On the Greek Fire.
This compound is said to have been invented by a Greek called Callinicus, in the reign of Constantine Po gonatus, A D. 668 ; though some assert that it was known to Constantine the Gnat. Callinicus was an architect of Heliopolis from the proximity of which to the oriental nations, we are the more inclined to sus• pect that the invention originated there, and was bor rowed by the Greek artist. To confirm this notion of ours, we must remark, that naphtha was one of the in gredients; a substance well known to be common in many parts of the ancient Persian kingdom, and in India ; arising, in the former, out of the ground in such abundance, in the form of vapour and otherwise, as to be commonly used for cookery, and other domestic pur poses, and also to be an object of religious attention to the worshippers of fire. It is more likely, by much, that a burning compound, in which this was an ingre dient, should have been invented where the substance abounded, than where it was unknown. We are not inclined, with some authors, to give the honour of this invention to the Arabian chemists ; as we consider that the greater part, if not the whole, at least, of their early knowledge, came from India. Our opinion on this head is confirmed by a passage in Quintius Curtius, where a compound possessed of these qualities is men-. tioned. It is not surprising if, when this burning com position, whatever it was, was new and little known, it should have given rise to so many tales ; and, as we truly believe, much exaggeration ; for we hope by and by to show, that it could not possibly have produced all the marvellous effects that have been attributed to it. Had the Mexicans given the history of the Spanish arms, and that no other history of guns and gunpowder had come clown to us, it is easy to understand what the consequences must have been. This composition was kept a secret by the order of Constantine ; notwithstand ing which, it at length became generally known and used by the neighbouring nations, as we find recorded in all the histories of those days. In the wars of the
crusades, it was afterwards well known and used ; or at least some similar composition, which might possibly have been an invention of the Arabians, then particular ly addicted to chemical pursuits.
It appears to us, indeed, that no single invention, or composition of this nature, will fulfil all the conditions of this supposed Greek fire. It is easy enough to con ceive how those who felt the effects and the alarm, and knew not the means, should have confounded all these annoying contrivances under one term ; or it is possible enough, that they might have given this as a generic term to all offensive fireworks ; while their readers, ig norant of the subject, have imagined that the composi tion was as simple as the name. \Ve shall presently see, by a description of a few of the effects recorded by the writers and eye-witnesses, what probability there is in this supposition.
But, for the present, to return to the date of this in vention, there is reason to think that, like the com pounds acknowledged to contain nitre, it was of orien tal origin. It is reported by the author of the des Croi.sades, to have been known in China in 917. This, it is true, is 250 years after the time of Cons,an tine Pogonatus ; yet as the Chinese have never been known to borrow arts from the Europeans, it is far more likely to have been known to them long before. That, indeed, is a supposition scarcely to be rejected ; if, as we have formerly shown, the eastern nations, and* the Chinese among the rest, were acquainted with the truly explosive compounds, or with gunpowder. The same reporter says, that it was there known by the name of The Oil of the Cruel Fire, and that it had been intro duced by the Kitan Tartars, who had learnt the compo sitions from the king of Ou. Thus much respecting the history of an invention which has excited so much cariosity and disputation.