310 Dr. Cutbush on the Greek Fire. 



Several historical writers have noticed the Greek fire, 

 among whom Gibbon, and our learned and much to be la- 

 mented Ramsay, may be cited. Gibbon, in h\s History of the 

 Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. vii. p, 282. re- 

 marks, that the dehverance of Constantinople may be chiefly 

 ascribed to the Greek fire. It appears that Callinicus, the 

 inventor, deserted from the service of the Caliph to that of 

 the Emperor; and Gibbon is of opinion that this discovery or 

 improvement of the military art. was fortunately reserved 

 for the distressful period, when the degenerate Romans of 

 the east were incapable of contending with the warlike en- 

 thusiasm and youthful vigor of the Saracens. He is also of 

 opinion that little or no credit can be given to the Byzantine 

 accounts, as to the composition of the fire, although from 

 their obscure and fallacious hints, it should seem that the 

 principal ingredient was naptha, a liquid bitumen which 

 springs from the earth.^ This was mixed with sulphur, and 

 with the pitch extracted from the evergreen firs, according to 

 the testimony of Anna Commena, (Alexid. I. xiii. p. 383,) 

 and Leo, in the nineteenth chapter of his Tactics, speaks of 

 the new invention. Gibbon describes the effect of the 

 Greek fire nearly similar to that we have already stated ; viz. 

 that the fire was strong and obstinate, and was qtiickened by 

 water — that sand, urine and vinegar were the only substan- 

 ces that could damp its fury; that it was used for the annoy- 

 ance of the enemy both by sea and land, in battles or in 

 seiges, and was either poured from the ramparts in large 

 boilers, or launched into red hot balls of stone or iron, or 

 darted in arrows and javelins, twisted round with flax and 

 tow, which had deeply imbibed the inflammable oil; that at 

 other times it was deposited in fire-ships, or blown through 

 long tubes of copper, fixed on a prow of a galley; that its 

 composition was kept secret at Constantinople, pretending 

 that the knowledge of it came from an angel to the first and 



*Ia a note to Gibbon, p. 283, we read — ''The naptha, the oleum incendia- 

 rum of the history of Jerusalem (Gest. Deiper Francos, p. 1 167.) the orien- 

 tal fountain of James de Vitry, is introduced on slight evidence, and strong 

 probability. The name by which Cinnamus calls the Greek fire, corres- 

 ponds v/ith the locality where naptha was found, between the Tigris and 

 the Caspian sea. Pliny (Hist. Jfatur. ii. 109.) says it was subservient to 

 the revenge of Medea, and according to the etymology, naptha was signifi- 

 ed ; a fact which leaves no doubt that naptha was the principal ingredient 

 of the Greek fire. 



