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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
The occurrence of flame — that is to say, the moment of 
combustion — is not, however, always to be calculated on with 
precision. The temperature of the air, the force of the wind, 
and the extent of surface over which the fluid is spread, all 
make great differences. Thus, in an experiment with a specimen 
of Scott’s liquid fire fluid, I found that, at a temperature of 
63° Fahrenheit, with a fair wind blowing, combustion took 
place in four minutes and a half, the fluid being distributed 
over dry wood ; but when the same fluid was distributed in 
the same way, and at the same time, over moist wool, com- 
bustion was delayed for half an hour. It is, at the same time, 
quite unnecessary to dwell on such differences as are here 
described : to the practical man they would be infinitely less 
difficult to meet than many others, occurring in the manage- 
ment of weapons of war. The engineer would have neces- 
sarily to make his own calculations on each firing, taking into 
account the temperature, the wind, and the character of the 
structure on which the fluid was about to be cast. 
Regarding Greek fire as we at present understand it in 
England, I have only one other word to add, and that is most 
important. I have many times tried to impress it, and must, by 
repetition, do so again. It is a caution. It is this : that if we 
were at war with any nation, and that nation were to throw a 
gallon of liquid fire fluid into any one of our wooden ships, that 
ship would never be absolutely safe again. The combustion 
might be prevented for the moment ; it might be (assuming 
always that Mr. Scott’s new compound is not in question) 
suppressed after combustion ; but the fire, after all, is only 
suppressed : that is the great point. So soon as the water 
has evaporated or so soon as the cover is removed — though a 
month, a year, a century had elapsed — the fire would break 
out ; and, paradoxical as it may seem, the more effectual the 
means of suppression had been, the more determinate would 
be the combustion when that suppression was removed. 
I can consider no disaster more terrible than the lodgment 
of a few shells of Greek fire fluid on board a wooden vessel of 
war. What if such a vessel should even come out of a great 
fight victorious ! Whither between her beams, and floorings, 
and crevices has the inflammable liquid not permeated ? How 
safe is her magazine ? When her carpenters afterwards, at 
any time, are taking her to pieces, in parts, for repair, what 
guarantee is there they shall not remove boards that are, 
on exposure, transformed into gigantic self - lighting lucifer 
matches ? 
It remains only for me to describe, in brief terms, such facts as 
are known in relation to American Greek fire. The scientific 
narrative will then be as complete as it can be rendered at the 
present moment. 
