Dr. Cutbush on the Greek Fire. 309 



invented an inextinguishable incendiary fuse, which is thrown 

 by fire arms, and calculated to set fire to the 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 Lou- 

 is XV. 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 

 Greek fire. 



At the commencement of the late war with Great Brit- 

 ain, several persons directed their attention to the discovery 

 of some new incendiary preparation, which would possess 

 the properties of Greek fire; but none of them proved suc- 

 cessful. Of one in particular I was an eye-witness. A 

 preparation of the kind was shown to the corporation of 

 Philadelphia, of which I was then a member, and 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 French author, in speaking of incendiary 

 fireworks, mentions also the Greek fire. He observes that it 

 was composed of naptha, sulphur, bitumen, camphor and 

 petroleum, all 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 sub- 

 stance, which was thrown upon armed men, and burnt 

 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. 



