POWDER AND SHOT. 19 



their enemies with tempests and thunderbolts, hurled upon them 

 from above.'" In "Norton's Gunner" (1634), it is said, "That 

 the invention and use, as well of ordinance as gunpowder, was in 

 the eighty 'fifth year of our Lord made knoAvn and practised in the 

 great and ingenious Kingdom of China ; and that in the Maritime 

 provencines thereof there yet remain certain pieces of ordinance, 

 both of iron and brass, mth the memory of their years of founding 

 engraved upon them, and the arms of King Vitney, who, he saith, 

 was the inventor." In the works ^ of Roger Bacon, Aviitten at 

 Oxford, in 1270, the ingredients which constitute gunpowder are 

 expressly named. It is there stated that the effects of this powder 

 when inflamed, are productive of a noise like thunder, and a vivid 

 flash like lightning. 



The champions on the other side of the question maintain that 

 the merit of the invention belongs to Barthold Schwartz, a German 

 monk. The story runs thus : — that he mixed together nitre, 

 sulphur, and charcoal, for some medicinal purpose, and a spark fall- 

 iug accidentally upon the mixture, it exploded. The reader will 

 find the subject discussed pretty fully, in the works of Eriar Bacon, 

 Polydore Yii'gil, Baptista Porta, Spondanus, Bishop Watson, and 

 others. 



Gunpowder is well known to be a mixture, substaiitially made 

 up of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal ; but the proportions of each 

 article varies iu different manufacturuig establishments. _ Dr. Ure 

 tells us : — " This explosive substance consists of an intimate mix- 

 ture, in determined proportions, of saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur ; 

 and is better in proportion (everything else being equal) to the 

 quality of these mgredients.^ The nitre in particular should be 



Eerfectly refined by successive crystallizations, and finally freed 

 :om adhered water, by proper drying, or by fusion in iron pots at 

 a regulated heat. Notlihig can surpass in these respects the nitre 

 prepared in the Government i)owder mills at Waltham Abbey. It 

 IS tested by adding to its solution in distilled water nitrate of silver, 

 with whicn it occasions no perceptible opalescence. The sulphur 

 ought, also, to be of the finest quality, and pm-ified by skimming, 

 or even sublimation, if at aU_ necessary.^ The charcoal should be 

 newly made, it should burn without leaving any sensible residuum, 

 be dry, sonorous, light, and easily pulverized. The charcoal for 

 gunpowder is made either of alder, vdHow, or dog^yood, the latter 

 being preferred, which is cut into lengths, and ignited in icon 

 cyliuders, the wood before charring being carefully stripped of its 

 bark. The three ingredients being thus prepared, are ready for 

 manufacturing into gunpowder. They are first separately ground 

 to a fine powder, which is passed through proper sieves or bolting 

 machines ; secondly, they are mixed together in certain proportions, 

 but which do not seem to be definitely determined, for they differ 

 in different establishments of great respectability as is shown in 

 the follovring table : — 



