578 Romocki, ii. 21.
579 “Haec vocatur scientia experimentalis quæ negligit argumenta, quoniam non certificant, quantumcunque sint fortia, nisi simul adsit experientia conclusionis.... Sola experientia certificat hic, et non argumentum.” Opus Tertium, c. 13.
580 Daniel’s Hist. de la Milice Française, 1724, i. 240.
581 Major Ralph Adye, R.A., “The Bombardier,” &c., 1802.
582 “Annals,” &c., p. 584, for the year 1543. Stow died in 1605. The 15½″ mortar, under Firemaster Thomas Wright, which accompanied a small force sent by Cromwell in 1651 to reduce the Royalist castle of Elizabeth in Jersey, may have been one of Bawd and Collet’s. Between five and ten rounds were fired daily for several days without any damage to the piece, although the carriage broke down completely on two occasions. The range was 1540 yards, and the shooting accurate. The first round, we may feel certain, was laid with extreme care. “I proffered to lay a wager of ten pounds with Captain Dover,” says the Firemaster, “that my first shot should strike the Castle, ... and by God’s providence it did strike one side of the great Tower, where the Granado brake” (i.e. exploded). The second shell “brake verie kindly,” and for the third he “altered (the) degrees of elevation.” Captain Dover may have paid his bet, but the Ordnance Office forgot to remit Wright’s pay; hence the “Perfect Narrative of the Particular Service performed by Firemaster Thomas Wright,” &c. &c., 1651. The word explode is not found before the seventeenth century—see Dr. Murray’s “New English Dictionary”—and was sparingly used in Wright’s time.
583 “Italus a Parmensi ad Foederatos perfugiens, inauditam artem jactabat parandi vasa, cavatosque e ferro aut lapide globos, qui in obsessas urbes adigerentur, impleti ejus naturæ materiâ, ut simul ignem concepissent, in innumeros quasi acinos dissilirent.”
584 See the accounts of the bailiffs of St. Omer in 1342, in Napoleon III., iii. 77.
585 Ib., p. 149.
586 Reinaud and Favé, p. 158.
587 Whitehorne, c. 25.
588 Portfires go back to about 1700. Muller’s “Treatise on Artillery,” p. 202.
589 The battle of Uddevalla in Sweden, 1677, was decided by armes blanches, a prolonged storm of rain having put a stop to all firing. Crichton and Wheaton’s “Scandinavia,” p. 109.
590 Père Amiot, in Reinaud and Favé, p. 183.
591 Hassan, ib., 37.
592 Nye, p. 68 bis, where it is called “priming.”
593 “Quickmatch,” in official “Treat. on Ammunition,” p. 430.
594 Muller’s “Treatise on Artillery,” 1768, p. 203.
595 General Sir Howard Douglas, “Naval Gunnery,” 1860, p. 458. Sir Charles Douglas also introduced into his ship (at his own expense) the quill tubes he had invented for naval use, and flannel cartridge cases which at that time were used “for artillery cartridges of all sorts.” Captain G. Smith, “Univer. Mil. Dict.,” 1779; “Laboratory.”
596 “Artillery Equipment,” Colonel F. Miller, V.C., R.A, Pt. II., p. 84. It is uncertain to what extent flint-locks were adopted for the Artillery. “Ammunition,” by Sir V. D. Majendie, i. 192.
597 “Naval Gunnery,” as before.
598 The above facts are chiefly taken from the “Treatise on Ammunition,” by the late Colonel Sir V. D. Majendie, R.A., 1867; and the work on “Artillery Equipment,” by the late Colonel F. Miller, V.C., R.A.
599 “Elementary Lectures on Artillery,” by Major C. H. Owen and Captain T. L. Dames, Woolwich, 1861.
600 Reinaud and Favé, p. 44.
601 “Quand tu voudras attaquer ton adversaire, mets le feu à la rose,” ib., 38. “Tu mets le feu aux roses et tu lances la marmite,” ib., 43.
602 “Inventions and Devices,” 1578, p. 39.
603 For instance: “Adviserez que le trou d’icelle (the shell) soit du costé de la bouche dudit mortier.” Modelles, Artifices du Feu, &c., 1598, p. 163.
604 As happened centuries afterwards with Shrapnel’s fuzes when cut “short.”
605 “Art of Shooting in Great Ordnance,” p. 13.
606 Ib., pp. 30, 31.
607 Among the stores detailed by Firemaster T. Wright in his “Perfect Narrative,” &c., of his expedition to Jersey, 1651, are found “1000 Fuzes for shels, 600 hand Fuzes.”
608 “Invention die bishero noch nit ist gebraucht worden.” Archeley, 1621, p. 119. The Spanish Tratado de Artilléria, 1613, I have not seen and rely upon the French and German translations, both by J. T. Brey, the former entitled Artillerie, &c., the latter Archeley, &c. Either of them has been carelessly executed—perhaps both of them.
609 “La bouche du tuyeau sur la poudre de la charge de la ditte pièces.” Artillerie, p. 119.
610 “150 schritt”—geometrical paces, I presume: 1 geom. pace = 5 ft.
611 Wachthaus. The French translation has corps de garde.
612 Blom’s Kristian d. IV.’s Artilleri, p. 277.
613 P. 63 bis.
614 Pr. Lieut. W. Ritter von Breithaupt, Der Entwicklungsgang und die darauf gegründete Systematik der Zünderwesens, &c., 1868, p. 18.
615 “Gegen das Ende des 16 ten Jahrhunderts fiel man darauf, Granaten aus Kanonen zu schiessen. Da aber die ersten Versuche nicht mit gehöriger Vorsicht, und überhaupt mit zu starker Pulverladung angestellt wurden, so misslangen sie, und man behielt die sicherere Art, sie aus Haubitzen zu werfen, bei.” Major C. von Decker, Geschichte des Geschützwesens, &c., 1822, p. 74.
616 In firing against buildings, “ist es nicht eben von nöthen auf das Tempo genau Achtung zu geben.” Mieth, Artill. Recent. Praxis, Leipsig, 1683, lib. iii. c. 34.
617 In firing against troops, “the fuze must have such a length as ... to set fire to the powder as soon as the shell touches the ground.” “Universal Mil. Dict.,” Captain G. Smith, R.A., 1779; “Laboratory.”
618 A Chinese shell was thrown from the deck of one of our vessels into the sea, I forget by whom, in the attack on the Peiho Forts, 1860.
619 As was done more than once during the dynamite outrages in London some years ago.
620 At the siege of Gloucester, during the Great Rebellion, a grenado fell near Southgate; “but a woman coming by with a pail of water, threw the water thereon and extinguished the phuse thereof, so that it brake not.” Vicars’ “Jehovah Jireh,” 1646, i. 402.
621 “Per tempus quo quispiam non festinanter Symbolum Apostolorum recitare possit,” p. 174. Watches were invented by Huygens in 1674, and independently by Hooke in 1675. Ball’s “Mathematical Recreations,” 1892, p. 216.
622 Zur Geschichte der Artillerie, by Hauptmann C. Schneider, in Oesterreichische Mil. Zeitung, Wien, 1863, No. 79.
623 Theoria et Praxis Artill., Nürnberg, 1682, Part II., p. 62.
624 “Brände von Holtz, Papier oder Eisen,” ib.
625 “Man das Tempo entweder durch einen perpendicul oder nach einem perfecten und gewissen Tacte erkundigen muss,” ib.
626 “Das rechte Tempo nun zu finden, kan auf keine audere Weise, als aus den ersten Würffen erlernet werden.” Artill. Recent. Praxis, l. iii., c. 34, p. 45.
627 “Treatise on Artillery,” 1768, p. 204.
628 Ib., p. 203.
629 MS. letter kindly lent to me by Col. F. Whinyates, late R.H.A.
630 Gen. Piobert’s notes, communicated to Prof. Turquem and Capt. Favé, the translators of Gen. C. von Decker’s Expériences sur les Shrapnel, Paris, 1847, p. 320.
631 “Ammunition,” by Col. Sir V. D. Majendie, i. 235. The Prussians had a similar series of fuzes about the same time; Breithaupt, Der Entwicklungsgang ... der Zünderwesens, p. 21. On the 21st Nov. 1808, Shrapnel proposed to carry the bored fuzes in canvas bags painted different colours. Ord. Sel. Com., “Shrapnel Shell.”
632 Hasans er-Rammah in Reinaud and Favé, p. 25. This composition was called “priming,” and belonged to the “slow receipt” family.
633 Napoleon III., iii. 275.
634 Nye, p. 63, bis.
635 Spak’s Öfversigt öfver Artilleriets Uppkomst, &c., p. 157.
636 Muller’s “Treatise on Artillery,” 1768, p. 203.
637 J. G. von Hoyer’s Allgemeines Wörterbuch, Tübingen, 1804.
638 5″ fuze, official “Treatise on Ammunition.”
639 Beitrag zur Gesch. d. Artillerie, Haupt. C. Schneider, Wien, 1864.
640 See plate in Romocki, i. 343.
641 Art. Mag. Artilleriæ, &c., pt. i. bk. 4, c. 3. They were called “blind shell” because they gave out no light in their flight.
642 “Wer ein wenig Vernunft hat und nicht gar tumm ist, wird klar sehen dass dieselbe Invention einen sehr bald in die andere Welt schicken kan.” Artill. Recent. Prax., c. xi. p. 13.
643 Theor. et Praxis Artill., pt. i. p. 68.
644 “Cutting the Rigging,” Proposition iii.
645 MS. in Royal Library, Berlin, q. in Romocki, i. 347.
646 Cap. 48.
647 See his Patent, No. 3032, 11th April 1807.
648 We are told by Mr. Greener that “all the gunsmiths in England” laid claim to the invention of the cap: “The Gun and its Development,” 3rd ed., 1859, p. 110. How many of them, if any, established their claim I do not know; but it is absolutely certain that the notion of a copper cap struck Colonel Hawker in 1818. He gave a sketch of what he wanted to the celebrated Joe Manton, who made him some caps and adapted a gun for their use. “Instructions to Young Sportsmen,” by Col. Peter Hawker, 11th ed., 1859, p. 76.
649 The concussion fuze was set in action by the shock of discharge; the percussion fuze by the shock of impact with the target.
650 Reinaud and Favé, p. 180.
651 Marcus Græcus, recipe 33.
652 Hassan er-Rammah in Reinaud and Favé, p. 24.
653 1, 2, and 3 oz. rockets in Nye, p. 82.
654 Signal rocket, official “Treat. on Ammunition.”
655 Hassan, as above.
656 Official “Treat. on Ammunition.”
657 Hassan, in Reinaud and Favé, p. 27.
658 Kentish’s “Pyrotechnist’s Treasury,” 1878, p. 187, No. 13.
INDEX
- Abd Allah ibn al-Baythar (d. 1248), 16
- Abd ur-Razzak on Bijanagar (1441), 115
- Accent de Sincérité, 126
- Africanus, Sextus Julius, 40
- Agniastra, 105
- Al-Bunduqani, meaning of, 91
- Alor, taking of (A.D. 712), 91
- Amiot, Father, on Chinese powder, 128
- Ammianus Marcellinus on fire-arrows, 30
- Anagram, Friar Bacon’s, suggested solution of, 157
- Anna Comnena, Princess, on crossbows, 48
- —— on sea-fire, 44
- —— on siphons, 43
- Antiquity, Chinese veneration for, 125
- ’Arába (Persian), its double meaning, 114
- “Arabian Nights,” mention of astrolabe in, 78
- —— mention of qaus bunduq in, 93-4
- Arabic language, general ignorance of, in Middle Ages, 82
- —— words in Liber Ignium, 77
- Arangal, siege of (1309), 119
- Arderne’s recipe for powder (cir. 1350), 177
- Arquebuse, original meaning of the word, 92
- Arrows for muskets (1588), 200
- Artillery, original meaning of the word, 7
- Assos, flower of the stone of, 17, 151
- Assyrians, early use of incendiaries by the, 29
- Astrolabe = Asturlab = Usturlab, origin of, 78
-
Astronomy, Chinese, 113, 126
- Babar’s projectiles, size and price of, 122
- Bacon’s (Friar) charcoal, 149
- —— mode of refining saltpetre, 25, 151
- —— recipe for gunpowder, 157
- Baghdad, siege of (A.D. 813), 96
- Baldwin I. on Byzantine defences, 84
- Balls, hot clay, British and Arabic, 90, 217
- Barbour’s “Bruce,” mention of incendiaries in, 50
- Barúd (Arabic), successive meanings of, 6
- Baza, siege of (1325), 100
- Bengali gunners, Babar on, 121
- Benjamin of Tudela on Byzantines, twelfth century, 53
- Bergen op Zoom, siege of (1588), 226
- Beringuccio on iron round shot, 201
- Berwick, Greek fire at (1319), 50
- Bijanagur, alleged use of cannon at (1368), 113
- Bilqan, siege of (1256), 203
- Bitar taken by a single rocket (1657), 172
- Bokhara, siege of (1067), 96
- Bombshells originally oblong, 238
- Bourne’s “box” for testing powder (1578), 192
- Bows, cross-, 48
- —— slur-, 168
- —— stone-, 93
- Boxer’s (General E. M.) wooden time-fuze (1849), 243
- “Brazen Head,” legend of Bacon’s, 161
- Breteuil, Greek fire at (1356), 51
- Bristol, fire-pikes at siege of, (1643), 169
- Bronze, Egyptian, 1750 B.C., analysis of, 203
- —— price of, at various times, 204
- Bullets, hot, for small arms, 202
-
Bunduq (Arabic),successive meanings of, 6
- Calthrops = crowsfeet, 170
- Cannon, invention of, ascribed to the Germans, 54
- Cap, percussion, invention of (1818), 245
- Carcasses, invention of (1672), 224
- Carriages, gun-, field-, introduction of (1461-83), 114
- Cartridge-cases, Artillery, flannel (1770-80), 230
- Cartridges, Infantry, early composite (1590), 179
- Case, early use of, 208
- —— Zimmermann’s, 212-13
- Casiri’s translations, 99
- Caxton on price of naphtha (1480), 187
- Chalcocondyles on early cannon, 54
- Charcoal, hazel and willow wood for, 62, 137, 149
- Charleston, siege of, 1863, incendiaries at, 49
- Chen-tien-lui, Chinese projectile, 130, 138
- China, early communication of, with the west, 136
- Chinese historical works, 124, 126
- —— snow, 17
- Chronoscope, Wheatstone’s electro-magnetic (1840), 194
- Combustion, progressive, 3
- Compass, Mariner’s, 112
- Comte, A., on the invention of powder, 111
- Concussion fuze, invention of English (1850), 245
- Conde’s metaphor, trueno con fuego, 101
- Congreve, on his rockets, 175
- Constantine VII., on sea-fire, 34, 46
- Copredy Bridge, action at (1644), 208
- Corning (graining) powder, first mention of (1429), 182
- Cracker of Marcus Græcus, 87
- —— of Friar Bacon, 87, 159
- Creed, Apostles’, used to measure time, 239
- Cressy, English guns at, 7
- Crusades, no explosive used during the, 97
- Crusoe’s (Robinson) wildfire, 52
- Cunningham, General, on decay of Indian temples, 111
-
Cuprum (copper), origin of word, 80
- Dahir, King of Alor (712), 91
- Darts for cannon, 199
- Delium, siege of (424 B.C.), 31
- Dickson, General Sir A., on port-fires, 230
- Discoveries, accidental, 162
- Douglas, Captain Sir C., R.N., inventions of, 230
- Drake, Sir Francis, demands arrows for muskets (1588), 200
- Dunnett, Sergeant D., rockets at Waterloo under, 176
- Dunois’ capture of Pont Audemer (1449), 173
-
Dutens on Marcus Græcus, 84
- Encyclopædias, Chinese, 124
- Espingarda, meaning of, 117
- Europeans in China in early times, 135
- —— in India in early times, 114, 121
- Existence, the struggle for, 108
-
Explosion, meaning of, 3
- Famagusta, Greek fire at (1571), 51
- Feringiha, meaning of, 121
- Firdusi, mention of incendiaries by, 96
- Fire-arrows, defects of, 30
- —— early use of, by Greeks (429 B.C.), 29
- —— early use of, in Greece (480 B.C.), 55
- Fire-ships, early use of (413 B.C.), 31
- Firework, an Arabic and English, 247
- —— soft or slow, as time-fuze, 233
- Flexible instruments, Byzantine, meaning of, 48
- Flint and steel as percussion fuze (1596), 244
- Forsyth, Rev. A., applies fulminates to priming (1807), 245
- Fother, an ancient English weight, 203
- Fouling of serpentine powder, 179
- Franks, Portuguese guns called, by Chinese (1520), 139
- Freeburn, Quartermaster, R.A., invents concussion fuze (1846), 245
- Friction tube invented by Mr. Tozer (1851), 231
- Fulminates, first use of, in priming (1807), 245
- Furtenbach’s instrument for testing powder (1627), 193
- Fuze, concussion, first English (1846), 245
- —— hand (1651), 236
- —— percussion, earliest proposal of (1596), 244
- —— —— first English (1850), 245
- —— time, Boxer’s wooden (1849), 243
- —— —— calculated, the phrase (1779), 210
- —— —— early Arabic, 231
- —— —— early Danish, 237
- —— —— early English (1543), 235
- —— —— proposed adjustment of (1596), 239
- —— —— length of early, constant, 237
- —— —— nineteen in English service (1850), 242
- —— —— short, difficulties with, 241
- —— —— short, Shrapnel’s mode of cutting, 242
- —— —— Shrapnel’s, rendered useless by damp (1807), 213
-
—— —— Ufano’s experiments with (cir. 1600-13), 236
- Gama, Vasco da, in Calicut (1498), 117
- Gauttier on al-Bunduqani, 92
- Geber. See Jabir
- Gentoo Laws, code of, 105
- Gibbon on firearms in China, 140
- —— on gunpowder, 111
- —— on Jesuits in China, 126
- Gibraltar, hot shot at siege of (1779-83), 217
- —— shell-fire from guns at, 209
- Glazing gunpowder, mentioned in 1684, 182
- Golail, a two-stringed long-bow, 93
- Gold, alchemical preparation of, resembled that of saltpetre, 153
- “Golden Garlands,” an Arabic firework, 247
- Grain, influence of size of, of gunpowder, 195
- Gram, the sword of Sigurd, 105
- Greek fire, a Crusader’s term, 49, 76
- —— —— composition of, 31
- Greenhill, Professor, on stability of projectiles, 215
- Grenados, spherical shell, 238
- Guisarme, meaning of, 117
- Gun, or gonne, triple use of, 7
- —— pressure on bore of, with different projectiles, 206
- —— nature of earliest missiles for, 199
- —— flint-lock for, invention of (1778), 230
- Gun-carriages, field, introduced (1461-83), 114
- Gun-metal, composition of, 203-4
- —— price of, 204
- Gunpowder, Arderne’s recipe for (cir. 1350), 177
- —— Friar Bacon’s recipe for (cir. 1248), 157, 177
- —— Chinese, badly made, 134
- —— composition of, at various times, 197-98
- —— compressed, 222
- —— corned (grained), advantages of, 182
- —— —— too strong for guns at first, 183
- —— damage to, by damp, 180
- —— definition of, adopted here, 3
- —— effects of invention of, 111
- —— fouling of serpentine (ungrained), 179
- —— French adopt one kind for all arms, 194
- —— ingredients of, carried separately at first, 181
- —— invention of (cir. 1248), 162
- —— Louis XIV.’s Ordonnances about, 193
- —— price of English, at various times, 184
- —— ramming-home serpentine, 181
- —— silent, 197
- —— smokeless, 196
- —— sulphurless, 196
- —— tests of, 192-94
-
Gunstone-maker’s wages in the sixteenth century, 205
- Halhed on early Indian firearms, 105
- Hälle on time-fuzes and percussion shell (1596), 239, 244
- Harquebuss, see Arquebuse
- Hassan er-Rammah (d. 1295), 17
- Havre, experiments with naphtha at (1758), 49
- Hawker, Colonel P., invents percussion cap (1818), 245
- Heraclea, siege of (805), 91
- History, Chinese, the Jesuits on, 126
- Homer, no mention of incendiaries in, 29
- Hookah (Persian) = grenade or fire-pot, 94, 117
-
Huo-p’áu (Chinese), meanings of, 6
- Igor, Russian Admiral, defeated by Greeks (941), 34
- Ikreekh (Arabic), for igniting shell, 231
- Incendiary, earliest, consisted of sulphur and pitch, 30
- —— meaning of word, here, 3
- Index, chemical, to Marcus’ Liber Ignium, 68
-
Iron, price of, at various times, 204
- Jabir, the true and the false, 14
- Jesuits superintend gun-casting at Peking (1618), 140
- Jodhaimah possesses first Arabic machines, 90
-
Joinville on Arabic incendiaries, 4, 98, 102
- Ka’aba, burning of the (683), 90
- Kallinikos, the inventor of sea-fire (670-80), 33
- Kallisthenes in Babylon (331 B.C.), 80
- Khalid, Prince, the first Arab writer on incendiaries (d. 708), 72
-
Khubelai Khan sends for western gunners (1270), 133
- Lateran Council, decree of, against incendiaries (1139), 88
- Lead, price of, at various times, 204
- Leipsig, battle of (1813), English rockets at, 176
- Leo VI. on sea-fire, 46
- Leo’s metaphor, thunder and smoke, 38
- Liber Ignium of Marcus Græcus, a composite work, 83
- “Light of the Moon,” Arabic fixed light, 246
- Louis XIV., Ordonnances of, about powder, 193
-
Lys, Passage of (1382), hand-grenades at, 169
- Machine, meaning of, here, 3
- Maghribiha, meaning of, 119
- Mahmoud Shah Begurra of Gujarat (1482), 116
- Mangonals in China, 133
- Manjánik (Arabic) = machines, 90
- Manu’s “Code of Laws,” 106
- Marcus Græcus, a mere name, 86
- Marsh’s percussion tube (1831), 231
- Masawyah (Mesué), Arab physician, 84
- Masudi on autumnal rains, 77
- ——- on qaus al-bunduq, 92
- Match, time-fuze called so by Stow, 235
- Mecca, siege of (A.D. 638), 90
- Mercier, Captain, 39th Regiment, proposes shell-fire from guns (1779), 209
- Mercury, fulminate of, first used in priming (1807), 245
- Metaphors, difficulties created by, 4, 101
- Meyer, Hauptmann, on Shrapnel shell, 214
- Mieth on early percussion shell, 244
- Mills, powder, 187
- Mithkal (or Miskal), a Persian weight, 122
- Modhaffer Shah of Gujarat (1511), 118
- Money, English and French, in fourteenth century, 186
- Mons Meg, materials for repairing, 139
- Moorsom’s (Commander, R.N.) percussion fuze (1850), 245
- Mortar éprouvette, 193
-
Moyria de Maillac, Father, on Chinese historians, 126
- Naphtha, Plutarch on, 39
- Nassau, Graf. Johann von, proposes a percussion shell (1610), 244
- Navez’s (Captain) electro-ballistic pendulum, 195
- Niébla, siege of (1257), 101
- “Nitiprakásika” on arms and armies, 107
- Norton, time-fuzes called “pypes” by (1628), 237
-
Nye proposes mortar éprouvette (1647), 193
- Oppert, Professor, on early Hindu gunpowder, &c., 107
-
Orgue, meaning of, 207
- Paris, use of incendiaries in (1870), 49
- Pellet, for bullet, 183
- Pendulum, ballistic, of Robins, 194
- —— electro—ballistic, of Navez, 195
- —— for timing fuzes, 240
- Percussion powder, earliest, 245
- Persia, late in adopting firearms, 116
- Peshawur, battle near (1008), 94
- Petroleum mentioned in Anglo-Saxon work (cir. A.D. 900), 82
- “Piber til Granater,” early Danish time-fuzes, 237
- Pien-king, siege of (1232), 130
- Pikes, fire, at the siege of Bristol (1643), 169
- Placentia, attack on (A.D. 69), 217
- Platæa, siege of (429 B.C.), 29
- Pont Audemer, taking of (1449), 173
- Porcelain, dates of, forged by Chinese, 125
- Portfires (cir. 1700), 229
- Pressure on bore, comparative, with different projectiles, 206
- —— gauge, Rodman’s, 195
- Printing press, invention of, 113
- Projectiles for cannon, nature of earliest, 199
-
Pype, early time-fuze called a, 237
-
Quicklime, Pliny on, 39
- Rain, autumnal, in Liber Ignium, 77
- Ramming home serpentine powder, on, 181
- Rantambhor, attacks on (1290 and 1300), 119
- Rāy, Professor, on the Sukraniti, 110
- Ribaudequin, 207
- “Richard Cœr-de-Lion,” metrical romance (1272-1307), 50
- Robins’ ballistic pendulum, 194
- Rockets at Leipsig (1813), 176
- —— Chinese, 135
- —— Marcus Græcus’ (rec. 13, 32, 33), 62, 67
- —— Tipu Sultan’s, 174
- Rodman’s pressure gauge, 195
- Roman candles, Chinese, 132
- —— Marcus Græcus’ (rec. 12), 61
- Romerentin, Greek fire at (1356), 51
- Rose (Arabic), for igniting shell, 231
-
Round, one, comparative cost of, with different balls (cir. 1375), 205
- Sal coctus, 13
- —— Indicus, 15
- Salonika, siege of (904), 40
- Saltpetre, approximate date of discovery of, 28
- —— Indian, price of (1580), 187
- —— modes of refining:—
- Sauverchala (Sanskrit), meaning of, 16
- Sea-fire, composition of, 41
- —— unknown to Westerns, 41, 84
- Seringapatam, rockets at (1792, 1799), 174
- Shahnama, mention of incendiaries in, 96
- Shatagni (Sanskrit), meaning of, 105
- Shell, common, first use of, 227
- —— —— number of pieces into which it broke, 210
- Shell-fire from guns (1779), 208
- Shot (cannon), hot (1579), 217
- Shrapnel’s fuzes indifferent, 213-14, 242
- —— mode of cutting short fuzes, 242
- Shrapnel shell, experiments with (1819), 242
- —— principles of, 211, 213
- Siang-yang-fu, siege of (1269-73), 133
- Sieves for coming powder, 190
- Silver, fulminate of, 245
- Sincérité, Accent de, 126
- Siphon (Greek), meaning of, 46
- —— two kinds of, 43
- Slur-bow, 168
- Smith, Captain G., R.A., on shell fire, 241
- Sora (Indian colloquial), meaning of, 16
- Spanish words, &c., in Liber Ignium, 81
- Spell, Indian, to ensure victory, 107
- Steganogram, Friar Bacon’s, suggested solution of, 151
- Stirling, siege of (1304), Greek fire at, 50
- Stone, best, for round shot, 205
- Stone-bow, a golail, 93
- “Stone which is not a stone,” 151
- Stow on shell (1543), 225
- Strada, Father, on bombshells, 226
- Struphnos, Admiral, sale of naval stores by (1200), 53
- “Sukraniti,” recipe for powder in the, 109
-
Sulphurs, several (so-called), in early times, 80
- Talwood, 179
- Tampions for musket-arrows (1588), 200
- Tayif, siege of (A.D. 630), 90
- Tea in China and Europe, 113
- Tell, William, legend of, 127
- Temples, Indian, causes of decay of, 112
- Testing powder. See Gunpowder
- Theophanes on invention of sea-fire, 33
- Toll, Hauptmann, on Shrapnel shell, 212
- Tourbillion, a firework, 247
- Tozer’s friction-tube (1853), 231
- Train of powder to fire early guns, 228
- Translations, specimens of, 9
- Trombes, or tronckes, 51
- Tubes, friction (1853), 231
- —— percussion (1831), 231
- —— quill, for navy (cir. 1778), 230
-
Tung-kian-kang-mu, Chinese Encyclopædia, 130-31
- Uddevalla, battle of (1677), 229
-
Ufano’s experiments with fuzes (cir. 1600), 236
-
Valturio’s bronze shell (1463), 138, 221
- Wachtendonck, siege of (1588), 227
- Watches invented (1674), 239
- Weissenburg, siege of (1469), 220
- Wheatstone’s electro-magnetic chronoscope, 194
- Whitehorne on silent powder, 197
- —— on serpentine and corned powder, 183
- Wildfire, history of the word, 51
- Words, changes in the meaning of, 6
-
Wright, Mr. Thomas, on mariner’s compass, 112
-
Xerxes’ fire-archers, 55
- Yavakshara (Sanskrit), meaning of, 16
- Yo (Chinese), successive meanings of, 6
- Yung Loh, Chinese Emperor (1403),133-34
-
Yusuf ibn Ismaël al-Juni on saltpetre (1311), 103
- Zarb-zan = swivel gun, Babar’s, 121
- Zembaq (Arabic), doubtful meaning of, 81
- Zimmermann’s projectile (1573), 212-13