GUNPOWDER. 
treatife, in the hands of Dr. G. Langbain, feen ro toa owing tothe weaknefs of their firft pieces. See! Gun and 
. Wallis, to be'falphur and wood coal.” “Fhe writer of the CANNow. 
life of Friar Bacon, in the Biographia Brita aside vol.i. -°Of 23 different compofitions, ‘afed at different times, ac 
that Bacon aig has divtassed the fecret of thiscom- mentioned by Tartaglia in: his Quef. and Iny. lib. iii. quef. 5. 
pehion | ina cypher, by tranfpofing the letters'of ‘the two the firft, which was the moft ancient, contained a eB 
ords in chap. xi. of the above cited treatife; where it is of -nitre, fulphur, and charcoal. When guns: of: modern 
thus ‘expreffed ; ‘fed tamen falis petre Jura mope canubré ftru€ture. were introduced, gunpowder of the fame compos 
(he ‘Catbonum pulvere) et fulphuris; et fic facies toni- fition with the prefent came: alfo into ufe.» The cannon 
trum & corrufcationem, fi fcias Srihari’: ”* and from hence powder, in the time of: Tartaglia, was made of four part 
‘Bacon’s biographer apprehends the words Siete pulveré of falt-petre, one of fulphur, and awa sey eee, and the 
Were’ ‘transferred to’ the fixth Site r ee Dr. ‘Lan ngbain’ s mufket powder of 48 parts of falt-petre, feven.parts. of 
e : r 
“Dec Experimentalia.” ° See Dr. ‘Jebb's ‘edition of Napier fays (Tranf of the Irifh Acad. voli) that he Mt 
< P- 474- ; 
~ Mr. s apprehends (fee the preface to his Tracts), proportions, viz. 3lb. of mitre, about 9 0%. of charco; 
tha Bae deferibes gunpowder not as’a a new compofition, and about 3 oz. of fulphur: the proportion of: in ingredients 
. s rf. " + 2. SO ee Oe ’ es ‘ 3 O- 
purpofes, and that it was ea ale ae ~ ~ — very various. With us the oak peer iy pie 
ime. Marcus Grecus, an ancient author, w der is the fame’ for cannon and for fmall arm3; the differ- 
bably Tred about the time ‘f° the Arabian phyficia Mefue ence confifting only in the fize of the grains: but in France 
NR ee RS A a se a or ha appeared od fe te pom 
ve intit ium,’ of which Yr, viz. Cannon-powder, mufket-pow and pillol-pow- 
“Mead had a MS. copy: and cited ee Jebb in the paces des; of each of thefe again there are two | forts, a deg 
to Bacon's Opus Ma jus, defcribes two kinds of fire-works ; a weaker ; all which vaisadbsis arife only. se 
one for flying, inclofed in a cafe or cartouche, made lo: a Topo) oe 
and flender, rm filled with the compofition clofely pianihed vingh DO opto are er : in A ‘tronger cannon-p Dn w- 
our modern’ rocket ; and thé other thick ‘and-fhort, der, t 00 pounds. of falt FBS 25 pounds of 
ly tied at both ends, and half filled, refembling our falpha are ie allowed, with the fame gone of 
Cracker; and t ofiti ie prefcribes for both Pin the weaker cannon-powder, to every 1¢ 
*two pounds of charcoal, one pound of fulphur, and fix pounds x Galt pete 20 ao ee of fulphor, and 24 pound 
I OF -falt-petre, well! pow dered and "mixed together in charcoal. ufk er, 
. See CANN 8 rv of ih sak erat 18 pounds of fulphur, and 20 
I _Dutens* ‘carries t quity” ‘of gan ower muons ‘of charcoal ; and in the weaker, the proporti “quantities 
3 and he refers to et anecatnte given by Virgil (ZEn. ‘are 100 Cel of. Feud, ee I 7; of ulphur, and 18 of 
ae ver. 585. ) Hygiitus (Pabul. 61. and 6§0.), Euuita- charcoal. aE powder, be pounds of 
‘thius (aa ‘Oe Odyi. x: ofa Pp. 1682. 1. 1.), Valeri us Flaccus ‘falt-petre | seated a of fu a ne 2 ae oF narcoal 
vit: i rk and others, of Salmoneus” attempt % imitate “whereas ‘the Weaker nae ee Wiese md 
: past Z co ee ee ee aa a aie ee “r “ Wiese 
“apud Petrefciana’\ Pathe; uch of chare - 
P. 804, report the fame thing of Caligula The Bek pointe of fat: 15 of “fala and of 
‘or muikets anc 2 als) 100 roo pounds of ce oF od 
fe the fame, according to Themiftius Orat: xxvii. 
PBs and alfo the Indians, whofe practice is ‘record- ‘fulphur, and ten o ’ quer, t 
ao 5 Deen L et aye a A ‘origi of 2 fe “ a a a of Siem “s recominends 7 
ast <i cP Se she Coie eof tretiea phiiay a, 
Sasa hs powder: was known 7 by Speete of mak- 
er of eee : for mortars than guns, as in 
| ndation, and 
: for whereas to load a 
lured, and 
" mortar’24 pounds of common is conf 
Stechbieal bs ae ten times, ‘ollie i he thews by, cale lato, 
that the fame eet be read by niei poesia step 
