312 Dr. Cutbush on the Greek Fire. 



noted composition called the Grecian fire; which, burning 

 with increased intensity under water, became a most formi- 

 dable instrument against an inimical fleet. The Maptha 

 springs were visited by Hanway, who has given a detailed 

 account of them : also by Kempfer, and Gmelin. Hanway 

 observes, that the quantity is so great, that the Persians load 

 it in bulk in their wretched vessels, ?o that sometimes the 

 sea is covered with it for leagues together ; and that when the 

 weather is thick and hazy, the springs boil up the higher, 

 and the naptha ofteo takes fire on the surface of the earth, 

 and runs in a flame into the sea in great quantities, to a dis- 

 tance almost incredible. 



Besides the former use of naptha for the preparation of 

 the Greek fire, the ancients, especially the Magi performed 

 various tricks, .or deceptions with it, principally on account 

 of its extreme inflammability. Some of these deceptions 

 are recorded in history. According to Plutarch, the great 

 inflammability of naptha was exhibited to Alexander the 

 Great at Ecbatana, with which he was astonished and de- 

 lighted, and the same author, as well as Pliny and Galen in 

 particular, asserts that it was with naptha, that Medea de- 

 stroyed Creusa, the daughter of Creon. She sent to this 

 princess a dress, previously soaked in it, which burst into 

 flames as she approached the fire of the altar. It is sup- 

 posed to have been naptha also, in which the dress of Her- 

 cules was dipped, and not the blood of Nessus, that took fire 

 in the same manner. When offerings caught fire impercep- 

 tibly, it is conjectured that this oil must have been employ- 

 ed. 



From the facts thus given we may conclude, 1st. That 

 the Greek fire, so called, was composed for the principal 

 part of naptha ; 2d. That the naptha, as it is a powerful sol- 

 vent of rezins, must have been combined either with liquid 

 turpentine, or rozin, and probably with camphor, as inflamed 

 camphor resists considerably the action of water ; 3d. That 

 the composition of the original Greek fire was fluid, as it 

 was thrown out by forcing pumps, or through pipes which 

 could not have been the case had it been solid ; 4th. That 

 although generally used in a fluid state, it was sometimes 

 employed Uke the modern carcass by soaking in it tow, he. 

 and then used as an incendiary ; 5th. That it does not ap- 

 pear upon any testimony extant that nitre, or salt petre en- 



