FIRE-WORSHIP 



3 1 64 



FIRE-WORSHIP 



Tourb'illion 



Fireworks. Various types of fireworks in popular use 

 for displays and illuminations 



the mouth of the case is choked, 

 either by a diaphragm of com- 

 pressed clay with a central hole, as 

 with gerbs and small rockets, or 

 by constricting the case itself before 

 drying, as with large rockets. 



Tourbillions and Saxons are 

 similar in action ; both have the 

 ends of the case closed with clay 

 and a horizontal hole bored near 

 either end, so that the fire issues at 

 right angles to the axis. The holes 

 in the Tourbillion rotate the case 

 on a piece of curved wood secured 

 to its centre, and secondary holes 

 pointing downwards project it into 

 the air. The Saxon revolves on a 

 nail, fixed horizontally, driven 

 through the centre of the case. 



What may be called compound 

 fireworks are composed of a num- 

 ber of the foregoing, fixed to wood 

 frameworks in the form of wheels 

 or geometrical patterns. In the 

 revolving pieces the motive power 

 is supplied by gerbs or turning 

 cases which are in effect small 

 rockets without heads. The best 

 known pieces are rainbow, single 

 and double triangle or caprice 

 wheels, revolving fountains, Saxon 

 cross, chromatrope, tree piece, 

 and many others. The fireworks 

 are connected on the framework 

 with quickmatch, which is cotton 

 wick soaked in a paste of starch 

 and gunpowder, dried, and threaded 

 in a paper tube. 



What are known as lancework 

 set pieces are carried out with 

 small coloured fireworks or lances 

 spaced at short intervals following 



the lines of a de- 

 sign or picture and 

 connected by 

 quickmatch. The 

 real development 

 of lancework, 

 which had hither- 

 to been used 

 merely to outline 

 spokes and scrolls 

 on wheels and for 

 similar purposes, 

 dates from 1879, 

 when portraits 

 and other pictorial 

 effects were intro- 

 duced at the Crys- 

 tal Palace. 



Aerial fireworks 

 are either rockets 

 or shells, or modi- 

 fications of them. 

 Rockets consist 

 of rolled paper 

 cases choked at 

 one end. In fill- 

 ing, the case is 

 placed on a metal 

 nipple having a 

 tapering spindle 

 in the centre, the 

 composition is 



poured in in small quantities and 

 solidified by blows of a mallet on 

 a hollow wooden drift. The top of 

 the case is fitted with a paper cap 

 containing the " garniture " of the 

 rocket, stars producing various 

 colours and effects. The case has a 

 short tube fixed to the side to 

 receive the dowelled end of the 

 stick, which directs the flight and, 

 by passing through two rings on a 

 post or frame, holds the rocket in 

 position whilst firing. 



of the shell. The quickmatch which 

 lights the lifting charge also ignites 

 a time fuse at the top of the shell, 

 which again ignites the bursting 

 charge and contained effects upon 

 reaching its maximum height. 



Besides their spectacular value, 

 fireworks have many utilitarian 

 uses. The life-saving rocket used by 

 the coast guard and National Life- 

 boat Institution carries a line 

 from the shore to wrecked ships, 

 and the later development, the 

 Schermuly and Brock rockets, 

 carry the line from the ship to 

 shore, thus getting the advantage 

 of the wind, as the vessel is gener- 

 ally on a lee-shore. 



During the Great War pyro- 

 technics were of great value for 

 signalling and other purposes, 

 the Very light being practically a 

 single star Roman candle fired by 

 percussion from a specially con- 

 structed pistol. Parachutes fitted 

 with lights for illumination or 

 signalling purposes and coloured 

 smoke-producing stars were used 

 from aeroplanes, either fired from 

 Very pistols or through a dropping 

 tube which ignited them electri- 

 cally. The Dover flares, giving over 

 a million candle-power, used on the 

 attack on Zeebrugge, and by the 

 Dover anti-submarine patrol/aero- 

 plane landing lights, star shells, 

 and many others were the outcome 

 of experience gained by pyrotech- 

 nists in the manufacture of recrea- 

 tive fireworks. 



Fire-worship. The ritual ex- 

 pression of reverence for fire as a 

 natural element affecting human 

 welfare. It is traceable in Dahome, 

 among the Ainu, some Mongols and 

 American Indian tribes. In ancient 

 Mexico, Xiuhtecutli was reverenced 

 with daily offerings and periodic 

 rekindlings before his image. The 

 cult prevailed in early Aryan India, 

 whose fire-god Agni, personifying 

 earth-kindled fire, lightning, and 

 solar heat, was reborn daily of ten 

 maidens, the fingers which twirled 

 the sacred fire-drill. Honoured by 

 200 Vedic hymns, his ritual still 

 survives here and there. 



Shells are 

 papie r-m ache 

 hollow spheres 

 filled with stars, 

 or other pyro- 

 technic effects, 

 and bursting 

 charge. They are 

 fired from a mor- 

 tar of approxi- 

 mately the same 

 diameter by 

 means of a lifting 

 charge of gun- 

 powder in a coni- 

 cal bag fastened 

 to the lower side 



Fire-worship in ancient Nineveh. 

 " f at K( 

 from 



Fire-altar and sacrifice, 



from a bas-relief at Kouyunjik, Assyria. Above, fire-altar 

 Khorsabad, Assyria 



