Roger 
Bacon; and that when the composition and effects of gun- 
powder became known, it was no longer in use, and the se- 
cret of the original preparation seemed to have been lost. 
