We may also remark, that we have given some of the more common, or general properties of the substances, employed in the composition of fire-works, without going into that detail, which belongs exclusively to works that treat of Chemistry. It was neither our design, nor have we given, for the reasons thus stated, all the chemical characters or properties of the substances so employed; and, therefore, have confined ourselves, generally speaking, to an enumeration of such properties as are connected with the subject, or are indispensably necessary to be known, before a rationale of the causes and effects can be understood.
It was our intention to accompany the work with plates, exhibiting the arrangement, &c. of fire-works, which, there can be no doubt, would have facilitated in particular the knowledge of forming, and arranging, certain pieces of fire-work; but, on second reflection, as such illustrations were connected more with fancy exhibitions, and have little or no relation to Military Fire-works, the most useful branch of Pyrotechny, we were finally of opinion, that the addition of plates would greatly enhance the price, without advancing or adding to the value of the work.
If, however, a second edition should be required, various figures in illustration of particular subjects may be added, either with a distinct explanatory chapter, or a reference from the articles themselves, with the necessary explanation, to the figures respectively.
It would require at least twenty-five plates to include all the figures we originally intended to have introduced.
Before concluding this introduction, it remains for us to remark, that, in forming this work, we consulted a variety of authors, but with little advantage, except some French works, which we shall notice. Chaptal (Chimie Appliqué aux Arts;) Bigot (Artifice de Guerre;) Morel (Feux d'Artifice;) Thenard (Traité de Chimie;) Ruggeri (Pyrotechnie Militaire;) MM. Bottée and Riffault (Traité de L'Art de Fabriqué la Poudre à canon;) Peyre (Le Mouvement Igné;) Biot (Traité de Physique, Recherches Experimentales et Mathématique, sur les mouvement des Molecules de la Lumiere, &c.;) M. Duloc (Theorie Nouvelle sur le Mechanisme de l'Artillerie;) the Dictionnaire de l'Industrie; the Dictionnaire Encyclopedique des Arts et Metiers Mecaniques, article Art de L'Artificier; Œuvre Militaire; Archives des Découvertes; Système des Connoissances Chimiques par A. F. Fourcroy; Aide-Mémoire a l'usage des officiers d'Artillerie de France.
We examined various authors in English; and with regard to the origin of inventions, we found the learned, and valuable work of professor Beckman (History of Inventions) very useful, and likewise James's Military Dictionary. To the Encyclopedia Britannica, we are indebted for many interesting facts, and some extracts on fire-works for exhibition.
On the subject of mining, we consulted the Treatise on mines for the use of the Royal Military Academy, by Landmann.
We deem it necessary to observe, that, in collecting our formulæ for military fire-works, although we have sometimes extracted from the Strasbourg Memoir, the Bombardier and Pocket Gunner, and the Military Dictionary of Duane and James, we have generally followed Bigot; as the formulæ which he gives for the preparation of Military fire-works have been approved by the French government; and where any thing of importance occurred in Ruggeri, we have, for the same reason, extracted such formulæ from that author.
As respects the turtle, torpedo, and catamarin, submarine machines, it appears that Bushnel (Trans. Am. Phil. Soc.) claims the originality of the discovery from the date of his invention, although similar contrivances had long ago been suggested. Fulton's improvements, in the torpedo, are deserving of particular attention; but it is plain, that the Catamarin of the English is the same in principle and application as Fulton's torpedo, and that Fulton deserves the merit of it. Congreve, if we believe Ruggeri, was not the inventor of the rocket, which bears his name; for, according to him, it was invented about the year 1798 by a naval officer at Bourdeaux. It is certain, however, it was neither much known, nor used before the attack on Copenhagen.
It is certain that the present incendiary fire-stone was taken from the recipe for fire-rain contained in the military work of Cassimir Siemienowicz, or that the fire-rain gave rise to a similar preparation. The idea of the pyrophore, mentioned in the Archives des Découvertes, must have originated from the use of the powder-barrel, and of similar means of defence. We might enumerate many other inventions, which owe their origin in the same way.
A SYSTEM
OF
PYROTECHNY.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
PYROTECHNY IN GENERAL.
Sec. I. Definition of Pyrotechny.
Pyrotechny is defined the doctrine of artificial fire-works, whether for war or exhibition, and is derived from the Greek, πυρ fire, and τεχνη art. In a more general sense, it comprehends the structure and use of fire-arms, and the science which teaches the management and application of fire in several operations.
Sec. II. General theory of Pyrotechny.
In the composition of artificial fire, various substances are employed, having different properties, and designed to produce certain effects characterised by particular phenomena. These substances are either inflammable, or support the combustion of inflammable bodies. As pyrotechnical mixtures are differently formed, and of various substances, the effects are also modified, although combustion, under some shape always takes place.
Combustion is either modified, retarded, or accelerated; and in consequence of the presence of certain substances, different appearances are given to flame.
The conditions necessary for combustion are, the presence of a combustible substance, of a supporter of combustion, and a certain temperature. Thus, charcoal when raised to the temperature of 800° in the open air, takes fire. This elevation of temperature enables it to act chemically on the oxygen gas of the atmosphere; the latter, as it comes in contact, being decomposed. Now, as oxygen gas is a combination of oxygen and caloric, the caloric being in a latent state, the charcoal unites with the oxygen, and the phenomena of combustion ensue; that is, an evolution of heat and light. The caloric of the decomposed gas is given out in a free state, and, according to the theory of Dr. Thomson, (Thomson's System of Chemistry, vol. i.) the light proceeds from the burning body. We have then an instance of combustion, in which there is a combustible, a supporter of combustion, and an elevated temperature. The old theory of combustion, called the Stahlian theory, which presupposes an element called phlogiston, or a principle of fire, to exist in all bodies under some modification, would explain these effects by merely supposing, that combustion was nothing more than a disengagement of phlogiston; and that when a body had lost its inflammable principle, (as a metal, when oxidized), it became dephlogisticated. But, as it proved that phlogiston is a hypothetical element, and the anti-phlogistic doctrine clearly shows, that combustion is no other than a process which unites the supporter with the combustible, forming new products; it follows, that, in all changes of the kind, the same reasoning will apply, and the same principle be tenable.
The products of combustion depend on the nature of the substance burnt, and the supporter employed. Thus, in the instance just mentioned, the charcoal, by its union with oxygen, is changed into carbonic acid, which takes the gaseous state. We say then, that carbonic acid is the product of the combustion of charcoal, or, chemically speaking, of carbon. As resins, oil, &c. contain hydrogen, as well as carbon, the products in such cases would be water, as well as carbonic acid.
The