HISTORY OF GUNPOWDER.

The History of Gunpowder may well form a prelude to that of Fire Arms, as the existence of the latter is wholly dependent on the discovery of the former. Of all the discoveries which have been made, there is, perhaps, none which has produced more important consequences to mankind than the discovery of Gunpowder, as by introducing fire-arms, and a new method of fortifying, attacking, and defending Towns, it wrought a complete change in the whole art of war.

Knock’s opinion.

The invention of Gunpowder is completely involved in obscurity, and this very fact is one great proof of its antiquity. Knock observes that the invention of Gunpowder comprises several discoveries, which it is necessary to distinguish from each other.

Order of discovery.

1st.—The discovery of Nitre, the principal ingredient, and the cause of its detonation.

2nd.—The mixture of nitre with sulphur and charcoal, which, properly speaking, form gunpowder.

3rd.—The application of powder to fire-works.

4th.—Its employment as a propelling agent for throwing stones, bullets, &c.

5th.—Its employment in springing mines and destroying fortifications.

All these discoveries belong to different periods.

Mr. Duten’s account.

Mr. Dutens carried the antiquity of gunpowder very high; and refers to the accounts given by Virgil, and others, of Salmonens’ attempt to imitate thunder, presuming from hence that he used a composition of the nature of Gunpowder.

Known in China, A. D. 85.

It has been said that it was used in China as early as the year A. D. 85, and that the knowledge of it was conveyed to us from the Arabs, on the return of the Crusaders to Europe.

Known in India, A. D. 250.

The Brahmas and Indians, whose practice is recorded by Philostratus, in his life of Appolonius Tyanœus, written about 1600 years ago. “These truly wise men,” says he, “dwell between the rivers Hyphasis and Ganges; their country Alexander never entered, their cities he never could have taken, for they come not out to the field to fight those who attack them, but they overthrow their enemies with tempests and thunderbolts, shot from their walls.”

This is a most striking illustration of the antiquity of Gunpowder, for if some such composition be not implied in the foregoing quotation, it must remain for ever perfectly unintelligible.

Saltpetre, which is the principal ingredient of Gunpowder, is found in its natural state in the East, and from this it seems highly probable they were acquainted with the composition of Gunpowder before the Europeans.

Powder at siege of Mecca, A. D. 690.

The Arabs are said to have employed Gunpowder at the siege of Mecca, A. D. 690.

Oldest book on gunpowder A. D. 900.

There is a manuscript book still extant, entitled Liber Ignium, written by Marcus Græcus, who lived about the end of the eighth century, and the composition there prescribed is 6lbs. saltpetre, 2lbs. charcoal, 1lb. sulphur, to be well powdered and mixed in a stone mortar.

Work on gunpowder in Escurial Collection A. D. 1249.

There is in the Escurial Collection a treatise on Gunpowder, written in 1249.

Roger Bacon on powder, A. D. 1267.

Our countryman, Roger Bacon, who was born 1214, and published works at Oxford 1267, expressly mentions the ingredients of Gunpowder, not as any new discovery, but as a well known composition, used for recreation. He describes it as producing a noise like thunder, and flashes like lightning, but more terrible than those produced by nature; and adds that it might be applied to the destruction of an army or a city. Bacon, in his treatise “De Secretis Operibus,” says that from saltpetre, sulphur, and wood coals, we are able to make a fire that shall burn at any distance we please.

Tradition of Schwartz, A. D. 1320.

The common tradition of Bartholdus Schwartz having invented Gunpowder and Artillery, about 1320, is without the slightest foundation, but he might possibly have suggested the simplest application of it to warlike purposes, in consequence of some accidental explosion while mixing the ingredients in a Mortar. mortar. Indeed, the name, as well as the form of the old species of artillery, which was employed to throw large bullets at an elevation, strongly corroborate this conjecture; but Schwartz cannot lay any claim to originality of invention.

Powder made in the reign of Richard II. 1378.

Gunpowder was made in England in the fourteenth century, as Richard II. commissioned Sir Thomas Norwich to buy, in London, or in any other place, certain quantities of “sulphur, saltpetre, and charcoal,” for making Gunpowder.

Tartaglia on Powder, A. D. 1500.

Tartaglia, at the commencement of the sixteenth century, sets down twenty-three different compositions, made use of at different times, the first of which, being the most ancient, consists of equal parts of nitre, sulphur, and charcoal.

Ancient gunpowder weak.

Gunpowder, for some time after the invention of artillery, was of a composition much weaker than what we now use, or than that ancient one mentioned by Marcus Græcus; but this, it is presumed, was owing to the weakness of their first pieces, rather than to the ignorance of a better mixture.

Graining.

The change of the proportion of the materials composing it was not the only improvement it received. The invention of graining it is doubtless a considerable advantage to it; for powder, at first, was always in the form of fine meal, such as it was reduced to by grinding the materials together. It is doubtful whether the first graining of powder was intended to increase its strength, or only to render it more convenient for the filling into small charges, and the charging of small arms, to which alone it was applied for many years, whilst meal-powder was still made use of in cannon. But at last the additional strength which the grained powder was found to acquire from the free passage of the fire between the grains, occasioned the meal-powder to be entirely laid aside.

Tartaglia wrote, 1537.

That powder was first used in meal, and continued in its old form for cannon long after the invention of graining it for small arms, are facts not to be contested. Tartaglia expressly asserts that in his time cannon-powder was in meal, and the musket-powder grained. William Bourne, 1577.And our countryman, William Bourne, in his “Art of Shooting in great Ordnaunce,” published forty years after Tartaglia, tells us, in chap. I, that serpentine powder, (which he opposes to corn, or grained-powder) should be as fine as sand, and as soft as flour: and in his third chapter he says that two pounds of corn-powder will go as far as three pounds of serpentine-powder.

Tartaglia on the proportions.

We learn from Tartaglia, that the cannon-powder was made of four parts saltpetre, one part sulphur, and one part charcoal; and the musket-powder of forty-eight parts saltpetre, seven parts sulphur, and eight parts charcoal; or of eighteen parts saltpetre, two parts sulphur, and three parts charcoal. These compositions for musket powder are very near the present standard; the first having, in one hundred pounds of powder, about one pound of saltpetre more than is at present allowed, and the second three pounds more.

Nye’s treatise on the proportions.

Nye, in his treatise on fireworks, gives the proportions of the ingredients, and the dates when they are used, thus in 1380 equal parts of each were employed. This would be about as efficient as a common squib of the present time. In 1410, three parts saltpetre, two sulphur, and two charcoal. In 1520, for the best powder, four parts saltpetre, one sulphur, and one charcoal, and afterwards, five saltpetre, one sulphur, and one charcoal.

Early gunpowder mere mixture.

In fact, Gunpowder was merely those substances, combined, with little or no purification. It was not at first corned or grained, as at present, but remained in its mealed state, and was called “serpentine powder,” in several accounts of stores in the time of Edward VI., and Elizabeth.

Two kinds.

Soon after this two kinds of powder were used for the same gun, one in its mealed state (for priming only) as being more readily ignited by the match, the other, corned or grained, for the charge in the gun barrel.

Powder first used to explode mines in 15th century.

The application of powder to mines, and to the destruction of fortifications, does not appear to have been in practice before the end of the fifteenth century.

Elizabeth had powder made, 1558 to 1603.

Camden, in his life of Queen Elizabeth, says that she was the first who procured Gunpowder to be made in England, that she might not pray and pay for it also to her neighbours; but it has been stated that it was previously made in the reign of Richard II.

Charles I. from A. D. 1625 to 1649.

Sir Henry Manwayring, in his Seaman’s Dictionary, presented to the Duke of Buckingham, in the time of Charles 1st, under the word powder, tells us, “There are two kinds of powder, the one serpentine-powder, which powder is dust (as it were) without corning. The other is “corn-powder;” though he informs us the serpentine-powder was not used at sea. Indeed, when that book was written, it is believed powder was usually corned, for the foreign writers on artillery had long before recommended its general use.

Causes which checked the progress of Fire-Arms.

Various circumstances tended to check the progress of fire-arms, and the improvement of artillery, for a long period after the invention of gunpowder. Custom made most people prefer the ancient engines of war. The construction of artillery was very awkward and imperfect; and the bad quality and manufacture of gunpowder, so that it could produce but little effect; Fire-Arms supposed to extinguish bravery, and to be contrary to humanity.and there was a general aversion to the newly invented arms, as calculated to extinguish military bravery, and as being contrary to humanity; but above all, the knights (whose science was rendered completely useless by the introduction of fire-arms) opposed, with all their might, this invention, Fire-Arms expensive and powder difficult to procure.to which may be added the great cost and difficulty of procuring gunpowder.

Rockets in India.

It is known that iron rockets have been used in India as military weapons, time out of mind. (See plate 4, fig. 3.)

GREEK FIRE.

Discovered by Callinicus. A. D., 617.

The Greek Fire has been highly extolled for its wonderful effects, but it owed much of its effect to the terrors and imagination of the beholders. It is said by the Oriental Greeks, to have been discovered by Callinicus, an architect of Heliopolis or Balbeck, in the reign of the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus, who, it is said, forbad the art of making it to be communicated to foreigners, but it was at length known, and in common use, among the nations confederated with the Byzantines.

Known in China, 917.

It is also said to have been known in China in 917, being 300 years after Constantine Pogonatus, under the name of “The oil of the cruelfire,” and was carried thither by the Kitan Tartars, who had it from the King of Ou.

Wild fire from the Saracens.

It was thrown by machines, by the hand, and by cross bows, fastened to the heads of arrows. The Crusaders obtained a knowledge of a sort of wild fire from the Saracens, which could only be extinguished by dust or vinegar. It was composed of the gum of resinous trees, reduced to powder with sulphur, to which was added naptha, and other bitumens, and probably nitre.

Wild fire in the Holy Wars.

It is much spoken of in all the Holy Wars, as being frequently employed by the Saracens against the Christians. Procopius, in his history of the Goths, calls it Media’s oil, considering it an infernal composition prepared by that sorceress. Geoffrey de Vinesauf’s account.Geoffrey de Vinesauf, who accompanied Richard I. to the Crusades, says that it could not be extinguished by water, but that sand thrown upon it abated its virulence, and vinegar poured upon it put it out. Father Daniel’s account.Father Daniel says this wild fire was not only used in sieges, but even in battles, and that Philip Augustus, King of France, having found a quantity of it ready prepared at Acre, brought it with him to France, Used at the siege of Dieppe.and used it at the siege of Dieppe, for burning the English vessels in that harbour.

Greek fire and gunpowder, both used at the siege of Ypres, 1383.

The Greek fire was used long after the invention of firearms; when the Bishop of Norwich besieged Ypres, 1383, the garrison is said by Walsingham to have defended itself so well, with stones, arrows, lances, and certain engines called guns, that they obliged the English to raise the siege with such precipitation, that they left behind them their great guns, which were of inestimable value.

Greek fire was probably a more recent invention than Gunpowder.

Powder used by Arabs, 14th century.

It is ascertained that Gunpowder was employed by the Arabs as an agent for throwing bolts and stones, about the commencement of the fourteenth century, and that the Moors first availed themselves of its advantages in their wars with the Spaniards. From Spain, the use of Gunpowder and Artillery gradually extended itself to France, and thence over the other States of Europe.

Some idea of the importance of Gunpowder may be formed by the estimate of the enormous quantity employed in sieges, and warfare generally.

Quantity used in sieges.

At the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, January, 1812, 74,978lbs. were consumed in 30¹⁄₂ hours; at Badajos, March, 1812, 228,830lbs. in 104 hours, and this from the great guns only.

San Sebastian and Zaragoza.

At the two sieges of San Sebastian, 502,110lbs. At Zaragoza, the French exploded 45,000lbs. in the mines, and threw 16,000 shells.

Sebastopol.

During the siege of Sebastopol, extending over a period of eleven months, the enormous quantity of 2,775,360lbs., or 1,239 tons of gunpowder, were expended by ourselves alone; 9,076 tons of shot and shell having been launched by us on that memorable occasion, from 476 pieces of heavy ordnance; of which only 11 actually burst, though 269 were rendered unserviceable.

Quantity made.

Some of our private manufactories make from 8 to 10,000 barrels of powder a year in time of peace, and from 10 to 14,000 during war.

Quantity proved by Government.

The quantity of powder received and proved from Faversham, at the Royal Magazines, and from the several powder makers contracting with Government, amounted, during the several years from 1776 to 1782 inclusive, to 244,349 barrels of 100 lbs. each, being equal, on an average, to 3,490,700lbs. annually. Quantity in store in 1783.The quantity of powder in store in Great Britain, Guernsey, Jersey, and the Isle of Man, in 1783, was about 80,000 barrels.

Gunpowder used for works of peace.

Sir George Staunton observes, that gunpowder in India and China seems coeval with the most distant historic events, and that the Chinese have at all times applied it to useful purposes, as the blasting of rocks, and also in the preparation of fireworks, in which they greatly excel other nations.

Powder used at Woodhead tunnel.

In blasting the Woodhead tunnel, in the county of Chester, not less than three thousand five hundred barrels of gunpowder, weighing about one hundred and sixty tons, were used in its formation. The average number of men employed was about a thousand; and during the six years the works were in progress, twenty-six men were killed. There were about 400 minor accidents, many of them attended with loss of limb, and the sum total of the casualties, in proportion to the men employed, was greater, according to Mr. Edwin Chadwick, than was suffered by the British army in the battles of Talavera, Salamanca, Vittoria, and Waterloo.

Powder used on S. Eastern Railway.

In the formation of the South-Eastern Railway, the blasts of the cliffs between Dover and Folkestone have astonished even scientific men. On one occasion 18,500 pounds of gunpowder were ignited by galvanic action at the same instant, which severed from the Round-down cliff, the height of which is 375 feet above the level of the sea, more than 1,000,000 tons of chalk. The fallen mass extended 1200 feet into the ocean, and covered a space of 18 acres. By another statement, the quantity of earth moved by the explosion was 400,000 cubic yards, and was a saving to the Company of £7,000.

No. of men employed at Waltham Abbey.

There are 134 men employed in the Government works at Waltham Abbey in the manufacture of gunpowder, Quantity made.who make about 9,000 barrels a year. The premises are near two miles long, consisting of detached mills, &c., on a small stream, which runs through the whole length of the premises and communicates with the Thames, whereby there is water-carriage to the Government Powder Magazines at Purfleet. The barges conveying powder are not allowed to anchor in the river off London during the night. Where two buildings are adjacent, there are frequently heavy buttresses of masonry between them, and lightning conductors are placed in great numbers.

Saving to Government.

There is a great saving, amounting to upwards of £300,000, in the cost of powder, when compared to the price paid to the merchants in seven years of the war from 1809 to 1815, from the Government having Waltham Abbey, Faversham, and Ballincollig.

Improved Quality.

At Waltham Abbey, in a very few years after it was constructed, the powder was so improved, that the charge of powder to the weight of shot was reduced from one-half to one-third; therefore two barrels were used instead of three—an advantage in stowing on board ship as well as in the field.

Made by Contract.

A great part of the powder for H. M. Government has at present to be supplied by merchants. The contracts are made out sometimes for them to supply their own saltpetre, and at others for the Government to furnish it pure, at the rate of 77·5 lbs. per barrel of 100 lbs., they finding the other materials and manufacture, a corresponding reduction in price being made: as, however, it has to come up in nearly all respects to the sample, the requirements of which we shall state, certain proofs have to be undergone before being received for the different services.

Note.—The foregoing is mainly compiled from Robins’s New Principles of Gunnery, by Hutton; Engines of War, by Wilkinson; and Projectile Weapons of War, by J. Scoffern, M.B.