Greek Fire of the Middle Ages. 1 



pyrotechny depends on the property which nitre possesses of 

 accelerating or determining the combustion of inflammable sub- 

 stances, even when these are excluded from the air, and as all 

 the compositions used in this art bear an analogy to gunpowder, 

 it is plain, that the antiquity of gunpowder is implied in that 

 of pyrotechny. Yet it is probable, as before suggested, that the 

 art of making fire-works by means of nitre and inflammable 

 substances, is of more ancient date than that of making gun- 

 powder as we now know it. The one can, in fact, be done in a 

 certain way, by almost any mixture of combustible substances 

 into which nitre enters in a sufficient proportion ; whereas duly 

 to select the proper combustibles, to proportion the ingredients, 

 to mix and to granulate them, requires a degree of contrivance, 

 attention and practice, which was not likely to have occurred 

 till long after. It is even probable, that ordnance was derived 

 from some kind of fire-works ; it was much more likely at least 

 to have originated in this manner, than from Barthold Schwartz's 

 mortar ; a fable so often repeated as to have become a matter 

 of general belief. 



Without therefore thinking it necessary to examine the ques- 

 tion of gunpowder particularly, which is in itself but a branch 

 of pyrotechny, I may attempt to trace backwards to the oldest 

 records that have come down to us respecting any compositions 

 of this nature. These, as already observed, lead us to India; 

 and if any hesitation is felt in allowing to the oriental nations, 

 from a time so remote, an art which only reached us long after, 

 we must recollect, that astronomy and algebra were known in 

 India equally long before they had found their way into Europe. 

 The latter, in particular, is of very recent introduction. In the 

 same manner were printing and the mariner's compass known 

 to the Chinese, long before they had been introduced among 

 the western nations, although both of them were inventions 

 fully as likely to have spread. If we are inclined to ask why 

 the messengers of Justinian, who brought silk from that remote 

 empire into the west, did not also bring gunpowder and fire- 

 works, we must also explain why they did not bring the art of 



