THE ORBDGON SPORTSMAN 211 
THE EARLY HISTORY OF GUNPOWDER 
An Extract from ‘The Gun’ by W. W. GREENER, Birmingham, England, 
Published in 1881. 
The invention of gunpowder is observed in the mythical lore of 
ancient writers, but it is possible to trace it back many centuries 
prior to the Christian era. Most writers upon this subject seem agreed 
that it was known to the Chinese and Indians (East India) prior or 
contemporary with Moses, but the descriptions given are so vague 
that it is difficult to make the various accounts coincide. 
The earliest mention we have of gunpowder is in the Gentoo Laws, 
where it is mentioned as applied to firearms. This particular code 
is believed to have been coeval with the time of Moses. The notice 
is as follows: 
“The magistrate shall not make war with any deceitful machine, 
or with poisoned weapons, or with cannons or guns, or any kind of 
firearms, nor shall he slay in war any person born an eunuch, nor 
any person who putting his arm together supplicates for quarter, nor 
any person who has no means of éscape.” 
Gunpowder has been known in India and China far beyond all 
periods of investigation, and if this account be considered true it 
is very possible that Alexander the Great did absolutely meet with 
fire weapons in India, which a passage in Quintus Curtius seems to 
indicate. There are many ancient Indian and Chinese words signify- 
ing weapons of fire, heavens-thunder, devouring-fire, ball containing 
terrestrial fire, and such like expressions. 
Dutens in his work gives a most remarkable quotation from the 
“Life of Apollonius Tyanaeus” written by Philostratus, which, if true, 
proves that Alexander’s conquests in India were arrested by the use 
of gunpowder. This oft-cited paragraph is deserving of further repeti- 
tion: 
“These truly wise men (the Oxydracae) dwell between the rivers 
of Hyphasis and Ganges. Their country Alexander never entered, 
deterred not by fear of the inhabitants, but, as I suppose, by religious 
motives, for had he passed the Hyphasis he might doubtless have 
made himself master of all the country round them; but their cities 
he never could have taken, though he had led a thousand as brave as 
Achilles, or three thousand such as Ajax to the assault; for they 
come not to the field to fight those who attack them, but these holy 
men, beloved of the gods, overthrew their enemies with tempests and 
thunderbolts shot from their walls. It is said that the Egyptian Her- 
cules and Bacchus, when they invaded India, invaded this people also, 
and having prepared warlike engines, attempted to conquer them; 
they in the meantime made no show of resistance, appearing perfectly 
quiet and secure, but upon the enemy’s near approach they were 
repulsed with storms of lightning and thunderbolts hurled upon them 
from above.” 
Although Philostratus is not considered the most veracious of 
ancient authors, other evidence corroborates the truth of this account, 
and it is now generally acknowledged that the ancient Hindoos pos- 
sessed a knowledge of gunpowder making. They made great use of 
explosives, including gunpowder, in phyrotechnical displays, and it is 
not improbable that they may have discovered (perhaps accidentally) 
the most recondite of its properties, that of projecting heavy bodies, 
and practically applied the discovery by inventing and using cannon. 
