Note 39 — Chapter II · THE SMOOTH-BORE GUN

In the Histoire d’Artillerie of MM. Reinaud and Favé long excerpts from Bacon are examined, from which it appears that he suggested the use of gunpowder in military operations. Gibbon says: “That extraordinary man, Friar Bacon, reveals two of the ingredients, saltpetre and sulphur, and conceals the third in a sentence of mysterious gibberish, as if he dreaded the consequences of his own discovery.”