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+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #64922 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64922)
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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pyrotechnics, by A. St. H. Brock
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: Pyrotechnics
-       The History and Art of Firework Making
-
-Author: A. St. H. Brock
-
-Release Date: March 25, 2021 [eBook #64922]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-Produced by: Robert Tonsing and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team
-             at https://www.pgdp.net
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PYROTECHNICS ***
-[Illustration:
-  FEU D’ARTIFICE À VERSAILLES POUR LE MARIAGE DU DAUPHIN, 1735.
-
-  FROM A WATER-COLOUR DRAWING BY MOREL TORRÉ.
-
-  _Front Endpaper._]
-
-
-
-
-                             PYROTECHNICS
-
-[Illustration: Copyright. Brock. Sutton]    [Frontispiece
-
-  Display at the Tercentenary Fetes, Quebec, July 23rd, 1908. The
-  largest display ever fired in the Western Hemisphere. From a
-  drawing by C. M. Padday.]
-
-
-
-
-                             PYROTECHNICS:
-                          THE HISTORY AND ART
-                          OF FIREWORK MAKING
-                    BY A. St. H. BROCK, A.R.I.B.A.
-
-                        WITH NUMEROUS COLOURED
-                        AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-                        LONDON: DANIEL O’CONNOR
-                    90 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W.C.1
-                                MCMXXII
-
-
-
-
-                               Dedicated
-                           to the memory of
-                              my brother
-                            Wing-Commander
-                     Frank Arthur Brock, R.N.A.S.
-                          Killed at Zeebrugge
-                           April 23rd, 1918
-
-
-
-
-                . . . . . . . . . . . be bright and busy
-                While hoaxed astronomers look up and stare
-                From tall observatories, dumb and dizzy,
-                To see a Squib in Cassiopeia’s Chair!
-                A Serpent wriggling into Charles’s Wain!
-                A Roman Candle lighting the Great Bear!
-                A Rocket tangled in Diana’s train,
-                And Crackers stuck in Berenice’s Hair!
-
-           Ode to Madame Hengler, Firework-maker to Vauxhall
-                            By THOMAS HOOD.
-
-
-
-
-                               CONTENTS
-
-
-                                PART I
-
-  CHAPTER                         PAGE
-
-       Introduction                                                 xiii
-
-     I The Origin of Pyrotechny                                        3
-
-    II Pyrotechny in the East                                          6
-
-   III Pyrotechny in Europe                                           13
-
-    IV Pyrotechny in Europe (_continued_)                             23
-
-     V London Pleasure Gardens                                        32
-
-    VI Fireworks in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries            39
-
-   VII Firework Manufacture                                           57
-
-  VIII Modern Firework Manufacture                                    69
-
-    IX Firework Accidents                                             77
-
-
-                                PART II
-
-     I Simple Fireworks, Rocket Class                                 91
-
-    II Simple Fireworks, Shell Class                                 103
-
-   III Simple Fireworks, Mine Class                                  110
-
-    IV Simple Fireworks, Saxon and Lance Classes                     116
-
-     V Compound Fireworks                                            121
-
-    VI Compound Fireworks (_continued_)                              131
-
-   VII Firework Compositions                                         136
-
-  VIII Modern Firework Compositions                                  144
-
-    IX Military Pyrotechny                                           152
-
-     X Military Pyrotechny in the Great War                          164
-
-    XI The Civil Use of Fireworks                                    175
-
-       List of the Principal Ingredients used in Pyrotechny at the
-           present time                                              181
-
-       Pyrotechnic Bibliography                                      182
-
-       Index                                                         187
-
-
-
-
-                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
-                                                          _To face page_
-
-  Firework Display at Quebec. From a drawing by C. M.
-      Padday                                              _Frontispiece_
-
-  Six Coloured Japanese Prints of Fireworks manufactured
-      by Messrs. Hirayama of Yokohama                 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12
-
-  Facsimile Title Page of John Bate’s “Second Booke,” 1635            16
-
-  A Display of the Earliest Type (_c._ 1650)                          18
-
-  Set Piece of the Scenic Type                                        20
-
-  Firework Display at Nuremberg, 1650                                 22
-
-  Great Firework Display near Stockholm, 1669                         24
-
-  Fireworks on the Thames, 1688                                       28
-
-  Firework Display given by the Duke of Richmond, 1749                30
-
-  Firework Temple at Vauxhall, 1845                                   36
-
-  Fireworks at Versailles, 1855, from a drawing by Gustav Doré        44
-
-  The Grand Whim for Posterity to laugh at, 1749                      46
-
-  A Full-size Picture of the Jumma Musjid in Fireworks at  }
-      the Crystal Palace, 1892                             }
-  Firework Display for the Coronation Durbar at Delhi,     }          50
-      January 3rd, 1903                                    }
-
-  A Crystal Palace Set Piece at the time of the South African War     52
-
-  Panorama of the Aerial Effects in the National Display at
-      Hyde Park, 1919                                                 56
-
-  The Explosion at Madame Cotton’s Firework Factory, 1858             66
-
-  Programme of Experiments with Fireworks at Nunhead, 1872            68
-
-  Modern Firework Tools                                               72
-
-  Types of Modern Fireworks                                           90
-
-  Cracker Making                                                      92
-
-  Rocket Manufacture, from Frézier’s “Feu d’Artifice,” 1747           94
-
-  Manner of making and representing Flowers, etc., in the Chinese
-      Fireworks, from the “Universal Magazine” of 1764               100
-
-  An Old Firework Bill:—Programme of Mr. Brock’s Superior Fireworks
-      at Ipswich, 1818                                               114
-
-  Rocket Charging        }                                           116
-  Filling Roman Candles  }
-
-  Types of Compound Fireworks:—Lattice Poles, Chromatrope,
-      Lattice Diamond                                                128
-
-  A Display ready for Firing, Dresden, 1899                          134
-
-  Diagram illustrating the evolution of Pyrotechnic Composition,
-      showing their periods of use                                   140
-
-  Roman Candles—illustrating brilliance of aluminium compositions    150
-
-  The Late Wing-Commander Brock, R.N.A.S.                            166
-
-  Smoke Float in action                                              168
-
-  Crystal Palace—By the light of a Magnesium Shell                   178
-
-  End Papers:—Feu d’artifice a Versailles pour le Mariage du Dauphin.
-      Two displays from the original watercolour drawings by Morel
-      Torré, 1735
-
-
-
-
-                             INTRODUCTION
-
-
-The word “fireworks” as a metaphor, used either to describe the higher
-flights of oratory, of literature, or of human strife, whether it be
-in Parliament or the Parish Hall, or merely descriptive of domestic
-discord, is familiar, even threadbare.
-
-Moreover, the metaphor has generally a humorous flavour; why is this?
-Is there anything inherently comic about fireworks? It is true that for
-a short season the less critical of the comic papers used the cracker
-and squib as pegs upon which to hang the type of joke which depends for
-its success on the atavistic human trait of laughing at the misfortune
-or discomfort of others, but this is the lowest type of humour which
-soon palls upon the mind.
-
-The Stage also has its comedy and clown, yet the mention of the stage
-is not a signal for mirth. Can any who have heard the long-drawn Ah-h!
-of rapture from many thousand throats, at the bursting of a flight of
-shell, or the darting up of the wonderfully tinted rays of the “Magical
-Illumination” at the Crystal Palace, maintain that the most dramatic
-moment on the stage is more affecting to the spectators?
-
-Pyrotechny is possibly the only art which can compete with nature;
-anyone who has seen a first-class firework display will admit that for
-impressive grandeur, colour effects, and contrasts of light and shade,
-pyrotechny is unapproached.
-
-Pyrotechny paints on the canvas of the sky; and the results are at once
-the joy and despair of the artist. Many artists have tried to record
-their impressions, but the results have been generally disappointing.
-Whistler came near success, but even his wonderful work conveys merely
-the dying embers of passed glory. One feels that here has been a
-magnificent display, but the scene in its full grandeur is not depicted.
-
-One of the few black-and-white artists who can approach the subject
-with some success is Mr. C. M. Padday, an example of whose work is
-reproduced in the following pages. His success comes from a careful
-study of the subject, both technically and from the point of view of
-composition.
-
-That fireworks are popular there is no doubt; no form of amusement is
-capable of giving enjoyment to so many people at one time; there is
-no entertainment which so appeals to youth and age of all classes and
-tastes. And yet it is doubtful if there is an industry concerning which
-the public at large is so profoundly ignorant.
-
-To the average onlooker any firework which rises in the air is
-a rocket, any that revolve are catherine wheels; both of these
-assumptions are incorrect.
-
-What is the average conception of a firework factory? A building, let
-us say, in which workmen, with sleeves rolled up, are busily engaged in
-shovelling heaps of gunpowder. How many know that a firework factory
-consists of dozens of small buildings, the construction of which is
-exactly defined by law, separated by spaces also specified by law; that
-workmen may not roll up their sleeves in the danger buildings; or that
-the amount of gunpowder in each building is strictly limited to a small
-quantity? All of these restrictions being enforced with the view, of
-course, of limiting the effects of any explosion that may occur.
-
-So far as I am aware, no history of the art has yet been written. It is
-true that during the nineteenth century many text-books on pyrotechny
-were written, but the historical side of the subject has been generally
-represented by a few disjointed remarks in the prefaces.
-
-My object has not been to write a text-book on firework-making, but
-rather to trace the art from earliest times, and to give a description
-of the development and process of manufacture. For those interested
-in the subject, and desiring fuller information, the list of MSS. and
-books given in the Bibliography at the end of this volume may be found
-useful.
-
-My excuse for adding another volume to the literature of the art is
-that I am of the eighth generation of a family of pyrotechnists, whose
-work, I venture to claim, has not been without its effect. If I succeed
-in interesting, and in some degree enlightening, my readers, I shall
-feel I have not written in vain; if I fail, I shall know it is not in
-my choice of subject but in my capacity for dealing with it.
-
-                                                     A. St. H. BROCK.
-
-Sutton,
-  _August, 1922_.
-
-
-
-
-                                ERRATA
-
-
-  Page 117 line 13 for “filled” _read_ “fitted”
-    „  133   „   8  „  “and”      „    “at”
-    „  153 }
-    „  154 } for “Hume” _read_ “Hime”
-
-
-
-
-                                PART I
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER I
-
-                       THE ORIGIN OF PYROTECHNY
-
-
-Pyrotechny, or the Art of Firework-making, is of great antiquity, and
-the date of its origin is quite unknown; indeed, it would be impossible
-to define with any degree of exactitude what actually constitutes a
-firework.
-
-It is curious how universal is the belief that fireworks were dependent
-upon the invention or discovery of gunpowder. Very little consideration
-will prove the fallacy of this view; in fact, will show that the
-reverse is probably the case. In India and China saltpetre (or nitrate
-of potash) is found in large quantities, and was, no doubt, used by
-the primitive inhabitants in far-off times for such purposes as curing
-meat, cooking, etc. The dropping of a quantity in the camp fire may
-have attracted the attention of some early inventor to the extent of
-starting him on a series of what were probably the earliest chemical
-experiments.
-
-He would notice that the presence of saltpetre made the fire burn
-brighter, and its use as a tinder maker would suggest itself by mixing
-it with some substance which he knew to be combustible. The most common
-fuel he knew of was wood, but it must be a powder to mix evenly with
-saltpetre. Wood is not easily reduced to powder; saws had not been
-invented, so that he could not add sawdust, and the nearest thing
-he could get would be charcoal from the fire, which could easily be
-reduced to powder. With this mixture he would be well on the way to
-success in elementary pyrotechny.
-
-The next step in his career as the first pyrotechnist is to utilise his
-composition as an easy means of making fire. Gradually he gives up his
-hitherto necessary tasks of hunting and trapping, as he receives the
-fruits of other labours in return for his services as fire-maker to the
-tribe.
-
-The most important item in early social life is fire, the implements
-for producing it the most valued property of the tribe; it was the
-focus of religion and the centre of daily existence, so that any new
-phenomenon connected with fire would be of the greatest interest to
-primitive people, and any short cut to the production of fire would be
-accorded more perseverance and care in its perfection than almost any
-other invention.
-
-Fire would be struck with a piece of iron pyrites on a flint, small
-pieces of reguline particles of iron would be detached and fall on the
-fire mixture unlit. Afterwards, when combustion of the mass of fire
-mixture took place, these small pieces of metal would scintillate as do
-the iron filings in a modern firework composition. This would give rise
-to a further series of experiments, and gradually the composition known
-as Chinese Fire would be evolved, which is known to have been in use in
-the East from remote times.
-
-Having arrived at a pyrotechnic composition, attempt to use it in
-other ways besides fire-making would naturally follow, and sooner or
-later the idea of filling the mixture into tubes would suggest itself,
-especially as both in India and China (in one of which countries
-pyrotechny undoubtedly originated) a serviceable tube—or to use the
-modern term “case”—was ready to hand in any size or quantity in the
-ubiquitous bamboo. The bamboo is in use for the purpose at the present
-day in the East, and until recent times, when displaced by European
-weapons, was used in the construction of ordnance of considerable size.
-Mortars used for throwing firework shell up to six or more inches in
-diameter are still in use in Japan and China, the barrel consisting of
-a section of bamboo strengthened on the outside with a binding of
-split cane.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-Having reached the point of charging composition into a tube, that is
-to say confining it, a more or less violent explosion was likely or
-rather certain to follow during the course of the experiments, which
-might suggest the use of a tube as a means of discharging a projectile.
-This would lead to research in the direction of the best composition
-for the purpose and the evolution of gunpowder.
-
-It must be remembered that the constituents of gunpowder must be
-present in approximately exact proportion, whereas with primitive
-pyrotechnic compositions, if the ingredients saltpetre and charcoal are
-present, it is almost impossible to fail in getting some result.
-
-The above suggestion must not be taken literally as a statement of
-fact, but rather as an attempt on the part of the writer to trace the
-stages by which pyrotechnic and explosive compositions came to be
-evolved.
-
-If one disabuses one’s mind of the curiously widespread belief that
-all fireworks are composed chiefly of gunpowder, and that without the
-invention of gunpowder fireworks could not have been constructed, it
-seems far more likely that pyrotechny is based on the discovery of the
-assistance given to combustion by saltpetre, than on the discovery of
-gunpowder.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER II
-
-                        PYROTECHNY IN THE EAST
-
-
-Pyrotechny undoubtedly had its genesis in the East, and for that reason
-we will deal with its development there first. As he has intended
-to convey, the writer is strongly of opinion that the discovery of
-pyrotechnic compositions antedated that of gunpowder. In many cases
-earlier writers have discovered passages which they consider prove the
-use of firearms and gunpowder; in reality these refer to Greek-fire and
-similar compositions, which were used as projectiles, being thrown from
-machines or catapults, and not as propellants. Gunpowder as a mixture
-of ingredients may have been known from remote times, as undoubtedly
-were other simple pyrotechnic compositions, but all evidence goes to
-show that its use as a propellant was not known until well into the
-Christian Era.
-
-The composition Greek-fire, known in ancient times as “naphtha,” was
-a mixture of pitch, resin, and sulphur, with the addition in some
-cases of crude saltpetre. It may be considered that in the absence of
-the latter ingredient the mixture does not constitute a pyrotechnic
-composition, but from the description of the use of “naphtha” in early
-writings, it appears at least likely that it was generally present.
-
-The fire was either enclosed in hollow stones or iron vessels, and
-thrown from a catapult, or sometimes filled into the end of arrows and
-assisted to propel them forward or sustain their flight.
-
-Philostratus (170–250 A.D.), writing of the Indian Campaign of
-Alexander the Great (B.C. 326), relates that the inhabitants of a
-town on the river Hyphasis (Beas) “defended themselves by means
-of lightning and thunder, which darted upon their besiegers.” This
-has been considered as evidence of the use of firearms, but is more
-probably the first reference to Greek-fire. Greek-fire or “naphtha” was
-used at the defence of Constantinople between 660 and 667.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-At the siege of Pian-King Lo-Yang (1232), as mentioned in the Chinese
-Annals, iron pots were thrown containing a burning substance which
-could spread fire over half an acre, and described by the historians as
-the “thunder which shakes heaven.”
-
-The Mongolians attacking Bagdad in the year 1258 made use of similar
-vessels, also fire arrows. Marco Polo, describing sieges of towns in
-China 1268 to 1273, mentions the throwing of fire.
-
-In most of the early records although noise is remarked upon, it is
-apparently while the projectile is in the air or upon impact; this
-disposes of the impression which many writers have formed that firearms
-are referred to, there being no reference to an initial explosion.
-
-Sir George Stanton, writing in 1798 of his embassy to the Emperor of
-China, says that “nitre (saltpetre) is the daily produce of China and
-India, and there accordingly the knowledge of gunpowder seems coeval
-with that of the most distant historic events. Among the Chinese it has
-been applied at all times to useful purposes ... and to amusement in
-making a vast variety of fireworks—but its force had not been directed
-through strong metallic tubes, as it was by Europeans soon after they
-had discovered that composition.”
-
-Although the place of origin of the art, pyrotechny has not developed
-in the East as rapidly as in Europe, except in Japan.
-
-Japanese pyrotechnists, with that wonderful capacity for careful
-and exact manual work which is so characteristic of the race, have
-developed aerial fireworks, that is to say, the shell, to a remarkable
-degree of perfection. The compositions used are not to be compared with
-European manufactures in point of colour or brilliance, but the effects
-obtained are extraordinary. The stars, upon the bursting of the shell,
-are thrown out in symmetrical patterns and designs, several examples of
-which are given in the accompanying Japanese colour prints.
-
-Daylight fireworks also originated in Japan. Instead of pyrotechnic
-effects, the shell contains a grotesque balloon in the form of an
-animal, human figure, or other form, which, being open and weighted
-at the lower end, becomes inflated as it falls and remains in the air
-for a considerable period. Other daylight effects are coloured clouds
-formed by coloured powder, distributed by the bursting of the shell,
-showers of streamers, confetti, and toys.
-
-Chinese firework displays have often been enthusiastically described
-by travellers in China. Whether it is that the glamour of the East
-distorts the perceptions, or that these travellers have not seen a
-European firework display, there is no doubt that such descriptions
-are, to say the least, over coloured.
-
-Chinese fire (a composition of saltpetre, iron filings, sulphur and
-charcoal), a few simple colour compositions, and a large number of
-Chinese crackers of varying sizes constitute a Chinese display; the
-rest of the exhibition being eked out with lanterns, pictures, etc.,
-which certainly do not come under the heading of pyrotechnics.
-
-The writer once had an opportunity of witnessing a Chinese display of
-some importance, lasting several hours, which produced the effect on
-the mind of watching some performance or game of the rules of which one
-was in entire ignorance. Pyrotechnically, only the crudest effects were
-produced, the remainder of the display, consisting of such items as a
-man slowly climbing a ladder carrying a lantern, was to the uninitiated
-mystifying.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-The following is an account by a traveller in the early nineteenth
-century of a Chinese display: “The fireworks, in some particulars,”
-says he, “exceeded anything of the kind I had ever seen. In grandeur,
-magnificence, and variety they were, I own, inferior to the Chinese
-fireworks we had seen at Batavia, but infinitely superior in point of
-novelty, neatness and ingenuity of contrivance. One piece of machinery
-I greatly admired: a green chest, five feet square, was hoisted up by
-a pulley fifty or sixty feet from the ground, the bottom of which was
-so contrived as then suddenly to fall out, and make way for twenty
-or thirty strings of lanterns, enclosed in a box, to descend from
-it, unfolding themselves from one another by degrees, so as at last
-to form a collection of full five hundred, each having a light of a
-beautifully coloured flame burning brightly within it. This devolution
-and development of lanterns was several times repeated, and at every
-time exhibiting a difference of colour and figure. On each side was
-a correspondence of smaller boxes, which opened in like manner as
-the other, and let down an immense network of fire, with divisions
-and compartments of various forms and dimensions, round and square,
-hexagons, octagons, etc., which shone like the brightest burnished
-copper, and flashed like prismatic lightnings, with every impulse of
-the wind. The whole concluded with a volcano, or general explosion and
-discharge of suns and stars, squibs, crackers, rockets and grenades,
-which involved the gardens for an hour in a cloud of intolerable smoke.
-The diversity of colour, with which the Chinese have the secret of
-clothing their fire, seems one of the chief merits of their pyrotechny.”
-
-It will be seen that lanterns play an important part in the exhibition,
-and that when the fireworks proper are reached, the result is an
-“intolerable smoke.”
-
-Indian pyrotechnists are more advanced than their Chinese neighbours.
-Firework displays carried out by them are nowadays more or less crude
-attempts to reproduce European work.
-
-The writer has seen a set piece evidently intended to follow a fire
-picture seen in a European display carried out by small wicks burning
-in oil instead of the “lances,” as the small fireworks used to outline
-the pictures are called in this country.
-
-In India as in China fireworks play a frequent part in religious and
-civil ceremonies. In the former country, at certain festivals, a
-primitive device for producing a series of reports is used. These are
-called “adirvedis,” and consist of a series of short iron tubes fitted
-to a wooden plank, charged with gunpowder and tamped with clay.
-
-At weddings, crackers are largely used under a variety of names, such
-as Vengagvedi, Gola, Pataka or Koroo. To-day these are simple crackers
-filled with country-made gunpowder or the imported Chinese crackers.
-Formerly almost the only composition used was chlorate of potash and
-one of the sulphides of arsenic. A favourite form consisted of a small
-quantity of the two ingredients put together unmixed into a piece of
-rag with some small stones or grit and tied. The resulting fireworks
-were similar to the “throw-down” crackers sold in this country.
-
-Owing to the very large number of accidents caused by the casual
-methods, both in manufacture and use, with this highly sensitive
-composition, H.M. Chief Inspector of Explosives for India endeavoured,
-in 1902, to secure its prohibition, as was done in this country in
-1895, but it was not until 1910, when it had been established that
-this composition was being used by anarchists, that it was finally
-prohibited.
-
-The most successful effect produced by Hindoo pyrotechnists is the
-“Tubri.” The composition is here known as Chinese fire, a mixture of
-charcoal, saltpetre, sulphur and iron dust, charged into either bamboo
-tubes or earthen pots.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-It is a common practice to fix a pot at either end of a long bamboo,
-which is whirled quickly about by a performer; the result produced is
-quite good, but seems rather to come under the heading of juggling than
-that of pyrotechnics proper. As the pots are theoretically the wrong
-shape for such a purpose, that is to say, a large mass of composition
-is burning through a narrow orifice, premature explosions are frequent.
-This want of theoretical knowledge is noticeable throughout, but such
-incidents seem to be appreciated as part of the show.
-
-Another use of the earth pot is the “burusu,” a kind of red flare; the
-composition used being sulphur, saltpetre, and nitrate of strontia.
-Flare compositions are also used loose as in England, and are known as
-“chandrajota” or “mahteb.”
-
-Abusavanani or Hawai, that is to say, rockets, are now made similarly
-to those manufactured in Europe except a bamboo case is most generally
-used, but formerly chlorate of potash and orpiment seem to have been
-employed for this purpose.
-
-The firework shell under the name “out” is also manufactured very much
-as in this country, except that the range of effects is very limited,
-simple coloured stars being almost the only “garniture” used.
-
-In Siam it is a custom, and one apparently of considerable antiquity,
-to celebrate certain religious festivals with firework displays. These
-displays take place in the day-time, and take the form of discharges of
-rockets, some of which are of very large size; a writer giving their
-length, exclusive of the stick, as from 8 ft. to 10 ft. The case is
-composed of a section of bamboo bound with string. The composition
-consists of coarse native powder, of which from 20 lbs. to 30 lbs. is
-often used in one case. The rocket stick, which is of bamboo, varying
-from 20 ft. to 40 ft. in length, is gaily decorated with coloured
-paper and tinsel and fitted with bamboo whistles. A rough scaffold is
-erected from which to fire the rockets, and according to those who have
-witnessed such exhibitions, considerable altitudes are reached by the
-rockets in flight. As may be expected with such crude methods, mishaps
-are of frequent occurrence.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER III
-
-                         PYROTECHNY IN EUROPE
-
-
-Pyrotechnic compositions and gunpowder are inextricably mixed together
-in early European records; for our inquiries it will serve no useful
-purpose to disentangle them, the latter being only a particular case
-of the former. We will therefore deal with them together, taking the
-evidence of the knowledge of one as that of both, as until gunpowder
-is specifically mentioned as being used as a propellant in a gun or
-similar weapon, there is nothing to distinguish it from any other
-pyrotechnic composition.
-
-The earliest record of European pyrotechny is in Claudius’ account of
-the public festivities during the consulate of Theodosius in the fourth
-century A.D., in which he describes fire “which ran about in different
-directions over the planks without burning or even charring them, and
-which formed by their twisting and turning globes of fire.”
-
-Leo VI, Emperor of the East, in a work written about A.D. 900, says:
-“We have divers ways of destroying the enemies’ ships, as by means of
-fire prepared in tubes, from which they issue with a sound of thunder,
-and with a fiery smoke that burns the vessels on which they are hurled.
-A tube of tin must be put on the front of the ship to hurl this from.”
-
-The most interesting reference of an early date is supposed to have
-been written by Marcus Graecus in his “Liber ignium ad comburendos
-hostes” (Book of fires for burning up the enemy), in which he not only
-gives the exact proportions of the compositions, but describes what
-is virtually the modern cracker, and also a primitive form of rocket.
-The case of the former was only partially filled, as with the jumping
-cracker of to-day, and although the wording is not very explicit, it
-was apparently bent in a similar way.
-
-The date of this work is a subject of controversy; some writers place
-it as early as the eighth century, and it can only be said with
-certainty that it is not later than 1280. The latter date is fixed by
-the death of Albertus Magnus, who, in his book “De miribilibus mundi,”
-from internal evidence, is obviously plagiarising the Liber Ignium.
-
-Friar Roger Bacon (1214–94), in two of his works, refers at least twice
-to compositions containing saltpetre, powdered charcoal, and sulphur.
-In one place he refers to fires that “shall burn at what distance we
-please”; in another to “thunder and corruscations,” which references
-seem to suggest that he is describing something of a pyrotechnic nature
-rather than the simple effect of gunpowder. His description in no way
-indicates that he claimed to be the inventor, but rather as something
-well known before.
-
-Dr. Jebb, in his preface to Bacon’s “Opus Majus,” refers to what seems
-to be an early example of both the rocket and the cracker.
-
-Dutens, in his “Inquiries into the Origin of the discoveries attributed
-to the Moderns” (1790), makes reference to many early writers, which
-are mostly so vague and exaggerated that no definite conclusion can be
-drawn from them; most refer to the early uses of Greek-fire or similar
-composition.
-
-Don Pedro, Bishop of Leon, says that “in 1343, in a sea combat between
-the King of Tunis and the Moorish King of Seville ... those of Tunis
-had certain iron tubes or barrels wherewith they threw thunderbolts of
-fire.”
-
-This description, if accurate, may be thought to suggest the use of
-cannons, but it is more likely to refer to the use of Greek-fire;
-this composition will, in certain proportions, if charged into a
-strong tube, give intermittent bursts, projecting blazing masses of
-the mixture to a considerable distance. The writer has seen this
-effect produced in a steel mortar of 5½ inches diameter, the masses of
-composition being thrown a distance of upwards of a hundred yards, a
-considerable range in the days of close warfare. Anyone who has seen
-this phenomenon will at once realise that here probably is the true
-solution of many obscure early references to explain which so much
-ingenuity has been expended.
-
-An interesting fact which seems to have escaped the notice of writers
-on this subject is that Theresa, daughter of Alfonso V. King of Leon
-and the Asturias (A.D. 999), when married to Abdallah, King of Toledo,
-took for device on her coat of arms a mortar in which a powder is being
-pounded. This powder is supposed to represent gunpowder, a supposition
-which is supported by the motto, “Minima maxima fecit” (A little makes
-much). If gunpowder is intended, this must be one of the earliest
-references to its quality of exploding, and it is difficult to explain
-the meaning otherwise.
-
-Richard Cœur de Lion used Greek-fire on his galley at the siege of Acre
-in 1191, and it is thought by many that it was introduced into Western
-Europe by the Crusaders, who had learned its use in the East.
-
-Alfonso Duke of Ferrara had as his coat of arms a bomb-shell in flight,
-and Antoine de Lalaing, Count of Hooghstraeten, had a bomb-shell
-exploding in water. The adoption of these two devices at about the same
-time (1540) seems to indicate that this projectile was coming into use,
-that is to say, for military purposes at least.
-
-An early reference to shell appears in Stowe’s Chronicles (1565). He
-mentions two foreigners, Peter Brand and Peter Van Cullen, a gunsmith,
-in the employ of Henry VIII (A.D. 1546), who “caused to be made
-certain mortar pieces being at the mouth eleven inches unto nineteen
-inches wide, for the use whereof to be made certain hollow shot of
-cast-iron, to be stuffed with firework or wild-fire, whereof the bigger
-sort for the same had screws of iron to receive a match to carry fire
-kindled, that the firework might be set on fire for to break in pieces
-the same hollow shot, whereof the smallest piece hitting any man would
-kill or spoil him.” The missile is to all intents the firework shell of
-the present day, except that the modern shell has a papier-maché case.
-
-The reference to “firework” without further explanation seems to
-indicate that by this time the word was well established in use.
-Shakespeare makes three references to fireworks. In “Love’s Labour’s
-Lost,” Act V, Scene 1, Don Armado says: “The King would have me present
-the Princess with some delightful entertainment, or show, or pageant,
-or antic, or firework.” In “Henry VIII,” Act I, Scene 3, we read of
-“fights and fireworks”; and again in “King John,” Act II, Scene 1:
-“What cracker is this same that deafs our ears?”
-
-However, nothing in the nature of a firework display appears to have
-taken place, at least in this country, before the time of Elizabeth.
-
-The use of fire for theatrical purposes, as in Mystery Plays to
-represent the “gate of Hell,” has been taken by some to refer to
-fireworks, but this seems doubtful as flames are mentioned, and it is
-more probable that a torch or similar contrivance was used.
-
-When, however, we read a description of a barge at the coronation of
-Anne Boleyn, in 1538, carrying a dragon “casting forth wild fire—and
-men casting fire,” the reference to some pyrotechnic effect, however
-primitive, seems fairly obvious.
-
-The men performers may be considered as early types of the “green
-man” who made his appearance somewhat later. The office of this
-performer was to head processions carrying “fire clubs” and scattering
-“fireworks” (probably sparks) to clear the way.
-
-One account of a procession to the Chester Races on St. George’s Day,
-1610, commences as follows: “Two men in green ivy, set with work upon
-their other habit, with black hair and black beards, very ugly to
-behold, and garlands upon their heads, with great clubs in their hands,
-with fireworks to scatter abroad to maintain the way for the rest of
-the show.”
-
-The fire clubs referred to are described in John Bate’s book, published
-in 1635; the same writer illustrates a “green man” on the title page of
-his work.
-
-[Illustration: Facsimile Title-page of Bate’s Book, showing a
-  “Green Man.”]
-
-Regarding the origin of the Green Man, it has been suggested that the
-character was evolved from the wild men, satyrs, monsters, etc., which
-appeared in the earlier exhibitions. This may or may not be so, but
-another explanation suggested to the writer by an old Danish print of
-the sixteenth century is at least plausible.
-
-This print, which apparently represents a floating firework device of
-the old scenic type, shows two figures carrying fire clubs wearing
-leaves, and suggesting immediately the green man of a slightly later
-date.
-
-Behind them are two figures holding rockets, leaving no doubt that a
-firework display is portrayed.
-
-On the other hand, apart from the fact that normally they have no fire
-issuing from their clubs, the supporters of the Danish royal arms might
-be here depicted; a supposition which is borne out by the fact that
-the figure surmounting the erection carries the crown and sceptre of
-Denmark.
-
-It seems quite within the bounds of possibility that these two figures
-were introduced into Danish displays as a compliment to Royalty,
-and that later they appeared in England, and became, as it were,
-acclimatised. Colour is lent to this belief by the record of a display
-given on a float by the King of Denmark in 1606 upon his departure from
-this country, where he had been on a visit to his brother-in-law, James
-I.
-
-This exhibition seems to have given James a taste for fireworks, and
-one at least of the Danish artists appears to have remained in this
-country, as some months after James had a display carried out by “a
-Dane, two Dutchmen, and Sir Thomas Challoner.”
-
-In 1572 a firework display was given in the Temple Fields, Warwick, by
-the Earl of Warwick, then Master-General of the Ordnance. The occasion
-was a visit to the castle by Queen Elizabeth, who appears to have been
-rather partial to such exhibitions.
-
-The display consisted of a mimic battle, with two canvas forts for a
-setting; noise was provided by the discharge of ordnance of various
-sizes; the fireworks proper seem to have taken the form of flights of
-rockets. The display was evidently conducted in a somewhat reckless
-manner, some houses being set on fire, and some completely destroyed,
-the two inhabitants of which are said in a contemporary report to have
-been in bed and asleep, although how that could be with continuous
-discharge from twenty pieces of ordnance, to say nothing of “qualivers
-and harquebuses,” in the immediate neighbourhood, is to say the least
-curious.
-
-Two other displays attended by Elizabeth were those at Kenilworth in
-1572 and at Elvetham in 1591.
-
-[Illustration: A Display of the Earliest Type. From a contemporary
-  print (_c._ 1650).]
-
-The first European people to make headway in the art of pyrotechny
-proper appear to have been the Italians. Vanochio, an Italian, in
-a work on artillery, dated 1572, attributes to the Florentines and
-Viennese the honour of being the first who made fireworks on erections
-of wood, decorated with statues and pictures raised to a great
-height, some in Florence being forty ells, or seventy-two feet high.
-He adds that these were illuminated so that they might be seen from a
-distance, and that the statues threw out fire from the mouths and eyes.
-
-He refers to the practice, which survived up to the end of the
-eighteenth century, of constructing elaborate temples or palaces richly
-decorated, with transparencies illuminated from inside, statuary,
-gilding, floral and other decorations. On these erections the fireworks
-proper were displayed, and which were then called artificial fireworks.
-Nothing very large in the way of firework set-pieces seems to have been
-attempted, but effect was gained by repetition of a small device over
-the facade of the building.
-
-Displays were given annually in Florence at the Feast of St. John and
-the Assumption. This custom extended to Rome, where the festivals were
-given on the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, and at the rejoicings on
-the election of a Pope.
-
-The towers and fortifications of the castle of St. Angelo furnished
-suitable spots for these, being visible from the greater part of the
-city of Rome, and what are described as braziers, firepots, and other
-fires would be placed there, so as to give a great display without the
-expense of a building.
-
-Evelyn, the famous diarist, gives an account of one such display which
-he witnessed in 1664.
-
-In other towns that wished to imitate the festival of Rome, it was
-arranged to place illuminations on the highest towers and steeples of
-the towns, but as it was found that there was considerable danger of
-fire from these, it was afterwards preferred to make suitable erections
-in the great public squares, which were convenient for the exhibition
-itself and also for the sightseers.
-
-The Italians appear to have held the supremacy until the end of the
-seventeenth century.
-
-In the book of Artillery by Diego Ufano, written in 1610, we read that
-only very simple fireworks were made in his time in Spain and Flanders,
-consisting of wooden framework supporting pots of fire wrapped round
-with cloth dipped in pitch, but that more than fifty years before
-magnificent spectacles could be seen in Italy.
-
-In 1615, on the occasion of the marriage of Louis XIII, a display was
-given at Paris in the Place Royale, in which were included combats
-between men carrying illuminated arms.
-
-In 1606 the Duc de Sully gave a spectacle which depicted a battle
-between savages and monsters, the former throwing darts and fire. A
-similar display had previously been given on the occasion of the entry
-of Henry II into Rheims, and it was repeated in 1612.
-
-These spectacles, which are quoted as firework displays, cannot rightly
-be considered as such, fireworks playing a comparatively secondary part
-in the exhibitions.
-
-A display of this nature to celebrate the capture of Rochelle was
-conducted by Clariner of Nuremberg, a celebrated pyrotechnist of the
-day.
-
-During the reign of Louis XIV, 1638–1715, great advances were made in
-pyrotechny in France; great displays were given on the return of the
-King and Queen to Paris in 1660, on five consecutive days at Versailles
-in 1676, also on the occasion of the birth of the Dauphin in 1682, in
-Paris at the Louvre, Dijon, and Lyons.
-
-A particularly fine display in celebration of the Peace of Riswick,
-1669 (for which event displays took place in several countries), is
-mentioned by Frézier, who wrote a treatise on pyrotechny (1747); it
-was, he says, witnessing this display that inspired him to study the
-art.
-
-[Illustration: Set Piece of the Scenic Type.]
-
-One of the chief causes of progress in France was the encouragement
-given by Louis XV (1710–1774) to the pyrotechnists Morel Torré and the
-Ruggieri brothers, the latter being Italians from Bologna who became
-naturalised Frenchmen, and contributed very greatly to the development
-of French pyrotechny. They were the first to rely chiefly on fireworks
-for the effect, instead of using them merely to embellish a scenic or
-architectural structure.
-
-Louis XV expended large sums of money on displays, one of the finest
-being that fired at Versailles in 1739 by Ruggieri, on the occasion
-of the marriage of Madame La Première of France with Don Philippe of
-Spain. Writing of this display in 1821, Ruggieri’s son says: “There
-appeared for the first time the Salamander la Rosace and le Guilloche,
-which are still admired to-day.” These are purely pyrotechnic pieces
-and devices; similar or identical ones are used at the present day,
-which seems to indicate that fireworks proper were making headway
-against scenic effect.
-
-Other displays in France during the eighteenth century were those on
-the occasions of the birth of the Duke of Brittany, 1704; birth of the
-Dauphin, 1730; the convalescence of the King, 1744; and the return of
-the King to Paris, 1745. Also there is in existence a series of prints
-which, but for the fact that they are described as fireworks, would be
-taken to be scenic tableaux; whether the figures are human beings or
-wax-works is not indicated. These were erected in celebration of the
-following events:—The taking of Tournay, the taking of Chateau Grand,
-Victory over the Allies, all dated 1745; the taking of Ypres, 1747,
-all of which took place in Paris before the Hotel de Ville. Similar
-displays were given in Lyons in 1765 to celebrate the taking of Fort
-San Philippe, and at Soleure in 1777, in honour of the Swiss Guard.
-
-Displays took place at Versailles (1751) on the occasion of the birth
-of the Duke of Burgundy. In 1758–9 came a further series of victory
-celebrations in honour of the victory of Lutzelberg, over the English
-in America, and over the Allies at Bergheri, all of which appear to
-have been of the “tableau” type mentioned above.
-
-There were also displays for the peace celebrations on the Seine, 1763,
-the birth of the Dauphin, 1782, in the Place de Geneve, and peace
-rejoicings, 1783, before the Hotel de Ville.
-
-Ruggieri, however, states in his book that the display fired on the
-marriage of Louis XVI (or, as he then was, the Dauphin) was the only
-display since the great fetes of 1739 which showed any considerable
-advance in the art; he may, however, be in some degree biased as his
-father was concerned in each of these displays.
-
-[Illustration: Firework Display at Nuremberg, 1650. From a
-  contemporary engraving]
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER IV
-
-                  PYROTECHNY IN EUROPE (_continued_)
-
-
-During the later part of the seventeenth century, and subsequently,
-many prints appeared depicting firework displays; their number seems
-quite out of proportion to the total number of prints published in that
-period.
-
-Possibly this may be taken as some indication of the popularity of
-firework displays at the time, or may give the measure of the favour in
-which they were held by the artists of the day.
-
-Many of these prints are of little value to the student of pyrotechny,
-as they merely depict the more or less elaborate structure for
-the display by daylight, and whatever may be their architectural
-or artistic merit there is generally no indication of what actual
-fireworks were to be used, or how they were to be displayed.
-
-In some cases a list of the works is given under the engraving,
-adding greatly to its value in the eyes of the pyrotechnist, and
-some, although they are considerably in the minority, are intended to
-represent the display in progress, although on the rather futuristic
-method of showing everything going off at one time.
-
-A series of prints published in Germany during the seventeenth century
-are among the earliest in which a serious attempt is made to depict
-pyrotechnic effects; the series includes “Swedish Fireworks,” dated
-1650; “Fireworks at Nuremburg in celebration of Peace,” of the same
-date; “Fireworks given at Pleissenburg by the Prince of Saxony,” 1666;
-and the same year, “Fireworks at Vienna”; all three prints show a
-good display of rockets, also bonfires, and there are indications
-of primitive wheels. The same remarks apply to a very fine plate
-published in 1669, depicting a display given at Stockholm in honour of
-the investiture of Charles XI of Sweden with the Order of the Garter
-by the British Ambassador. This engraving carries with it a feeling
-of conviction that it is an actual representation of the scene, and
-not—as is the case with earlier and with some later work—that the
-artist is drawing on his imagination. In many of the earlier prints it
-is difficult to judge if the artist is depicting what he imagined, or
-monsters and scenic effects actually constructed for the display.
-
-It is worthy of note that even in early times, speaking
-pyrotechnically, the value of water in enhancing the effect of
-fireworks seems to have been realised. The display at Stockholm we
-have already mentioned appears to have taken place on the sea front.
-Many of the larger French displays of the seventeenth and eighteenth
-centuries were fired with a foreground of water; in those at Versailles
-full advantage was taken of the wonderful fountains and ornamental
-water, the display given in celebration of the entry of Louis XIV in
-Paris after his marriage being given on the Seine, and many of the
-early English displays took place on the Thames. Probably the earliest
-contemporary account of any length of a firework display in England is
-one headed “The Manner of Fire-Workes shewed up upon the Thames” in
-celebration of the marriage of Prince Frederick (Elector Palatine) with
-the daughter of James I in 1613. We read “many artificiall concusions
-in Fire-Workes were upon the Thames performed.
-
-“First, for a welcome to the beholders a peale of Ordnance like unto
-a terrible thunder ratled in the ayre.... Secondly, followed a number
-more of the same fashion, spredding so strangely with sparkling
-blazes, that the skie seemed to be filled with fire.... After this,
-in a most curious manner, an artificiall fire-worke with great wonder
-was seen flying in the ayre, like unto a fiery Dragon, against which
-another fierrie vision appeared flaming like to Saint George on
-Horsebacke, brought in by a burning Inchanter, between which was then
-fought a most strange battell continuing a quarter of an howre or more;
-the dragon being vanquished, seemed to roar like thunder, and withall
-burst in pieces, and so vanished; but the champion, with his flaming
-horse, for a little time made a shew of a tryumphant conquest, and so
-ceased.
-
-[Illustration: Great Firework Display near Stockholm, July, 1669.
-  To celebrate the Investiture of Charles XI, King of Sweden, with
-  the Order of the Garter by King Charles II.]
-
-“After this was heard another ratling sound of Cannons, almost covering
-the ayre with fire and smoke, and forthwith appeared, out of a hill of
-earth made upon the water, a very strange fire, flaming upright like
-unto a blazing starre. After which flew forth a number of rockets so
-high in the ayre, that we could not chose but approve by all reasons
-that Arte hath exceeded Nature, so artificially were they performed.
-And still as the Chambers and Culverines plaide upon the earth, the
-fire-workes danced in the ayre, to the great delight of his Highnes and
-the Princes.
-
-“Out of the same mount or hill of earth flew another strange piece of
-artificiall fire-worke, which was in the likenes of a hunted Harte,
-running upon the water so swiftly, as it had been chaced by many
-huntsmen.
-
-“After the same, issued out of the mount a number of hunting-hounds
-made of fire burning, pursuing the aforesaid Harte up and downe the
-waters, making many rebounds and turnes with much strangenes; skipping
-in the ayre as it had been a usual hunting upon land.
-
-“These were the noble delights of Princes, and prompt were the wits of
-men to contrive such princely pleasures. Where Kings commands be, Art
-is stretcht to the true depth; as the performance of these Engineers
-have been approved.
-
-“But now again to our wished sports: when this fiery hunting was
-extinguished, and that the Elements were a little cleared from fire and
-smoke, there came sailing up, as it were upon the Seas, certaine ships
-and gallies bravely rigged with top and top gallant, with their flagges
-and streamers waving like Men of Warr, which represented a Christian
-name opposed against the Turkes; where, after they had awhile hovered,
-preparing as it were, to make an incursion into the Turkish country,
-they were discovered by her Towers or Castles of defence, strongly
-furnished to intercept all such invading purposes, so sending forth the
-reports of a cannon, they were bravely answered with the like from the
-gallies, banding fire and powder one from another, as if the God of
-Battle had been there present.
-
-“Here was the manner of a sea-fight rightly performed: First, by
-assailing one another, all striving for victorie, and pursuing each
-other with fire and sword: the Culverines merrily plaid betwixt them,
-and made the ayre resound with thundering echoes; and at last to
-represent the joyes of a victorie, the Castles were sacked, burned, and
-ruinated, and the defenders of the same forced to escape with great
-danger.”
-
-The foregoing appears to be the only full account of a display in
-England during the early part of the seventeenth century, but in the
-first serious work on fireworks, “Pyrotechnia,” by John Babington,
-“gunner and student of the mathematicks,” we find a proposed programme
-for “a generall piece of fire-worke for land, for the pleasure of a
-Prince or some great person.” The spectacle consists of two castles
-with mechanical effects, but includes such devices as horizontal and
-vertical wheels, flights of rockets, line rockets and “torches of
-beautifull fire.” Babington also describes the St. George and Dragon
-device, which is merely scenic, the figures being of wickerwork and
-canvas with slight firework effects. At this time, according to a
-“History of Colleges in and arround London,” there were “many men very
-skilful in the art of pyrotechny and fireworks.”
-
-In a book on fireworks, published in the same year, by John Bate,
-the author concludes by saying: “I might have been infinite in the
-describing of such like with Ships, Towers, Castles, Pyramides. But,
-considering that it would but increase the price of the book and not
-better your understanding, since all consist of the former workes,
-which are so plainly described as that the most ignorant may easily
-conceive thereof, and (if any whit ingenious) thence contrive others,
-of what fashion they list.” From this it would appear that firework
-displays were by that date a well-established institution.
-
-Pepys, in his account of the coronation of Charles II, 1661, says:
-“We staid upon the leads and below till it was late, expecting to see
-the fireworks, but they were not performed to-night.” He seems to
-have looked upon fireworks as a matter of course on such an occasion.
-However, a display of considerable size did take place, conducted by
-Sir Martin Beckman, later Firemaster to James II, who was responsible
-for most of the important displays until 1706. One of the earliest
-prints of an English firework display is that depicting the fireworks
-on the Thames at Whitehall for the coronation of James II, 1685, in
-which the artist appears to have drawn somewhat on his imagination.
-
-Three years later an elaborate display was given on the Thames to
-celebrate the birth of an heir to the throne, who was afterwards known
-as the Old Pretender. In the same year we again see fireworks on the
-Thames, this time to celebrate the reception of the Prince of Orange.
-
-[Illustration: Fireworks on the Thames, June 17th, 1688. To
-  celebrate the birth of a son to King James II. known to fame first
-  as the Prince of Wales, and afterwards as the Old Pretender.]
-
-In 1690 displays were given, again on the Thames, and in Covent Garden,
-on the occasion of the King’s return from Ireland.
-
-The taking of Namur, 1695, was celebrated by a display in St. James’s
-Square, and on the same site two years later, the celebrations for
-the Peace of Riswick. This latter is depicted in a fine engraving,
-giving the following list of fireworks used on the occasion:—“1,000 Sky
-Rockets, from four to six pounds weight; 200 Shell; 2,400 Pumps with
-Starrs (Roman Candles); 1,000 Cones; 7,000 Reports; 15,000 Swarms; 400
-Light Balls; 23 Rocket Chests, each containing 60 rockets from one to
-four pounders.”
-
-John Evelyn, in his “Diary,” says: “The evening concluded with
-illuminations and fireworks of great expense.” The display cost £12,000.
-
-There seem to have been no fireworks in London at the coronation of
-either Anne or the first two Georges, although on the former occasion
-rockets appear to have been fired from the Fleet at Spithead.
-
-The Peace Rejoicings of 1713 were the occasion of another display
-on the Thames off Whitehall, the erection being about 400 feet long
-on barges chained together in the stream. A feature of this display
-was the water fireworks, described as: “1,500 small and large water
-Rockets; 5 large water Pyramids; 4 water fountains; 13 Pumps; 21
-standing Rockets, with lights all swimming on the water; 84 of Coll
-Borgards; large and small Bees swarms, half of which were set with
-lights to swim on the water.”
-
-The next event to be celebrated by firework displays on a large scale
-was the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle; these were given at Paris, The Hague,
-London, and St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin. The Duke of Richmond was
-responsible for a display on the Thames off Whitehall, the official
-display taking place in Green Park, and was on a scale unequalled in
-this country until well into the last century. It was conducted by the
-famous pyrotechnist Gaetano Ruggieri, who came over from France for the
-purpose, assisted by Gioseppe Sarti, under the direction of the Board
-of Ordnance.
-
-Following the practice of the period, an elaborate structure was
-prepared. The following is taken from the official programme:
-
-         “A DESCRIPTION OF THE MACHINE FOR THE FIREWORKS, &c.
-
-  “The Machine is 114 feet high to the Top of His Majesty’s arms, and
-  is 410 feet long. It was invented and designed by the Chevalier
-  Servandoni and all the framing was performed by Mr. James Morris,
-  Master Carpenter to the Office of Ordnance.
-
-  “The Ornaments of this Machine are all in Relief, and it is adorned
-  with Frets, Gilding, Lustres, Artificial Flowers, Inscriptions,
-  Statues, Allegorical Pictures, etc.”
-
-According to a contemporary newspaper report, the construction occupied
-from November 7th until April 26th. It was composed of timber covered
-with canvas, whitewashed and sized.
-
-The display commenced about six o’clock, and continued until after
-twelve; during the display the left wing caught fire, which prevented
-the firing of some of the devices. Indeed, according to Walpole, the
-Duke of Richmond’s display on the Thames a few weeks later consisted
-largely of fireworks which had not been fired owing to this occurrence,
-and which the noble duke had bought up cheap.
-
-Among the items were included the following:—Regulated Pieces, Fixed
-Suns, Stars of six Points, and between each point a Ray, a large
-vertical Sun moved by double Fires, Cascades, Pyramids (40 feet high)
-of Gerbs, etc., etc. The chief piece seems to be one “from whence Fire
-issues out and retires within, twelve times alternately; when without,
-it forms a Glory; when within, it composes a Star of eight Points, and
-then changes to a Royal brilliant Wheel, whose Fire is thirty feet in
-diameter, and is moved by twelve fires.”
-
-The remainder of this century in England appears to be rather barren of
-firework displays on a large scale.
-
-A writer in the “St. James’s Chronicle,” under the date February 18th,
-1764, in a letter advocating certain improvements in St. James’s Park,
-evidently recalling the outcry over the 1749 display, observes: “We
-had no fireworks at the peace last year, that will surely obviate any
-argument preferred against the expense of the undertaking.”
-
-Until nearly the end of the eighteenth century, according to Strutt,
-writing at that time, it was customary “for the Train of Artillery to
-display a grand fire-work on Tower Hill, on the King’s Birthday, but
-owing to the disturbances that occurred, the inhabitants a few years
-since petitioned against it.” There was, however, a great increase in
-the number of displays. Fireworks became a feature of the programme of
-the majority of the then fashionable tea and pleasure gardens.
-
-Walpole describes a firework display given in 1763 by the notorious
-Duchess of Kingston, who was thirteen years later tried by her peers on
-a charge of bigamy.
-
-The display appears to have taken place in Hyde Park, opposite the
-residence of the Duchess, then at the height of her popularity. He
-records that “the fireworks were fine and succeeded well.” One item
-seems curious to modern ideas; it took the form of a cenotaph for the
-Princess Elizabeth, a sister of the king, bearing the inscription: “All
-honours the dead can receive.”
-
-The sequel was even more extraordinary, as “about one in the morning
-this Sarcophagus burst into crackers and guns.”
-
-[Illustration: Firework Display given by the Duke of Richmond on
-  the Thames off Whitehall, May 15th, 1749, to celebrate the Peace of
-  Aix-la-Chapelle.]
-
-Lieutenant Jones, who published a book on fireworks in 1765, in his
-preface makes the following remarks:
-
-“I own I cannot help reflecting with some kind of chagrin that whenever
-we have had occasion for these sort of diversions to be exhibited in
-England we have almost always had recourse to foreigners to execute
-them; if this has been owing to the ignorance of our own people on this
-subject I shall be very happy if it is in my power to correct it; if it
-is only owing to that prevailing fondness we entertain for everything
-foreign I know no remedy for that evil but time and experience.”
-
-To a certain extent his complaint seems justified; as we have seen,
-the Aix-la-Chapelle celebrations were conducted by foreigners—Ruggieri
-and Sarti. Later in the century, Morel Torré, who, as previously
-mentioned, collaborated with Ruggieri in pyrotechnic displays for Louis
-XV, and several other pyrotechnists came to this country and conducted
-displays. At the same time, however, there were undoubtedly many
-capable pyrotechnists of English nationality, who found scope for their
-abilities in the exhibitions given in the pleasure gardens of London
-and the provinces in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
-
-A history of pyrotechny would not be complete without a survey of these
-popular places of amusement, and we propose in the following chapter to
-give a brief summary of the better known places of resort.
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER V
-
-                      THE LONDON PLEASURE GARDENS
-
-
-During the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries the
-Pleasure Gardens filled a position in the lives of a large proportion
-of the public comparable with that of the Cinema to-day.
-
-To the great mass of the public, the most general form of evening
-relaxation was a visit to one or other of these places of resort.
-Apart from meals of a more or less elaborate nature, and liquid
-refreshments of various kinds, a great variety of entertainments were
-provided, varying from displays of horsemanship to exhibitions of
-paintings. Of these diversions none were more general than fireworks
-and illuminations. At many gardens fireworks formed a regular feature
-of the programme, at others, generally less ambitious undertakings,
-displays were confined to occasions, such as the King’s Birthday.
-
-Space will hardly permit of more than a glance at those resorts
-situated in the provinces, but a description of those in the London
-area may be taken as typical.
-
-Captain Marryat, in “Peter Simple,” gives an account of a visit to
-Postdown Fair, near Portsmouth, and an adjournment to the local
-Ranelagh Gardens to “see the fireworks.” As the pyrotechnist was
-behind time, Peter Simple and his friends took it upon themselves to
-fire the display. “In about half a minute off they all went in the
-most beautiful confusion; there were silver stars and golden stars,
-blue lights and Catherine Wheels, Mines and Bombs, Grecian fires and
-Roman Candles, Chinese Trees, rockets and illuminated mottoes, all
-firing away, cracking, popping, and fizzing at the same time. It was
-unanimously agreed that it was a great improvement on the intended
-show.”
-
-Undoubtedly the gardens best remembered at the present day are Vauxhall
-and Ranelagh, neither of which were early in the field in presenting
-firework displays to the public.
-
-The first displays took place at Vauxhall about 1798, more than half a
-century after their appearance at some of the less famous gardens, and
-did not become a permanent feature of the programme until 1813. They
-continued regularly until the final closing of the gardens in 1859, the
-final item of the programme being “Farewell for Ever” in letters of
-fire. In 1813 an item in the firework programme was the performance of
-Madame Saqui, which was to slide down an inclined rope 350 feet long
-from the top of a mast 60 feet high, erected on the firework platform,
-enveloped in fireworks. So popular did this exhibition become that it
-was repeated here by other performers, by Longueman in 1822, and later
-by Blackmore.
-
-The best-known pyrotechnists connected with Vauxhall were Southby,
-Mortram, and Hengler, the first display being by an Italian named
-Invetto.
-
-Pyrotechnic displays at Ranelagh became a prominent feature of the
-amusements about 1767. The pyrotechnists Angelo, father and son, during
-that and the following years, helped to establish these displays in
-popularity, followed by Clithero, Caillot, Brock, Rossi, and Tessier,
-up to the closing of the gardens in 1805, after which date they appear
-to have been opened from time to time on special occasions. “The
-Morning Chronicle” of June 1st, 1812, announces that “By the Authority
-of the Right Hon. the Lord Chamberlain” these gardens would be open “in
-Honour of His Majesty’s Birthday, with a grand naval and military Fete,
-and a superb exhibition of Fireworks.”
-
-An interesting old advertisement, dated 1766: “For the Benefit of the
-General Lying-in Hospital. The most superb and Magnificent Fireworks
-ever exhibited at that Place, under the conduct and direction of Mr.
-Angelo.” It would appear from this that fireworks had been fired at
-Ranelagh earlier than 1766, but they could not have been a regular
-feature before 1767.
-
-Cupers Gardens, which stood on the south side of the river,
-approximately on the site of the Waterloo Bridge approach, were for
-a long period the scene of popular firework displays. Commencing
-about 1741, these displays were as elaborate as any of this period.
-The earlier displays appear to have been conducted by “the ingenious
-Mr. Worman,” who seems to have relied to a considerable extent on
-transparencies and scenery; in 1749 and 1750 he reproduced in miniature
-the firework “machine” or Temple used in the respective official
-displays in Green Park, and at The Hague for the Aix-la-Chapelle peace
-celebrations. Other scenic effects were a view of the city of Rhodes
-with a model of the Colossus; Neptune, issuing from a grotto below
-drawn by sea-horses, set fire to a pyramid or an “Archimedan worm” and
-returned.
-
-Clithero was also associated with these displays, producing similar
-scenic effects, including a naval engagement in 1755, which was the
-last year of fireworks in these gardens.
-
-The earlier displays at Marylebone Gardens took place about the middle
-of the eighteenth century. In 1751 a display is announced to take place
-at eleven o’clock, and “a large collection” of fireworks was advertised
-in 1753. Some at least of these earlier displays were fired by Brock,
-whose son, later on, worked here in conjunction with Torré. In 1769 the
-displays were under the direction of Rossi and Clanfield. From 1772 to
-1774 was the most successful period of the fireworks at these gardens;
-they were then under the direction of Torré. A popular item, afterwards
-copied by Marinari at Ranelagh, was the “Forge of Vulcan,” a scenic
-display concluding with the eruption of Mount Etna.
-
-On the occasion of Torré’s benefit, in 1772, there was a further
-exhibition of this kind, representing Hercules delivering Theseus from
-Hell.
-
-During this period attempts were made by neighbouring residents to stop
-the displays as a nuisance, but nothing came of it, and the fireworks
-continued.
-
-At the annual festival in 1772, the display included a temple of
-“upwards of 10,000 cases of different fires, all lighted at the same
-time.”
-
-Other pyrotechnists firing at the gardens were Clithero and Caillot,
-both of whom had conducted displays at Ranelagh, the latter being
-responsible for the fireworks up to the closing of the gardens about
-1778.
-
-It is recorded that Dr. Johnson once visited the gardens on a firework
-night, but unfortunately a wet one, and notice was given to the
-handful of visitors that the fireworks were wet and the display would
-be cancelled. The doctor, however, was of opinion that it was a “mere
-excuse to save their crackers for a more profitable company,” and
-suggested that a threat to break the lamps would result in the show
-being forthcoming. Some young men standing by endeavoured, under his
-direction, to ignite the pieces, but unsuccessfully.
-
-The Mulberry Gardens, Clerkenwell, were among the earliest to make
-fireworks a feature. Displays took place from the opening in 1742, and
-ten years later Clanfield gave a display each evening.
-
-Two neighbouring taverns, “Lord Cobham’s Head” and the “Sir John
-Oldcastle,” had displays from 1744, and in 1751 “New fireworks in the
-Chinese manner” were announced at the latter establishment.
-
-The New Wells, in the same neighbourhood as the foregoing, had had
-a display as early as 1740, but it appears to have been of a scenic
-nature, representing the Siege of Portobello.
-
-The “Star and Garter,” Chelsea, advertised displays by Signor Genovini
-of Rome, in 1762, and “Jenny’s Whim,” in the same neighbourhood, had
-displays somewhat earlier, the place having been established as a
-pleasure resort by a pyrotechnist.
-
-Cromwell Gardens, in the vicinity of the present Cromwell Road, had
-what appears to have been a small display in 1784.
-
-Rossi and Tessier, the pyrotechnists of Ranelagh, gave displays at
-the Bermondsey Spa Gardens in 1792. A representation of the Siege of
-Gibraltar was given, and on September 28th of that year, “by special
-desire the Battle of the Fiery Dragons, and the line comet to come from
-the Rock of Gibraltar and cause the Dragons to engage.” Brock also gave
-displays here later.
-
-Finch’s Grotto Gardens, whose site is now occupied by the headquarters
-of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in Southwark, had occasional displays
-of fireworks about 1770, as did the Temple of Flora in the Westminster
-Bridge Road, about the same date. Clithero advertised a display of
-fireworks at Jamaica House, Rotherhithe, in 1762.
-
-A Peace Celebration display is announced for February 7th, 1749, to “be
-play’d off this evening in the Field adjoining to the Tavern called
-Bob’s Hall.”
-
-In 1788 Astley senior advertises, to take place at the Royal Grove
-and Astley’s Amphitheatre, Westminster Bridge, a “Double Display of
-Fire-Works.... Numerous Devices prepared in the usual way from Powder,
-etc., which will be alternatively played off with the new-invented
-Philosophical Fire-Works, under the direction of Mons. Henry, the
-inventor and Professor of Natural Philosophy from Paris.”
-
-The same year he announces a display “on the Thames immediately after
-Astley’s Exhibition in Honour of His Majesty’s Birth-day,” and
-concludes by saying “the Fireworks are made under the Direction of Mr.
-Astley, by Messrs. Cobonell & Son, who will let them off on the Thames
-this evening at different signals from Mr. Astley, Sen., who will be
-mounted on the Gibraltar Charger, placed in a Barge, in the Front of
-the line of Fireworks.”
-
-[Illustration: Firework Temple at Vauxhall, 1845. From a woodcut in
-  “The Illustrated London News.”]
-
-The “Philosophical fireworks” above mentioned were evidently an
-imitation of those exhibited at the Lyceum by Diller, which he
-describes as “Philosophical Fireworks from Inflammable Air without
-smell, smoke or Detonation.” These appear to have been nothing more
-than gas jets arranged in patterns and designs, some revolving and some
-stationary. Air was forced from a bladder through a sponge saturated
-with ether. Movement and variation were produced by turning on and off
-the gas from separate sets of holes. Two colours only appear to have
-been produced—rose and green; these were by the addition of strontia
-and baryta or copper.
-
-A handbill is in existence advertising a similar display at Hull in
-1804, by W. Clarke.
-
-During the early part of the nineteenth century several gardens round
-London made a feature of pyrotechnic displays. The Mermaid Gardens,
-Hackney, in “The Morning Chronicle” of June 1st, 1812, announces “the
-greatest feast for the eye ever exhibited is a superb firework by that
-unparalleled artist, Mr. Brock, Engineer.”
-
-The Yorkshire Stingo and Bayswater Tea Gardens in the west gave
-displays up to the early forties. White Conduit House, in the Islington
-district, had firework displays from 1824 up to shortly before the
-closing of these gardens in 1849.
-
-Rosherville Gardens, opened in 1837, the North Woolwich Gardens, the
-Eagle, 1825–82, the Globe, Mile End, the Cremorne, 1843–77, all had
-their firework displays. The best known, however, for this feature
-were the Surrey Zoological Gardens, 1831–56, where Southby, of
-Vauxhall, conducted displays for several years, producing pyrotechnic
-and scenic displays there. In 1841 he gave a reproduction of the
-fireworks of St. Angelo, and the Illumination of St. Peter’s, Rome,
-which proved a great attraction to the gardens.
-
-In the provinces the Belvue Gardens, Manchester, and the Clifton
-Zoological Gardens, Bristol, have made a feature of firework displays
-in their list of attractions, those at the latter being carried out in
-1835 by Gyngell.
-
-The famous Cremorne Gardens made a feature of pyrotechnic displays and
-spectacles of the scenic type with more or less regularity from their
-opening in 1846 down to the final closing owing to public petition in
-1877. The earlier displays were carried out by Mortram and Duffel.
-
-Firework displays of a somewhat more ambitious nature have been given
-from time to time at the Alexandra Palace, no doubt in emulation of the
-historic Crystal Palace displays, which are dealt with in the ensuing
-chapter.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER VI
-
-           FIREWORKS IN THE NINETEENTH & TWENTIETH CENTURIES
-
-
-As we have seen, the commencement of the eighteenth century was marked
-by great activity in the pyrotechnic art.
-
-Firework displays were looked upon as a necessary item in the programme
-of a place of public entertainment. So ambitious did these displays
-become, owing to keen rivalry existing between the various resorts,
-that any official display in celebration of peace or like event must of
-necessity be on a scale of unexampled lavishness.
-
-No official display of note appears to have been given in London during
-the first thirteen years of the nineteenth century, or indeed since
-the Aix-la-Chapelle peace display. The reason may have been the public
-outcry on the score of waste on that occasion.
-
-They were totally prohibited at the coronation of George III, and at
-his jubilee in 1809 there were apparently no firework displays in
-London, although more than forty towns about the country celebrated the
-event pyrotechnically, and a fine display was given from the Fleet at
-the Nore.
-
-The largest public firework exhibition on this occasion was that given
-at Bombay, where the celebration took place earlier in the year, the
-date selected being June 4th, the King’s birthday, instead of October
-25th, the actual anniversary of his accession.
-
-The Peace of 1802, although no official display was given, was the
-occasion of much private pyrotechnic enterprise, the fireworks and
-illuminations in London lasting nearly a week.
-
-The Peace of 1814 was signalised in London by several displays: the 1st
-of August was chosen for the Peace Celebration, it being the centenary
-of the accession of the House of Brunswick, and also the anniversary of
-the Battle of the Nile.
-
-The display in Hyde Park commenced with a naval engagement on the
-Serpentine between model warships representing the English and the
-combined French and American Fleets. This item, which lasted three
-hours, was followed by a display of water fireworks. The display in
-Green Park commenced at ten o’clock, one of the chief items being
-the “grand metamorphosis of the Castle into the Temple of Concord.”
-This change, says a writer in “The Times” of the period, “was made
-with somewhat less celerity than those witnessed in our theatrical
-pantomimes. It resembled rather the cautious removal of a screen than
-the sudden leap into a new shape. When fully developed, however, it
-presented a spectacle which excited general approbation.”
-
-The Temple of Concord was an elaborate structure illuminated with
-coloured lamps, and decorated with gilding, festoons, etc., and
-transparent paintings. It was designed by Smirke, the paintings being
-by Stodard, Howard, Hilton, and others, and represented such subjects
-as “The Golden Age,” and “Peace restored to Earth.”
-
-Charles Lamb, in a letter to William Wordsworth, dated August 9th,
-1814, after describing the havoc wrought in the park by the crowds
-and booths, remarks that: “After all the fireworks were splendent—the
-Rockets in clusters, in trees and all shapes, spreading about like
-young stars in the making floundering about in space (like unbroke
-horses) till some of Newton’s calculations should fix them, but then
-they went out. Anyone who could see ’em and the still finer showers of
-gloomy rain fire that fell sulkily and angrily from ’em, and could go
-to bed without dreaming of the Last Day, must be as hardened an Atheist
-as ****.”
-
-St. James’s Park was reserved for those who paid for admission. The
-trees were illuminated with lamps, and a Chinese bridge, which had been
-erected over the lake, was similarly treated. The use of gas on this
-structure must be one of the earliest occasions of its being employed
-for outdoor illuminations of this nature. Neither can the result be
-considered altogether successful, as the building caught fire towards
-the end of the firework display, and a lamplighter, who appears to
-have been caught by the flames in an attempt to throw himself into the
-water, was killed. Other men similarly employed were also severely
-burned. These men, evidently through ignorance, had started lighting
-the lower lamps first, working upwards on the structure, until they
-found themselves in a position of intolerable heat with no means of
-descending.
-
-The pyrotechnic display consisted chiefly of aerial fireworks with
-gerbs, roman candles, fountains, and wheels; there do not appear to
-have been many devices of any size. “The Times” reporter complains that
-“the repetition of these things, with occasional pauses, for more than
-two hours became tedious to all.”
-
-The coronation of George IV, in 1821, was celebrated by a display
-in Hyde Park, including land and water fireworks, superintended by
-Congreve. The displays on the coronation of William IV, in 1831, were
-directed by Congreve’s successor, Sir Augustus Frazer, but appear to
-have been of an insignificant character.
-
-Queen Victoria’s coronation was celebrated by displays in Hyde Park
-and Green Park, conducted by Southby and D’Ernst, which exhibitions
-included a Temple on similar lines to that of 1814.
-
-In France, during the first few years of the nineteenth century, there
-were many pyrotechnic displays of importance. Napoleon is credited
-with being extremely partial to such exhibitions. Displays took place
-in Paris in the Champs Elysées, at the barriere Chaillot, before Les
-Invalides in 1801 to celebrate the foundation of the Republic, and in
-the following year in honour of Napoleon’s arrival in that city.
-
-Major-General Lord Blayney, who was captured by Napoleon’s troops in
-the Peninsula in 1810, travelled on parole across Spain and France on
-his way to Verdun. His somewhat leisurely journey of nearly six months
-enabled him to witness many celebrations of French victories in the
-towns through which he passed. He records having seen fireworks and
-illuminations among other places at Malaga and Orleans.
-
-In 1804 a display was given by Napoleon before the Hotel de Ville,
-Paris, on his assumption of the title of Emperor of the French. The
-scenery provided for this display took the form of a representation
-of Mount St. Bernard, with a figure symbolising Napoleon mounted on a
-charger on the summit.
-
-This display was repeated in 1810 on the occasion of his marriage with
-Marie Louise; this time, however, the topmost feature was the Temple of
-Hymen, with figures of Napoleon and his bride.
-
-Other displays were given on the bridge of Louis XVI, which appears
-to have been a popular position for such exhibitions, in 1800, 1804,
-1806, 1820, and 1821. Another site frequently used for displays was the
-garden of the Senate, where Ruggieri fired displays in the years 1801,
-1806 (twice), and 1807.
-
-Fireworks continued to be a national institution in France,
-irrespective of the form of government. Louis Napoleon, like his uncle,
-being fond of fireworks, or it may be, considering them a good means
-of gaining popularity, made any public event an excuse for pyrotechnic
-displays. Notable occasions were the Military Fetes, 1852, the Fete of
-the Emperor, 1853, the visit of Queen Victoria to the Paris Exhibition
-of 1855, in honour of which a most elaborate display was given at
-Versailles, the Baptismal Fetes in 1856, the triumphal entry and the
-Emperor’s birthday, 1859, and the visit of the King Consort of Spain in
-1864.
-
-The Entente Cordiale movement in 1868 was responsible for displays in
-the Fleets on both sides of the Channel, those in France taking place
-in Cherbourg, those in England at Spithead.
-
-A previous event which had been celebrated pyrotechnically on a large
-scale in both countries was the Peace Rejoicing at the conclusion of
-the Crimean War.
-
-This occasion was marked in London by four displays of fireworks on a
-scale hitherto unprecedented. The sites chosen were Hyde Park, Green
-Park, Primrose Hill, and Victoria Park. They were arranged thus with
-the very sensible idea of splitting the crowds of sightseers into
-sections and thus preventing dangerous crowding to one spot. The
-fireworks were prepared for these displays in Woolwich Arsenal, under
-the direction of Mr. Southby, the pyrotechnist of the Surrey Gardens,
-who went there for this event.
-
-The programmes of these displays were precisely similar, with the
-exception of that at Primrose Hill, which consisted mainly of aerial
-fireworks.
-
-Tyrrell, in his “History of the War with Russia,” gives the following
-account of the display in Green Park: “At the appointed signal there
-was a continuous discharge of maroons, accompanied by brilliant
-illuminations with white, red, green, and yellow fires.... Then for
-two hours followed every conceivable design of elegant and dazzling
-pyrotechnic art. Flights of rockets a hundred at a time; revolving
-wheels, sun star and golden streamers, and fiery serpents chasing each
-other through the air. Gerbs, Roman candles, tourbillions, shells, and
-fixed pieces of the most fantastic designs and brilliant hues. The
-eyes were dazzled by the intensity of the light.... It was strange to
-believe that so fierce and ungovernable an element as fire could be
-rendered so delicately obedient to the will of man.... The triumph,
-however, of the entertainment was reserved for the close of it. This
-was a tremendous bombardment, during which the air was constantly
-filled with flights of rockets, and was intended as a representation of
-the last grand attack upon Sebastopol—the blowing up of the magazines
-and works, and general conflagration.
-
-“As an introduction to this there were five fixed pieces, all of
-complicated construction, the centre being an enormous one which, amid
-all its fantastic blazing and revolving, exhibited the words ‘God Save
-the Queen.’ Language fails to convey a vivid idea of the deafening,
-roaring, crashing and grand appearance of the termination, during which
-the proud fortifications of Sebastopol were supposed to succumb. Then
-rose up into the blackness, rapidly one after another, six flights
-of rockets, comprising altogether no less than ten thousand of these
-beautiful and brilliant instruments.... It was such a spectacle as man
-could not reasonably expect to witness more than once in a lifetime.”
-
-This account appears to be somewhat highly coloured, as the official
-programme makes no reference to the fall of Sebastopol, but it is
-evident from it that the writer was greatly impressed with the display,
-and contemporary prints indicate that he was voicing popular opinion.
-
-It is worthy of note that these celebrations were the first occasion of
-the kind in which the exhibitions consisted of veritable fireworks
-without extraneous matter in the form of scenery and buildings. This
-may account for the fact that there was, on this occasion, considerably
-less of the usual outcry against the “waste” involved. It is curious
-that on occasions of this kind there are always to be found certain
-damp spirits who begin a clamour against the expenditure of money on
-fireworks which might be applied to other objects. The Aix-la-Chapelle
-display excited these gentlemen to a great pitch, probably on account
-of the elaborate nature of the preparations, which, as we have already
-seen, occupied over five months, thus providing them with plenty
-of time to develop their theme, or an object lesson to prove their
-statements.
-
-[Illustration: Queen Victoria’s Visit to France, 1855. The
-  Fireworks at Versailles. From a drawing by Gustav Doré in “The
-  Illustrated London News.”]
-
-Where, however, the display consists—as on the occasion under
-consideration—solely of fireworks proper, a few days’ preparation on
-the actual site is usually sufficient; the kill-joy has less time
-to spread himself. It may be mentioned his season is over with the
-display; generally the British public, having enjoyed itself, turns a
-deaf ear to those who would convince it that it ought not to have done
-so.
-
-Other displays took place in various parts of the kingdom: in Edinburgh
-on Arthur’s Seat, at Portsmouth on the Fleet, to mention two only.
-
-An interesting event which took place on the 25th August was the
-entertainment of 2,000 men of the Guards at the Surrey Gardens. This
-resort was at the time the home of British pyrotechny, the displays
-being conducted by Southby, who, as we have said, went into Woolwich
-Arsenal to assist in the production of the fireworks for the official
-displays. The amusements of the day concluded with an exhibition of
-fireworks.
-
-A further event connected with the foregoing celebration was the
-festivities in Moscow on the occasion of the coronation of the Emperor
-Alexander II, which concluded with a pyrotechnic display.
-
-From this time until the end of the century the history of pyrotechny
-in this country is practically the history of pyrotechny at the Crystal
-Palace; it has been the Crystal Palace displays which have set the
-pace, as it were, to pyrotechnists in this country, and has provided
-the spur which has placed British pyrotechnists not only ahead but
-markedly ahead of their competitors in other countries.
-
-The Crystal Palace displays became a national institution, and any
-public event worthy of such recognition was accorded a pyrotechnic
-celebration there on a scale hitherto unattempted.
-
-The credit for the original introduction of fireworks at the Crystal
-Palace must belong to the late C. T. Brock, who succeeded in inducing
-the Directors to institute a competition among pyrotechnists in 1865.
-It may be interesting to give in his own words an account of the
-matter, taken from an article written by him some few years later:
-
-  “It occurred to me that of all the places of public resort suitable
-  for the inauguration of a new era for pyrotechny, none offered
-  such glorious advantages as the Crystal Palace, then at the height
-  of its popularity. Its terraces, fountains and foliage offered
-  unrivalled advantages for the display of grand effects. The
-  Directors of the Crystal Palace Company, who had more than once
-  been applied to for permission to hold displays in the grounds,
-  feared that, inasmuch as fireworks had been recently associated
-  solely with gardens of the Cremorne class, the Palace itself would
-  be degraded to the same rank if consent were granted. I urged that
-  the Exhibition of 1862 had afforded no opportunity for competition
-  among firework makers—necessarily excluded by the nature of their
-  trade—although almost every other branch of manufactures were
-  embraced, that such a contest might with reason and advantage be
-  held at Sydenham, and that fireworks were really not of an immoral
-  tendency. I further agreed that in the event of the result being
-  unfavourable, either financially or from a social point of view,
-  no second display need take place, but if, as I felt confident,
-  there should be a large attendance of the better classes, then
-  other exhibitions might follow. The Directors, after many months of
-  delay, consented to make the experiment, and the favourable result
-  of the trial on July 12th, 1865, far exceeded my most sanguine
-  expectations.
-
-  “The result was an unlooked-for success, 20,000 people being
-  present on the occasion. Three more displays took place that year
-  upon a small scale, but always with successful results.
-
-  “The first display was produced jointly by my father and Mr.
-  Southby, the winner of the first prize, and continued to the end of
-  that season by my father alone under my management.
-
-  “The success of fireworks at the Crystal Palace having become
-  an accomplished fact, I built extensive works at Nunhead, and
-  commenced manufacturing on a scale never previously dreamt of in
-  the trade—the vast expanse of the locale of my displays obviously
-  necessitating extraordinary expenditure of material.
-
-  “By degrees the set pieces grew from twelve feet in diameter to 300
-  feet. Shells for which the Crystal Palace has been renowned grew to
-  one hundred times more than the ordinary shells of my early days,
-  and thousands of pounds weight of material was gradually introduced
-  to increase the effectiveness of these displays.”
-
-[Illustration: “The GRAND WHIM for POSTERITY to Laugh at:
-  Being the Night View of the ROYAL FIREWORKS, as Exhibited in the
-  Green Park, St. _James’s_, with the Right Wing on Fire.”
-
-  Firework Display in the Green Park to celebrate the Peace of
-  Aix-la-Chapelle, 1749.]
-
-The Crystal Palace displays carried out by C. T. Brock and his
-brother, Arthur Brock, who succeeded him in the business on March 25th,
-1881, have since become proverbial. They continued up to 1910, when
-the Crystal Palace was taken over by the promoters of the Pageant of
-Empire. They have been revived in 1920, when the War Museum was opened,
-and the attendance has proved that the public taste for fireworks is
-very far from diminishing.
-
-During the run of forty-five consecutive years an installation was
-built up, method and technique were evolved unknown in any other place
-of pyrotechnic exhibition.
-
-While the firework terrace, with its magnificent background of park
-and shrubberies, is unrivalled as a firing ground, it is at the same
-time the most exacting. The huge building, its imposing position and
-setting, the wonderful fountains, all demand pyrotechnic effects on a
-corresponding scale.
-
-The pictorial set pieces, originally introduced by C. T. Brock in 1875,
-increased in size until a plant was arrived at capable of exhibiting a
-picture ninety feet high and two hundred feet long on the main girder,
-which length could be extended to even six hundred feet of frontage, as
-on the occasion of the exhibition of a battle piece or similar subject.
-
-During this period the subjects dealt with in the main set pieces have
-covered a wide range. A favourite subject, and one lending itself
-particularly well to pyrotechnic production, is the sea battle. Almost
-every historic naval engagement of sufficient size to warrant its
-adoption has been proved the subject for a fire picture.
-
-Among the battle pictures produced are the following:—Bombardment of
-Alexandria in 1882, Siege of Gibraltar in 1883, Battle of Trafalgar
-in 1884; during 1885, two pictures representing the use of the
-ironclads of the period and based on the Naval manœuvres, entitled
-the “Attack on Dover,” and the Battle of Bantry Bay; the following
-year another imaginary picture depicting an attack by torpedo boats on
-the latest battleship, the “Colossus.” The Bombardment of Sebastopol
-was reproduced in 1887, followed by the Jubilee Naval Review at
-Spithead. In 1888 the defeat of the Spanish Armada was depicted;
-in 1890 Trafalgar, followed in 1891 by the engagement between the
-“Chesapeake” and the “Shannon,” together with a portrait of Admiral
-Sir Provo Wallis, then aged one hundred, and another from an early
-painting showing him at the time of the engagement when the command
-of the English vessel devolved upon him owing to the casualties among
-the senior officers. Later in that year the Battle of the Nile was
-reproduced; 1893 saw the Bombardment of Canton; 1894 the Battle of the
-First of June, and the Battle of the Yalu. The Battle of Manilla Bay
-was produced in 1898, and on the centenary date the Battle of the Nile.
-In 1889, H.M.S. “Implacable” was shown in action on the day on which
-she was commissioned, followed in 1900 by the Bombardment of the Taku
-Forts, and in 1901 by the immortal sea fight between the “Revenge”
-and the “Fifty-three.” In 1904 the Russo-Japanese War gave subjects
-in the various attacks on Port Arthur and the Battle of Tsu-Shima,
-and the Battle of the Sea of Japan in the year following. The Battle
-of Trafalgar was renewed that season, and in 1908 another imaginary
-picture portraying modern naval warfare was produced, followed in 1909
-by an imaginary encounter between the first Dreadnought and other craft.
-
-The revival of the Crystal Palace displays in 1920 saw the reproduction
-of the Battle of Jutland, of which the following appreciation appeared
-in the Press:
-
-  “The chief set piece in the programme is a Fire Picture of the
-  Battle of Jutland, the most realistic spectacle ever produced
-  in fire; by ingenious devices the guns fire, shells burst in all
-  directions, gaping holes appear in the sides and upper works
-  of the ships engaged, until—when the din of battle has reached
-  its height—the German cruiser ‘Lutzow’ blows up and sinks. One
-  realises that here at least is one pictorial subject in which
-  the Cinematograph is hopelessly outdone; the variety of noises,
-  varying from the sharp bark of quick-firers to the boom of the
-  heavy guns, which are here so wonderfully reproduced, are quite
-  inadequately rendered by the conventional thumps on the big drum in
-  the orchestra.”
-
-Before the resources of lance-work were fully understood, the
-reproduction of famous buildings was a fruitful source of subjects;
-those reproduced vary from the Crystal Palace itself to Worcester and
-Salisbury Cathedrals, and from the Arc de Triomphe to the Mosque at
-Delhi.
-
-Natural catastrophes such as the Avalanche, the Eruption of Vesuvius,
-and the Destruction of Pompeii have been portrayed. The Wreck of the
-Eider in 1892, with the rescue of the passengers by the lifeboats,
-formed the subject of a popular set piece; another successful scenic
-showed a wreck with line-throwing rockets and transport of passengers
-by the breeches buoy.
-
-In 1879 portraits in fire were reproduced for the first time, and since
-that date those executed have included almost all the Royal Personages
-of the day, many of which have been fired electrically from the Royal
-Box by the originals. Other eminent people reproduced range from King
-Cetewayo in 1882, the Maori King in 1884, Li-Hung-Chang in 1896, to
-Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in 1920.
-
-In 1887 what is known as the transformation set piece was introduced.
-Upon lighting, the piece exhibits a floral design in colours, which,
-after burning some time, becomes transformed into a portrait, the lines
-of which are worked inconspicuously with those of the floral design,
-and, to use a modern term, camouflaged by its colours, the colour of
-the portrait being white.
-
-[Illustration: A full-size picture of the Jumma Musjid in Fireworks
-  at the Crystal Palace, 1892.]
-
-[Illustration: Firework Display for the Coronation Durbar at Delhi,
-  January 3rd, 1903. In the background is the Jumma Musjid.]
-
-The first portrait to be so shown was Lord Beaconsfield, the floral
-design being of primroses, and the occasion Primrose Day. This, for
-the first example of its kind, was very successful, and later in the
-year an enormous transformation picture, 200 feet long and 100 feet
-high, was fired at the Jubilee display, changing to portraits of Queen
-Victoria and members of the Royal Family.
-
-A popular picture of this kind is the puzzle picture which transforms
-from a jungle scene to animals.
-
-Another most successful changing picture was entitled “The Seasons,”
-first produced in 1889, and revived from time to time. A rural scene
-changes from Spring to Summer, from Summer to Autumn, and finally to
-Winter. The effect is produced by varying compositions in the lances,
-and by employing lances of varying length, and requires very exact
-manipulation and supervision.
-
-Patriotic, congratulatory, and political cartoons and devices have been
-exhibited in wonderful variety of design, sentiment, and language:
-Chinese, Persian, and Maori, to mention only three of the latter.
-
-Living Fireworks, invented and patented by C. T. Brock and Co., in
-1888, have always been a favourite feature of the Crystal Palace
-displays. The performer is clad in overalls of asbestos cloth, and on
-the side nearest to the spectators wears a light wood framework, of
-which the outline is “lanced” to depict the particular character to be
-portrayed.
-
-The first subject dealt with was the boxing match, which has enjoyed
-continuous popularity up to the present day, and is possibly the most
-successful.
-
-Other favourites have been Blondin on the tight rope, inspired by the
-appearance of the real Blondin on the firework terrace, surrounded by
-firework effects, in 1871; dancers of various kinds, from the Sailor’s
-Hornpipe to Salome; Cat fights; Cock fights; the Boxing Kangaroo in
-1893, when that performance was attracting crowds to the old Aquarium;
-an Indian Snake Charmer; a Fisherman; a Trapeze Artist, have all been
-produced by living actors in fire.
-
-In 1895 “The Village Blacksmith” was enacted, with horse, blacksmith,
-assistant, and horse’s owner, with forge, bellows, anvil, and all
-necessary “properties.” The following year a piece was exhibited
-showing various members of the building trades at work. Then followed
-the Fire Scene, in which a house is seen on fire, the motor fire engine
-arrives, the men jump down, unroll the hose, and proceed to extinguish
-the outbreak with a jet of fire. Another ambitious effort showed a
-City policeman regulating the traffic. The most elaborate scene of the
-kind yet attempted was to work living figures in connection with the
-main set piece. The subject chosen was life in the Arctic Regions, and
-opened with the open Polar Sea, with whaling vessels, spouting whale,
-and launch of the whaling boat, which follows the whale and fires a
-harpoon. The picture then changed to Arctic winter, ice forms, and
-the vessel is frozen with the ice, sledging parties travel over the
-ice, and the picture concluded with a man and bear fight in living
-fireworks. The same year—1890—there was introduced into the Children’s
-Fireworks, which form an annual feature of the Crystal Palace displays,
-a living Jack and the Beanstalk picture.
-
-In 1906 the then popular song, “I wouldn’t leave my little Wooden Hut
-for You,” was the basis of what was described in the programme as a
-Living Firework Drama. The popular songs of the day have provided
-the subject for many successful set pieces, and form a class of picture
-which derives much of its success from the band accompaniment and the
-opportunity for vocal effort on the part of the crowd.
-
-[Illustration: A Crystal Palace Set Piece at the time of the South
-  African War. (200 ft. long by 70 ft. high.)]
-
-The origin of this type of picture is worth recording. In 1889 the Shah
-of Persia visited the Crystal Palace, and fired a portrait of himself,
-electrically, from the Royal Box. A popular song of the day, “Have you
-seen the Shah?” was suggested to some musically inclined members of the
-audience, who commenced to sing it, and were soon joined by the whole
-of the spectators, numbering about 50,000.
-
-The effect of this impromptu concert was so striking as to lead to
-the production of the popular song whenever there happened to be one
-suitable for pictorial rendering in fireworks.
-
-In 1892 a mechanical Lottie Collins, 60 feet high, dancing to the then
-popular strain of “Ta-ra-ra-bom-de-ay,” was enthusiastically received.
-A series of patriotic and sentimental songs at the time of the South
-African War, as “The Absent-minded Beggar” and “Good-bye, Dolly Grey,”
-etc., were very successful. The “Honeysuckle and the Bee” provided the
-subject for a transformation picture, a design of honeysuckle changing
-to a girl’s head with a mechanical bee twelve feet long.
-
-In 1908 three songs were included in one piece—“Bill Bailey,”
-“Farewell, my Bluebell,” and “The Old Bull and Bush.”
-
-The smaller mechanical pieces form a history of locomotion during the
-half-century covered by the displays. Bicycles, motor cars, looping the
-loop, aeroplanes, costers’ barrows, hansom cabs, fire engines, scooters
-have all been represented, and in 1895, on the occasion of the visit of
-the Railway Conference, two of the best mechanical pieces ever carried
-out—full-sized representations of the “Rocket” and the latest type of
-express engine with exact details and working parts.
-
-An effective working device introduced as early as 1870 was a comet
-travelling down a wire from one of the famous towers to the ground.
-Later the comet was replaced by a dragon, Mother Goose, and in 1872 by
-a “Fiery Bicycle,” a subject which seems somewhat out of place in such
-a position. The next development of this feature was to introduce a
-living man who, clad in shining armour and surrounded and illuminated
-by a frame of fireworks, striking an impressive attitude, slid from the
-summit of the tower to the terrace.
-
-The name of this performer, no doubt in imitation of the Italian
-artists who on a smaller scale carried out a similar feat at Vauxhall,
-was given in the programme as Signor Gregorini. In private life or in
-the works, however, he went by the name of Bill Gregory, and it is
-recorded that, when on the first night he stuck half-way down and had
-to remain in his airy position for the remainder of the display, his
-remarks left no doubt as to the country of his origin.
-
-It is characteristic of Mr. C. T. Brock that he who originated the idea
-was the first to try the descent. The weight of the cable was very
-considerable and the strain very heavy in order to keep it sufficiently
-taut, and doubts were expressed as to the advisability of putting
-such a stress on the structure, which led to the abandonment of the
-performance.
-
-It would be tedious to attempt to give anything like a description of
-the many and varied moving and stationary devices used in the Crystal
-Palace displays. The descriptions in the traditional somewhat flowery
-language of the firework programmes would convey little without
-illustration. One feature generally to be found in the programme is
-that of the wheels. These are generally fired in a group of three in
-the centre of the Terrace, the designs varying in form, movement and
-colour from time to time, the fire of the centre or largest wheel
-forming a circle one hundred feet in diameter.
-
-The historical displays during this period include the displays given
-in India in 1875–6, during the tour of King Edward, then Prince of
-Wales, at Bombay, Madura, Colombo, Madras, and Jaipur, and a series of
-enormous displays carried out at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition
-in 1876, at one of which 250,000 people paid half-a-dollar admission,
-and in 1877, the displays given at Calcutta and Delhi on the occasion
-of the assumption by Queen Victoria of the title Empress of India.
-
-The Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria produced enormous
-activity in the manufacture of fireworks. Displays great and small took
-place all over the United Kingdom, or rather, the Empire.
-
-Among the displays fired on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee,
-certainly not the least interesting, although comparatively small
-in extent, was that given at Blantyre in the heart of the African
-continent. This display, which included a portrait of Her late Majesty,
-was carried up three hundred and sixty miles of the Zambesi, thence by
-canoe over eighty miles of sandbanks and mud, and finally thirty miles
-overland with a rise of 3,500 feet.
-
-Other displays were the display on the Tagus in 1886 on the occasion
-of the marriage of the late King of Portugal; the display fired from
-Brooklyn Bridge for the Columbus Tercentenary in 1892; the Imperial
-Fete on the Danube in 1903; the display fired from thirteen battleships
-moored at a distance of a quarter of a mile from each other on the
-occasion of the “Entente Cordiale” visit of the French Fleet in 1905;
-the display celebrating the Tercentenary of the founding of Quebec in
-1908; and the greatest display of fireworks ever fired—the official
-Peace display in Hyde Park in 1919, in which some of the ground works
-suffered from the rain which, unfortunately, started about five
-o’clock, but the aerial work was on an unprecedented scale, shells
-varying from sixteen inches down to 5½ inches in diameter being fired
-in salvoes of twenty-five to one hundred.
-
-Rockets of 1 lb. were fired in flights of one hundred, and a final
-flight of three thousand; sets of Roman candles, each containing two
-hundred; one hundred fiery jets, etc., etc. The “Fourth of June”
-celebration at Eton has always been the occasion of a firework display,
-and displays have taken place annually, with the exception of the
-years of the Great War, from at least as early as the beginning of the
-nineteenth century. Hone, in his “Everyday Book” (1831), speaks of the
-fireworks as a well-established feature of the festival.
-
-It is possible, and even probable, that they date from the reign of
-George III, on whose birthday the event takes place.
-
-[Illustration: PANORAMA OF SOME OF THE AERIAL EFFECTS IN THE
-  NATIONAL FIREWORK DISPLAY AT HYDE PARK, 19th JULY, 1919.]
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER VII
-
-                         FIREWORK MANUFACTURE
-
-
-The manufacture of fireworks in this country, as an industry distinct
-from mere firework making, dates from the early part of the eighteenth
-century. Before that period displays appear to have been generally
-carried out by the military, or at any rate under the control of
-artillery or engineer officers. At that time the art was considered to
-have two distinct branches, civil and military pyrotechny, the latter
-class naturally attracting most attention during a period when Europe
-was almost continuously at war, and when firearms had made little
-progress from the early types.
-
-As has been previously mentioned, Jones complains that when it was
-required to carry out a display of fireworks on a large scale, recourse
-was always had to foreigners to conduct it. One reason was that, apart
-from the actual making of the firework units, a display depends far
-more for its success on the experience and skill of the pyrotechnist in
-arranging and composing both the form and sequence of the pieces. The
-firework makers capable of carrying out a display on a large scale were
-very few; there were fewer, if any, in this country. The whole of the
-trade was illegal; under the statute of the 9th and 10th of William III
-it was illegal to make, sell, or let off fireworks:
-
-  “By the 9th and 10th of William, Chap. 7, it is enacted: That if
-  any Person shall make or cause to be made, or sell, give, or utter,
-  or offer, or expose to sale any Squibs, Rockets, Serpents, or other
-  Fire-works, he shall forfeit Five Pounds. And that if any Person
-  shall permit the same to be fired from his House or Premises, or
-  shall cast or fire, or be aiding and assisting in casting or firing
-  the same in any public Street, House, Shop, River, or Highway, he
-  shall forfeit Twenty Shillings, or be committed to the House of
-  Correction to hard Labour for one Month.”
-
-This Act continued in force up to the passing of the Gunpowder Act in
-1860. There were periods during which it was practically a dead letter,
-and again periods of sporadic activity.
-
-The first restriction of the public use of fireworks appears to
-have been an order in council dated November 6th, 1685, which
-“For the preventing of Tumultuas Disorders” and with the object
-of “Disappointing the Evil Designs of Persons Disaffected to the
-Government, who commonly make use of such occasions to turn those
-Meetings into Riots and Tumults,” enacted that “No Person or Persons
-whatsoever, do presume to make or encourage the making of any Bonfires,
-or other Publick Fire Works—without particular permission Leave in
-Order—upon Pain of His Majesty’s Displeasure; and being Prosecuted with
-the utmost severity of the Law.”
-
-A notice appeared in the press of November 1st, 1788, dated from the
-“Public Office, Bow Street,” warning the public against firing crackers
-in the street, and quoting the Act “that no Person may claim Ignorance
-thereof.” Again, in 1814, “The Times” has an account of a summons under
-the Act of a William Swift, “for exposing for sale, Squibs, Serpents,
-Crackers and Fireworks of other descriptions to the great danger and
-annoyance of the public and contrary to the Statute.” The report
-continues:
-
-  “Mr. Laws in opening the case observed, that this was a prosecution
-  brought forward at the recommendation of the Magistrates of
-  Union-Hall, who, however, did not by it seek to punish the
-  defendant with severity but only to inform him and others acting
-  like him, that the Act upon which the present indictment was
-  founded and which so far back as the reign of William III, was
-  passed for the protection of the public, though it had not
-  lately been acted upon, was still in force. The defendant, it
-  appeared, was a man of property and a respectable holder residing
-  in Falcon-Court, where he had for some time past carried on the
-  profession of a firework-maker. The officers of Union-Hall having
-  heard, however, that he was in the habit of supplying boys or
-  any person who applied indiscriminately with these dangerous
-  commodities, they determined, if possible, to put a stop to this
-  traffic, so dangerous to the public safety. For this purpose they
-  sent a person, properly instructed, to purchase some; Goff, Bruce,
-  and some other of the officers remaining near the door to detect
-  him coming out; the purchase was made, and as the purchaser was
-  quitting the house, the officers stopt him and forced their way in.
-  They proceeded to search the premises, and concealed in closets
-  and other parts, they discovered a vast quantity of fireworks of
-  various sizes and descriptions, amounting to 19,600 and weighing
-  upwards of 6 cwt., several of these, singly, were large enough to
-  have spread ruin through the neighbourhood, had they by accident
-  exploded. These the officers took away and deposited at the Office,
-  where they still remained to the great annoyance of the Magistrates
-  waiting the decision of this question.”
-
-Hone, in his “Everyday Book,” records that at that time, 1825, “A
-Corporation notice was annually left at the house of every inhabitant
-in the City of London, previous to lord mayor’s day.” The following
-(delivered in St. Bride’s) is its form:
-
-                                         “_October the 11th, 1825._
-
-  Sir:
-
-  By Virtue of a Precept from my Lord Mayor, in order to prevent any
-  Tumults and Riots that may happen on the Fifth of November, and the
-  next ensuing Lord Mayor’s Day, you are required to charge all your
-  Servants and Lodgers, that they neither make, nor cause to be made,
-  any Squibs, Serpents, Fire Balloons, or other Fireworks, nor fire,
-  fling, nor throw them out of your House, Shop or Warehouse, or in
-  the Streets of this City, on the Penalties contained in an Act of
-  Parliament made in the Tenth year of the late King William.
-
-  Note. The Act was made perpetual, and is not expired, as some
-  ignorantly suppose.
-
-                                           C. Puckeridge, _Beadle_.
-
-          Taylor, Printer, Basinghall Street.”
-
-During the period of the operation of the Act, that is from the end
-of the seventeenth to the middle of the nineteenth centuries, on the
-occasion of public rejoicing, the authorities were in the anomalous
-position of employing persons to break the law, both by manufacturing
-and displaying fireworks.
-
-Although, as we have seen, this Act had very little effect on the
-quantity of fireworks manufactured, it had considerable adverse effect
-on the industry. As the whole thing was illegal, no regulations were
-framed to control the making, storage, or distribution of fireworks, or
-the safety of either workers or public. The manufacture was conducted
-on lines which, at the present time, appear inconceivably reckless.
-Several people working in one room in a crowded building, with loose
-composition and gunpowder, and a fire in an open grate round which
-finished or partially finished goods were put to dry, and this in a
-thickly populated area of London.
-
-The result of this state of affairs, as might have been expected, was a
-continuous series of explosions of a more or less serious nature.
-
-An early press account, dated 1722, relates to “Mr. Goodship of
-White Alley in Chancery Lane,” and continues, “as he was making some
-fireworks, the Gunpowder took fire and blew him up, by which means the
-House was fired, and that adjoining somewhat damaged. More Mischief
-had been done, but that there was timely help. The Man is so hurt that
-his life is despaired of.” Another account gives the man’s name as
-Goodsheaf.
-
-The early part of the nineteenth century provided an extraordinary list
-of accidents.
-
-In 1810 we find the following account of an accident at Bath:
-
-  “On Monday a dreadful accident happened at Bath to Mrs. Invetto, a
-  firework-maker, and a young man her assistant. They were preparing
-  sky-rockets, etc., for the Jubilee, when, by some means, an
-  explosion took place of a considerable quantity of powder, some say
-  upwards of two hundred barrels, which blew the house, and another
-  adjoining, to atoms. The unfortunate woman was miserably burnt and
-  bruised; and no hopes are entertained of her recovery. The poor
-  fellow also lies in a shocking state at the Casualty Hospital at
-  Bath.”
-
-In 1814 two accidents are recorded to Mortram and Clithero. The former
-took place in the “Westminster Roade, near the Asylum”; a man and two
-boys were very badly burned, two succumbing to their injuries the
-same day. Clithero’s establishment was situated in Fleet Street Hill,
-Bethnal Green. The accident here was caused by fire from the steam
-engine reaching some fireworks. Three people were badly injured, and
-much glass was destroyed in the neighbourhood. Clithero appears to have
-had his works separate from the dwelling-house, an arrangement which
-appears to be the exception rather than the rule. Mortram’s premises
-were again destroyed in 1818, fortunately without loss of life.
-
-A serious accident took place in 1815, in which five people lost their
-lives, the premises, and those on either side, being demolished, and
-nearly all windows destroyed within two hundred yards. The proprietor
-of the premises, which were situated at Wilkes Street, Spitalfields,
-was Lushalan.
-
-In 1821 a third accident occurred at Mortram’s works, the newspaper
-account of which gives an illuminating glimpse of the extraordinary
-methods of the period:
-
-  “Tuesday morning an accident, which occasioned considerable alarm,
-  and might have been attended with dangerous consequences, took
-  place in the house of M. Mortram, firework-maker, in Westminster
-  Road. It appears that one of the boys employed in making
-  composition stars for rockets had placed a number of them on the
-  fender before the fire to dry, and had set fire to one on the
-  hob, which falling in amongst the others, the whole exploded, by
-  which a little girl was much hurt in the back, and so frightened
-  that she ran to the window of the first floor, but was prevented
-  jumping out. The boy escaped up the area with his jacket on fire.
-  The neighbours were now much alarmed, fearing that the fire might
-  spread to more combustible matter in the house, and so on to the
-  extensive workshops of Madame Hengler, the celebrated pyrotechnic
-  to his Majesty; but, through the activity of the workmen, who ran
-  into the adjoining house with buckets of water, further damage was
-  happily prevented, or the consequences might have been dreadful.
-  An accident of a shocking nature, it will be recollected, occurred
-  about three years since in the same person’s repository, when two
-  men were killed by the explosion.”
-
-In 1825, in Bell’s “Weekly Messenger” of September 4th, appears the
-following account:
-
-                  “DREADFUL EXPLOSION IN WHITECHAPEL.
-
-  “Yesterday morning, about half-past eight o’clock, Whitechapel
-  Road, and the numerous streets that abound there, were thrown into
-  the greatest state of agitation, by the inhabitants experiencing a
-  most tremendous shock, as if caused by a volcano or an earthquake.
-  The houses for a considerable distance were deserted by their
-  inhabitants, and men, women, and children were seen running about
-  in all directions, under the impression that the world was at an
-  end. It was soon ascertained that their alarm was produced by the
-  explosion of the factory of Mr. Brock, the artist in fireworks, at
-  No. 11, Baker’s Row, Whitechapel Road, nearly opposite the London
-  Hospital.
-
-  “The following particulars relative to this direful disaster
-  have reached us:—Mr. Brock has resided for the last five years
-  in Baker’s Row, and at the back of his dwelling-house is his
-  repository for fireworks, where they are manufactured. This
-  building is about 50 feet by 20 feet, and contains three magazines,
-  which are lined with lead, and would be perfectly secure from
-  fire, should it occur, on any of the adjoining premises. In these
-  receptacles were deposited all the powder, composition, and, in
-  fact, all the combustible matter, and Mr. B. was remarkable for
-  the method he had taken to prevent any accident occurring on his
-  premises. A few weeks since he had taken two boys out of the
-  poor-house to instruct in the art of firework making and he kept
-  them chiefly employed in filling and ramming the cases of the
-  sky-rockets, serpents, squibs, etc. The latter part of this stage
-  of the work is done by a funnel, or piece of tin made in the shape
-  of an extinguisher, and a small piece of iron wire, about a foot
-  long, which is used as a ramrod. The small end, or nipple, as it
-  is called, of the extinguisher is introduced into one end of the
-  rocket or squib, and the boys ram the powder and wadding down
-  with the ramrod. Yesterday morning, at the time above stated, Mr.
-  Brock and his men left the factory to go to breakfast, leaving
-  the two boys engaged at the work-board, ramming the sky-rockets.
-  They had scarcely sat down to their meal when they, as well as
-  the inhabitants around them for some distance, heard a sort of
-  rumbling noise as if of some distant thunder, and the next moment
-  a tremendous and deafening explosion followed, and the air was
-  illumined with lights of various descriptions, and accompanied by
-  continued reports. The concussion thus occasioned was so great that
-  the inmates in the different houses were shaken from their seats,
-  many of whom were sitting at their breakfast, and the tables and
-  tea-things were upset and broken to pieces. The window frames were
-  all forced out, and the brickbats and materials were flying about
-  in every direction. The roofs of Mr. Brock’s manufactory, and the
-  factory of Mr. M’Devitt adjoining, were blown to a considerable
-  height, and the falling materials did considerable mischief. After
-  the agitation was somewhat subsided, an inquiry into the cause of
-  the accident took place, when it appeared from the statement of
-  the two boys (who were blown a considerable height and were much
-  injured) that they were at work, ramming the rockets, when the
-  ramrod struck against the funnel, and the friction caused a spark,
-  which flew into the bowl of gunpowder that stood near them; this
-  soon exploded, and ran like a train to all the other fireworks in
-  the factory, and at length communicated to the magazines, which
-  caused the disaster. Mr. Brock, however, declares that it could not
-  have arisen in that way, as the nipple of the funnel was copper,
-  therefore a friction would not cause a spark. One poor woman,
-  sister to the beadle, who lives next door to Mr. Brock, was so
-  dreadfully injured by the broken glass that she lies in the London
-  Hospital without hopes of recovery. Ten houses were seriously
-  damaged, and over sixty had their windows broken from top to
-  bottom.”
-
-It will be seen from the foregoing that Brock was in advance of his
-time as regards precautions against explosions, which, however, in this
-case proved to some extent ineffective.
-
-An accident took place in 1838 at the premises of Cockerill, in
-Paradise Row, Lower Road, Islington. Three persons were killed, and the
-proprietor was so severely hurt in an attempt to rescue his family that
-he died later.
-
-The following year an accident took place at 6 Edward Street, Bethnal
-Green, in which three persons were injured. The explosion was caused
-by a spark from the fire falling on a quantity of loose powder lying
-on the table, the flash from which was communicated to a barrel of
-powder near. The report continues: “The most miserable negligence was
-displayed by the persons engaged in the fabrication of the fireworks,
-as just previous to the accident one of the individuals was making a
-squib by the fire with a lighted pipe in his mouth.” The pyrotechnist’s
-name is not recorded.
-
-An explosion took place in 1841 at 6 Hatfield Place, Westminster Road,
-Lambeth, at the works of Drewett. Considerable damage was done, but
-fortunately no one was injured.
-
-In 1857 Darby’s factory at 98 Regent Street, Lambeth Walk, was
-destroyed. The upper part of the house was used as bedrooms, with the
-stock below; the whole of the premises and stock were destroyed, the
-occupants of the bedrooms, who were cut off, being rescued by the
-aid of ladders. On this occasion the gunpowder appears to have been
-stored in a magazine away from the house. The report adds that the
-same premises had suffered in a similar manner on one or two previous
-occasions, and subsequently, in November, 1873, a disastrous explosion
-at the same premises resulted in the loss of no fewer than eight lives.
-In 1858 a serious explosion took place at Madame Cotton’s factory in
-the Westminster Bridge Road.
-
-The above-mentioned accidents do not comprise anything like a complete
-list, but tend to show the lines on which the manufacture of fireworks
-was conducted during the period covered.
-
-The frequency of such occurrences and the danger entailed to third
-parties pointed to the necessity of action of some kind. The old Act
-might have been put into force, but by so doing the industry would be
-stamped out, an industry which found employment for a large number of
-workpeople, and besides giving amusement and entertainment to many,
-provided signal lights and rockets, the demand for which was steadily
-increasing.
-
-There were at this time a considerable number of firework makers in
-London, particularly in the east and south of the Thames. Much of
-the work was given out to the workpeople’s families to make up in
-their own homes. Workmen now living can remember, as children, seeing
-crackers, squibs, and other small goods being manufactured in bed and
-living-rooms of tenement houses in crowded districts, with open fires
-in the grates and several pounds of powder in a corner of the room.
-The materials were either given out at the factory and a piecework
-rate paid for making up, or the workers bought their own materials at
-the local shops, which in these districts kept what was required, and
-sold them to the factory on completion. It was then a common practice
-for a maker who had completed a “frame” of quickmatch to take it round
-to the local bakehouse to be dried and called for in the morning.
-
-[Illustration: THE EXPLOSION AT MADAME COTON’S FIREWORK FACTORY,
-  WESTMINSTER ROAD.
-
-From “The Illustrated London News,” 1858.]
-
-Considered from the point of view of modern practice, the wonder is
-that there were not more accidents than actually took place.
-
-The Gunpowder Act of 1860 was an attempt to place the manufacture and
-storage of explosives generally on a more satisfactory footing. It laid
-down regulations to be “observed with regard to the manufacture of
-loaded percussion caps, and the manufacture and keeping of ammunition,
-fireworks, fulminate of mercury, and any other preparation or
-composition of an explosive nature”; and makes it lawful for Justices
-of the Peace in Quarter Sessions to license places for the manufacture
-and storage of such articles, and to grant licenses to persons to sell
-fireworks.
-
-It also provided for the installation of lightning conductors in
-explosive magazines.
-
-This Act, although far from perfect, was a step in the right direction;
-it had the effect of bringing some makers out from the back streets of
-crowded districts, to construct properly arranged factories, or at any
-rate, factories planned with some regard to their use.
-
-Four years after the passing of the Act, public attention was sharply
-drawn to the matter by an explosion on an unprecedented scale at
-Erith, where several of the gunpowder manufacturers had magazines.
-Enormous damage was done, and many lives lost, over an area ten miles
-in radius. Lieutenant-Colonel Boxer, R.A., Superintendent of the Royal
-Laboratory, Woolwich, in his report on this explosion, draws attention
-to the need for a system of inspection of explosive establishments,
-with the result that he was himself authorised to make such inspection.
-
-Lieutenant-Colonel Boxer was succeeded in 1870 by Captain (afterwards
-Colonel) Sir V. D. Majendie, K.C.B., who recommended the appointment of
-permanent Explosives Inspectors.
-
-The late C. T. Brock, who commenced the long run of Crystal Palace
-displays in 1866, found his works insufficient for the large supply of
-material required for such displays, and commenced the construction of
-a factory on new lines at Nunhead. It was here in 1872 that the Royal
-Commission witnessed a series of experiments, the programme of which is
-here reproduced.
-
-It was upon the results of these experiments that the provisions of
-the Explosives Act of 1875, in so far as they relate to fireworks, are
-based.
-
-This Act is still in force, and is unlikely to be superseded for
-many years to come. There can have been few Acts which have, since
-their inception, proved so satisfactory to the industry controlled
-by them, either in the results achieved, or in the manner of their
-administration.
-
-The Explosives Acts of 1860 and 1875 took the then proscribed art
-of pyrotechny from back streets and crowded districts, rehoused it
-in properly designed and conducted factories in rural or suburban
-districts, making it as healthy and safe an occupation as almost any in
-the country.
-
-
-                EXPERIMENTS WITH FIREWORKS AT NUNHEAD,
- (_In a Field near Messrs. C. T. Brock & Co.’s Firework Manufactory_,)
-                     On Thursday, April 4th, 1872.
-
-                  THE OBJECTS OF THE EXPERIMENTS ARE—
-
-  1. To determine if the distance between Firework Sheds, as at
-  present laid down by law, viz. 20 yards, is amply sufficient to
-  prevent an explosion in one shed communicating to other sheds
-  situated at the statutory distance.
-
-  2. To determine the liability of Fireworks to ignite by concussion
-  or friction.
-
-  3. To determine the liability of Fireworks to explode en masse if
-  from any cause they should be accidentally ignited.
-
-  4. In the event of Fireworks exhibiting a liability to explode, to
-  determine the area of destructive effect of such explosion.
-
-  5. To determine, with reference to the conclusions which may
-  be arrived at as to points 3 and 4, the degree of danger which
-  attends the transport of Fireworks by rail, barge or other public
-  conveyance.
-
-  6. To determine at what distance from dwelling houses stores of
-  Fireworks may be safely established.
-
-
-                       PROGRAMME OF EXPERIMENTS.
-
-   1. Explode 30 lbs. of loose Firework Composition in a Shed, another
-      Shed being 10 yards distant. Screen between.
-
-   2. Explode 30 lbs. _of Composition in Fireworks_ in a Shed, another
-      Shed being 10 yards distant. Screen between.
-
-   3. Ignite a Box of ¼ cwt. of mixed Ordinary Fireworks in open air.
-
-   4.   Ditto          ditto                 ditto          in contact
-      with another Box of ditto.
-
-   5. Place a Box of ¼ cwt. of ditto in a bonfire.
-
-   6. No. 3 repeated, with mixed Fireworks bought over the Counter.
-
-   7. No. 4            ditto               ditto.
-
-   8. No. 5            ditto               ditto.
-
-   9. Hammer various sorts of Fireworks—Wood on Wood.
-
-  10.   Ditto          ditto            Wood on Iron.
-
-  11.   Ditto          ditto            Iron on Iron.
-
-  12. Run a Railway Truck over some of the different sorts.
-
-  13. Repeat such of above as may seem necessary with “Parlour
-      Fireworks.”
-
-                                 V. D. MAJENDIE, Captain R. A.,
-
-                         _H.M.’s Inspector of Gunpowder Works, &c._
-
-
-
-
-                             CHAPTER VIII
-
-                      MODERN FIREWORK MANUFACTURE
-
-
-Fireworks are now manufactured under the Explosives Act of 1875 and
-Orders in Council No. 2 and No. 4 under that Act.
-
-Order in Council No. 4 deals with small Firework Factories, the total
-contents of which, either finished or in course of construction, do not
-exceed 500 lbs. This class of factory presents little of interest for
-consideration; and is governed by practically the same rules as are
-the larger establishments of the kind, with such modifications as are
-justified by the small quantity of explosive material involved.
-
-Order in Council No. 2 sets out the general rules to be observed in
-factories licensed under the Act, the leading points of which are as
-follows:
-
-The absence of iron or steel in any workshop, carriage, or boat;
-cleanliness and absence of grit; care as to material liable to
-spontaneous ignition; provision of lightning conductors on magazines;
-tools and implements to be of soft metal; working clothes without
-pockets; shoes without nails; searching or means to prevent the
-introduction of matches or dangerous substances into the works;
-materials and finished work to be removed from working buildings and
-not allowed to accumulate when any particular process is completed;
-no person under sixteen years to be employed or enter any danger
-building. Every building to be provided with a set of these rules, and
-a statement of the quantities of explosives and ingredients, and the
-work to be carried on in it as allowed by the license.
-
-The modern factory is generally situated in a rural district on
-account of the fact that it is more easy to observe the statutary
-distances from protected works. Protected works referred to in the
-Act include other workshops and magazines in the factory, and also
-dwelling-houses, factories, institutions, railways, highways, and
-various undertakings and buildings, the distances to be observed
-varying with the nature of the protected work from public highways to
-palaces or houses of residence of the King, his heirs and successors.
-In some cases, as with private dwelling-houses, the distance to be
-observed is about half, if the consent of the occupier to the erection
-of the factory building or magazine is obtained.
-
-Firework factories, in fact all explosive factories, are constructed on
-the principle of limiting the scope and effect of any explosion that
-may take place to the smallest possible quantity of material and to the
-smallest possible risk to human life.
-
-The working buildings are constructed with a door at either end to
-facilitate escape in case of danger; the quantity of chemicals and of
-partially or wholly finished fireworks is strictly limited, as is the
-number of persons employed in the building. This number varies with the
-nature of the operation being carried out, from one in the case of the
-most hazardous to six in some cases.
-
-The working buildings are of light construction; the form most in use
-is a timber framing lined with matched boarding and covered externally
-with corrugated iron. No iron fittings are used, or iron nails left
-exposed in the interior. The floor is covered with linoleum, which is
-secured by copper tacks.
-
-The distance separating working buildings is, generally speaking,
-twenty-five yards, or if a suitable screen is placed between two such
-buildings, this distance may be reduced to twelve yards.
-
-The workpeople are provided with non-inflammable outer garments,
-no pockets are allowed, and suitable overshoes of sewn leather or
-indiarubber are provided.
-
-All tools are of soft metal, such as brass or copper, or of wood.
-
-The regulations refer, of course, only to those buildings in which
-explosive work is carried on, that is to say, buildings in the danger
-area as distinct from the non-danger area.
-
-The buildings in the danger area are working buildings, drying-rooms,
-expense and factory magazines. Expense magazines are those which are
-licensed for a comparatively small quantity of explosives, and from
-which explosive material is drawn as the work of the factory demands,
-or into which is put partially or wholly finished work either awaiting
-completion or transference to the main or factory magazines.
-
-The non-danger area includes stores for chemicals, paper, and other
-material, also case rolling and drying sheds, sawmill, wood-working and
-paper-cutting shops, offices, and similar buildings.
-
-The manufacture of fireworks begins with the making of the case or
-container, which, with the exception of shells and Jacks-in-the-box,
-are cylindrical in form.
-
-What are known as “small goods” are “dry-rolled,” that is, the outer
-edge of the paper only is pasted. They are then rolled up on a metal
-former on a slate slab.
-
-The larger cases, such as rockets, gerbs, and Roman candles, have
-the paper pasted all over, which is rolled up on the former and
-consolidated by repeated rolling between the slate slab and a board
-provided with a handle.
-
-There are two methods of introducing the composition into the
-cases—filling and charging.
-
-Filling is used where the composition does not have to be consolidated,
-and is done with a wire and funnel, or as it was formerly called, a
-“tun dish.” The funnel has its outlet of such a size as to fit the case
-to be filled, the wire or rod is somewhat smaller than this outlet, and
-is provided at the upper end with a knob for the hand. The end of the
-funnel, which is filled with composition, is inserted in the upright
-case. The wire is then drawn up, thus freeing a small quantity of the
-composition which runs down into the case, the lowering of the wire
-pushing it into position. In order to render the downward movement
-more effective, the wire is often notched, but it is doubtful if this
-actually increases the efficiency. This action is rapidly repeated
-until the case is filled.
-
-This method, although simple, is very effective, and in the hands of a
-practised worker is exceedingly quick.
-
-Charging is adopted where the contents have to be solidified in the
-case. The composition is introduced in small quantities with a scoop of
-suitable size and consolidated by repeated blows with a wooden mallet
-on a “drift.” The drift is a cylindrical wooden tool of a size to fit
-the case, and an enlargement at the upper end to receive the blow of
-the mallet.
-
-The methods of charging the various forms of fireworks will be dealt
-with later under their separate headings.
-
-The method of charging rockets in use in the sixteenth century are
-those of to-day, and it is remarkable that no satisfactory alternative
-to hand charging has yet been devised. Mechanical hammering and
-hydraulic pressure have both been tried, but so far with limited
-success.
-
-Stars which are used in Roman candles and as garniture for rockets and
-shells, are of many kinds and combinations, but with the exception
-of some which are in effect complete miniature fireworks, they are
-constructed on one of three methods—they are either “pumped,” “pinched”
-or “charged.”
-
-The pump used in the first of these operations consists of a short
-metal tube, which fits exactly a short metal plunger provided with a
-knob for the hand, and a small metal stud at the side. The tube has a
-slot cut partially down the side to receive this stud.
-
-[Illustration: Modern Firework Tools.
-
-      Gerb Tools
-    A1 Case.
-    A3 Drift.
-    A3 Nipple.
-    A4 Scoop.
-    B4 Mallet.
-
-      Rocket Tools
-    D1 Mould.
-    D2 Spindle.
-    D3 Mallet.
-    D4 Choking Tools.
-    D5 Choked Case.
-    D6 Scoop.
-    D7 Setting down Tool.
-    D8 Graduated Drifts.
-
-      Roman Candle Tools
-    B1 Bundle of Cases ready for filling.
-    B2 Drift.
-    B3 Topping Funnel and Drift.
-    B5 Powder Bowl and graduated Scoops.
-
-    C1 Shell Mould.
-    C2 Half Shell Case as taken from mould.
-    E Star Pump.
-    F Funnel and Wire.
-
-The method of using the pump is as follows:—The plunger is drawn up
-so that the stud rests on the top of the tube. The pump is pressed
-into a heap of prepared composition, which action has the effect of
-compressing the composition in the tube. The plunger is then turned
-so that the stud engages with the slot, and pushed down, forcing the
-star out of the tube. The composition is prepared for pumping by being
-damped with methylated spirit or some other suitable solvent, and after
-making, the stars are dried in specially constructed buildings.
-
-Pinched stars are made by pinching the damped composition into a short
-paper case, through which a short length of match is first passed.
-
-Charged stars have generally a clay or cardboard bottom to the case,
-and are usually matched. This form is generally used for Government
-signal rockets, as the composition being only at one end of the case,
-the time of burning is extended.
-
-The mixing of compositions requires great care and thoroughness. Care
-both on account of the necessity of exact adherence to the formula,
-and to preclude the presence of any foreign body or chemical which,
-apart from any effect it might have on the successful functioning of
-the fireworks for which it happens to be used, might render it most
-dangerous in manipulation.
-
-Generally working buildings are licensed for mixing compositions, but
-it is usual to set certain sheds apart for this purpose, especially if
-the chemicals used are of a dusty nature, that is, very finely divided,
-in which case the atmosphere becomes highly charged and dangerous.
-
-Chlorate of potash, from the introduction of which into pyrotechny
-modern effects and colours may be said to date, has at the same time
-been responsible for many accidents. As will be seen in the later
-chapters on firework compositions, for many years chlorate of potash
-and sulphur were used freely in the same mixtures, and many as were the
-accidents caused by so doing, yet it is incredible that they were not
-far more numerous.
-
-Most makers were well aware of the dangerous nature of this admixture,
-but persisted in using it, as the colours so obtained were at that time
-unapproached by other means; naturally no manufacturer wished to be
-alone in the discontinuance of some of the most striking effects at the
-time available, or to give competition the consequent advantage.
-
-In August, 1893, a man was fatally burned whilst simply emptying a
-small quantity of crimson stars from one tray to another; the slight
-friction so caused was sufficient to ignite the stars and thus fire
-the whole contents of the building. This unfortunate accident took
-place at the works of C. T. Brock and Co., then at South Norwood, and
-seems even more unfortunate when one learns that with the exception of
-this particular crimson, they had practically eliminated chlorate and
-sulphur colours.
-
-The following year, by Order in Council No. 15, the admixture of
-chlorate of potash and sulphur was made illegal.
-
-Previous to this accident, during the same year and in the same works,
-a serious accident involving the death of one workman and the injury of
-another, was caused by a barrel of chlorate of potash being delivered
-and marked nitrate of potash (saltpetre). Its use in a composition
-containing sulphide of arsenic (orpiment) produced a mixture
-approximately to that used in some fog signals and designed to fire by
-percussion. The natural effect was the serious explosion that followed.
-
-The late Sir Vivian D. Majendie, K.C.B., the then Chief Inspector of
-Explosives, records in his report that “Messrs. Brock are extremely
-careful to keep chlorate and non-chlorate mixing departments, and even
-ingredients in separate buildings and under separate control,” and
-while he considered that “some measure of blame is attributable to
-them in respect of the defects of their system which rendered possible
-the presence of a cask of chlorate of potash as “saltpetre” in the
-saltpetre shed,” he adds: “It is only fair and proper that I should say
-that our experience of the manner in which Messrs. Brock conduct their
-large business generally is extremely satisfactory. This factory is
-in many respects a model; they have always shown themselves ready to
-discuss with us and adopt any suggestion tending to increase the safety
-of the workpeople.”
-
-These indications, if such were needed apart from the official
-prohibition of the use of these two ingredients together, convinced
-Mr. Arthur Brock that even greater care was necessary in dealing
-with them. With this object in view, when the works were removed to
-Sutton, Surrey, the two factories at South Norwood and Harold Wood,
-Essex, being inadequate to deal with the business, the plan of the new
-factory was arranged so as entirely to separate that portion of the
-factory using chlorate of potash from the portion using sulphur. A road
-running up the factory from the entrance gate divides it into what are
-virtually two factories, known as the Colour and Bright Sides.
-
-These works, which are easily the largest of the kind in the world,
-cover an area of nearly 200 acres. They include about 60 magazines,
-expense magazines, and drying rooms, with a total storage capacity of
-1,300,000 lbs. of fireworks and 5 tons of gunpowder; 120 explosive
-working buildings (mostly double), besides numerous stores,
-non-explosive working buildings, saw-mills, and wood-working shops.
-The buildings are connected by over four miles of tram-lines. The
-average number of employees is 150 men and 200 women. During the late
-war this number was increased to over 2,000 on the manufacture of
-munitions.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER IX
-
-                          FIREWORK ACCIDENTS
-
-
-The record of firework accidents until the date of the Explosives Act,
-1875, is very meagre, not in subject matter, as reference to Chapter
-VI will show, for the history of the industry up to that time appears
-to have been one catalogue of accidents; the only cause for wonder
-when one considers the conditions then prevailing is that there were
-not more. But in detail, the only records are more or less sensational
-reports of the event, and such explanation of the cause as the reporter
-could pick up from some bystander.
-
-In some cases where the workers were not killed the explanation was
-found to be simple; as for instance, the accident at Mortram’s works
-in 1821. Here a boy who was making stars in a room with several other
-workers and other composition present, put some of his work to dry
-before the open fire, and as if this was not a sufficiently reckless
-proceeding, lit one on the hob, with the consequences that were to be
-expected.
-
-In most cases, however, the cause seems to have been obscure, and
-little or no trouble appears to have been taken to discover the cause
-with a view to prevention of a repetition.
-
-Since the Explosives Act careful record is kept of all accidents; the
-scene of the accident is inspected, and a report printed, setting out
-the cause, so far as can be ascertained.
-
-Until the introduction of chlorate of potash about 1830, if even
-reasonable care had been used the chances of spontaneous ignition were
-very small, and it is reasonable to suppose that such accidents as did
-take place were in the majority due to such incidents as the above.
-
-After that date, however, it is not too much to say that quite as large
-a proportion of accidents were due to the admixture of chlorate of
-potash and sulphur.
-
-We are, of course, now speaking of accidents during manufacture,
-although to the same cause may be attributed many of the numerous cases
-of bursting mortars during displays which were so frequent until the
-prohibition of this mixture in 1894 by Order in Council 15.
-
-Dr. Browne, of Hull, a consulting chemist, published in 1884 a book
-entitled, “Firework Accidents, their cause and prevention,” in which he
-divides accidents into three classes: mechanical, chemical (spontaneous
-combustion), and mechano-chemical.
-
-Such a classification seems to the writer misleading, as all accidents
-must of necessity be chemical; that is to say, for combustion chemical
-action must take place; and with the exception of cases where ignition
-has taken place quite spontaneously, that is where the composition
-has ignited when lying perfectly undisturbed, all must be considered
-mechanical.
-
-Almost any composition used in pyrotechny, however stable, can
-be ignited by a violent blow between two hard surfaces, but some
-compositions are so unstable as to be ignited by very slight friction.
-
-It is therefore a question of degree, or whether the mechanical factor
-is most to blame or the chemical. A better classification would be:
-
-   I. Ignition caused by violence, friction or heat.
-
-  II. Accidents caused by the state, condition or quality of
-      the composition or ingredients.
-
-If the accident be included in the class which gives the fundamental
-cause of the accident, it will be found that the greatest number fall
-in Class II, even though they may at first glance appear to belong to
-the first class.
-
-Class I includes accidents caused by the accidental presence of fire
-and accidents caused by necessarily more or less violent action in
-manufacture, that is to say, in charging.
-
-Ignition during charging may be caused in two ways, either by a blow
-on composition between the charging tool or drift and the spindle or
-other hard surface, or by heat generated by repeated blows on the
-consolidated composition.
-
-In this class also should be put accidents, of which there are many,
-caused by playing or scuffing by the workpeople, the absence of safety
-overshoes, the presence of grit or iron or steel implements, in fact
-those caused by misconduct or negligence on the part of the workers,
-also the rare occasions where lightning has been the cause.
-
-Accidents caused by slight friction have to a great extent ceased to
-exist owing to the elimination of chlorate and sulphur compositions.
-Where accidents arise owing to instability of the composition, they
-most frequently at the present time fall within Class II, as the
-instability of the composition is generally due to the presence of some
-impurity in one or more of the ingredients.
-
-Another source of accident of this class is the use of violence in
-emergency with a composition which, although not sufficiently stable
-for heavy charging, is quite safe for careful manipulation; as for
-instance, where force is exerted to clear a funnel which has become
-blocked with composition, or some similar action.
-
-As regards the part played by heat in accidents of this class, a
-study of the records clearly indicates how great is the influence of
-weather. By far the greatest number of accidents take place in the
-summer months; hot weather and a heavy atmosphere are the most likely
-conditions to produce trouble for the pyrotechnist, although whether
-the primary cause is heat or owing to an electrical condition of the
-atmosphere it is difficult to say, probably it is the two conditions in
-conjunction. Sulphur and shellac, two very important ingredients in the
-art, are both capable of holding an electric charge, and it seems not
-unlikely that they may be so charged in an electric atmosphere during
-the process of mixing.
-
-Accidents in Class II are generally less easily explained than those
-in the former class and have occurred in many forms. As has been said,
-during the period (about sixty-five years) from the introduction of
-chlorate of potash to the Order in Council forbidding its use with
-sulphur, numerous accidents occurred; spontaneous ignition, both whilst
-drying during manufacture and even during mixing, ignition from very
-slight friction, and for a time a frequent occurrence the detonation
-of the contents of shell by the lifting charge. During the period
-of seventeen years between the date of the Explosives Act and the
-prohibition of chlorate sulphur mixture, twenty-eight accidents are
-recorded, resulting in eleven deaths attributable to the use of such
-mixtures.
-
-The instability of chlorate sulphur compositions, however, does not
-appear to be so much due to the presence of these two chemicals
-themselves, but rather to the presence of impurity in conjunction with
-them.
-
-Commercial sulphur often contains free sulphurous acid, which acting
-upon the chlorate produces chlorine tetroxide, which rapidly decomposes
-and ignites the mass of the composition.
-
-Other acids which produce decomposition of the chlorate are equally
-likely to produce ignition. Of such cases, examples may be mentioned
-of acid being present in the paste used for case and box-making, also
-in gumwater which has been kept some time before using, and in starch
-paste similarly treated. Spontaneous ignition has also been caused by
-the contact of oil with finely divided carbon such as lampblack or
-finely divided metals, such as magnesium and aluminium, which are so
-largely used at the present time.
-
-Another case of this nature is the heating up of cases after charging
-with gerb composition, two of the ingredients of which are sulphur
-and iron borings, this heating sometimes being sufficient to cause
-combustion. The cause of this phenomenon is the combination of the iron
-with sulphur to form sulphide of iron, this action being accompanied by
-heat. In fact, it is the same as that producing the experiment known
-as Lemery’s volcano. As far as the knowledge of the writer extends,
-however, no occurrence of ignition has been definitely traced to this
-phenomenon, although it seems highly probable that even if ignition of
-the actual composition has not taken place, cases have occurred where
-more sensitive compositions have been fired by heat so generated where
-fireworks have been stored together.
-
-The annual reports of H.M. Inspectors of Explosives published since
-1876 form an interesting and instructive summary of accidents in
-explosive trades, an examination of which throws considerable light on
-our subject.
-
-One is struck by the frequency with which explosions occur as a result
-of ignorance, generally on the part of amateur firework makers. In many
-cases, as where children are concerned, this ignorance is natural, but
-the want of knowledge and even reasonable care displayed by individuals
-whose occupation suggests at least some knowledge of the risk is indeed
-often extraordinary.
-
-Such a case occurred in 1884 in Devonshire, when a local chemist who
-was illegally manufacturing coloured fire, instructed an assistant to
-grind in an iron mortar a mixture containing chlorate of potash and
-sulphur. The lad was killed in the resulting explosion.
-
-Even more remarkable was an explosion which took place in a railway
-carriage in 1893. This was due to the spontaneous ignition of a
-quantity of chlorate and sulphur coloured fire, which was being carried
-in an ordinary handbag by a gentleman whose occupation in life was that
-of professor of chemistry.
-
-An accident presenting considerable interest took place in 1885 at
-Mitcham. The cause of this occurrence was quite simple. A man was
-fixing the curved stick which forms the pivot upon which a tourbillion
-rotates to one of those fireworks. The wire nail used for the purpose
-penetrated the composition and fired it. The remaining goods in the
-shed were ignited, and communicated to the neighbouring buildings, one
-of which was a magazine containing 3,000 lbs. of partially manufactured
-fireworks, including a number of rockets. These being without sticks
-and becoming ignited flew in all directions, setting fire to other
-buildings. The result was that ten buildings and an air drying rack
-were totally destroyed, and three buildings and three racks partially
-so.
-
-This would seem a very serious matter as far as monetary damage is
-concerned, but as regards the chief consideration in accidents of this
-kind, that is to say damage to human life and limb, the result was
-almost negligible; two persons were slightly injured.
-
-This accident, which was the most extensive in any firework factory
-since the Explosives Act came into operation, afforded striking proof
-of the efficiency of the precautions instituted under that Act.
-
-It is indeed extraordinary that in an explosive factory of considerable
-size, employing many workpeople, during working hours it should be
-possible to destroy more or less completely seventeen buildings and
-only slightly injure two persons.
-
-It may be contended that the number of buildings damaged was very high,
-but it must be remembered that rockets without sticks take a most
-erratic course in their flight, rendering the effective screening of
-other buildings most difficult, if not impossible.
-
-However, there is evidence that many rockets were stopped by the
-screens, and that without their interposition the number of buildings
-destroyed might have been many times greater.
-
-The other Explosives Act requirements of which the efficiency was
-demonstrated by this accident, are the dividing of sheds into
-compartments with a limited number of workpeople in each, easy means of
-escape from working buildings, and the value of uninflammable clothing.
-
-It was also shown that a large quantity of fireworks might be burnt
-in mass without causing a veritable explosion; as in the case of the
-magazine containing 3,000 lbs.
-
-Contrasting with this occurrence are the reports of accidents in
-firework factories both on the Continent and in America.
-
-The same year, at Civita Vecchia, ten persons were killed and twice
-that number injured in one accident at a firework factory.
-
-Four years later, in Paris, seven girls were killed out of the eighteen
-employed in one compartment. The material being used was red phosphorus
-and chlorate. In 1882 fourteen persons were killed and no fewer than
-seventy injured at Chester, Pennsylvania.
-
-From 1891 to 1894 eight accidents in the United States are reported,
-resulting in a total of twenty-three deaths and injury to more than
-fifty persons. In 1894, at New Haven, Con., damage to the extent of
-125,000 dollars was done, and at Dallas a considerable part of the city
-was destroyed.
-
-These are, of course, not a complete list, but only such cases as are
-brought to the notice of the English Home Office, but the extent of
-these clearly illustrates the value of the restrictions in force in
-this country.
-
-During the same years the total of firework factory accidents in this
-country was thirteen, in which three persons lost their lives, and in
-no case was more than one person killed in any one accident. Indeed, in
-one instance only since 1875 has the number of deaths resulting from
-any accident exceeded two—on that occasion four deaths resulted.
-
-An interesting type of accident, examples of which have taken place on
-several occasions, is that in which two compositions, one containing
-sulphur and the other chlorate of potash, are placed in contact in the
-paper case of a firework, and produce spontaneous combustion.
-
-In one case a lance containing white and green composition burst into
-flame on the work bench. This provided an explanation to an explosion
-at the same factory which had taken place ten days before in a magazine
-containing between 6,000 and 7,000 lbs. of display fireworks.
-
-An occurrence of a similar nature was observed at Brighton in 1903,
-when some changing coloured lights which had been removed from a
-building where a fire had taken place (the fireworks not being involved
-in any way) ignited some days afterwards.
-
-It is thought that the lights may have been wetted during the fire,
-and upon drying out some days later the different compositions in
-contact in the case or cases set up chemical action, which resulted
-in spontaneous ignition. It was found on examination that a blue
-containing sulphur was in contact with a green containing chlorate. It
-may be noted here that mixtures which are damped during manufacture are
-more liable to spontaneous ignition than those manipulated in a dry
-state.
-
-Many accidents and explosions are left unexplained, either because the
-evidence is destroyed by the resulting fire or by the death of the
-witness or witnesses, or because of the difficulty often experienced
-in getting the workpeople to give a full and faithful account of what
-occurred, fearing to cause trouble for themselves or others concerned.
-
-There can be no doubt that the cause is frequently carelessness or
-mistakes on the part of workers. In a large number of cases, however,
-this explanation gives no help and the cause remains obscure. One such
-may be mentioned:
-
-In 1902 an explosion occurred in a store for non-explosive ingredients,
-in which were kept the chemicals used in a firework factory. In the
-building at the time was a workman who appears to have been engaged in
-sifting chlorate of potash, and the technical manager of the factory
-who seems to have been weighing out ingredients. There is no doubt that
-he was a man of very considerable experience, and from his responsible
-position unlikely either to take risks or be guilty of carelessness.
-
-An explosion occurred in the building, killing both occupants, and of
-so violent a nature as to sever the foot of the manager and to project
-one of the sheets of corrugated iron with which the roof was covered a
-distance of thirty yards.
-
-No explanation of this occurrence was arrived at other than that
-in some way some of the chemicals must have become mixed to form a
-sensitive and violent explosive; so much is obvious, but how the
-chemicals became so mixed remains a mystery, as no mixing was actually
-done in the building. The ignition of such a mixture is less obscure
-as magazine boots were not necessary in the building owing to the
-non-hazardous nature of the work carried on there, and sufficient
-friction would be produced to fire even a fairly sensitive mixture
-between a nailed boot sole and a wood floor.
-
-An occurrence of considerable interest in this direction took place in
-a warehouse at Manchester in 1908. In the building were stored several
-tons of chemicals, among which were twelve tons of chlorate of potash
-and thirty-two of chlorate of soda.
-
-A workman stepping down from a barrel struck fire, and saw a flame,
-which he tried to extinguish by rubbing with his foot. This, however,
-had the opposite effect. He then tried a bucket of water, which failed
-to put it out; he left the building and heard an explosion, followed
-by a second and a third, all apparently of a violent nature, all three
-being heard nearly ten miles away, and glass broken throughout a
-considerable area round the warehouse.
-
-The cause appears to have been as follows: During the conveyance of the
-chlorate into the building leakings took place, and a certain quantity
-remained on the floor, this mixing with dust and other organic matter
-would prove a highly sensitive composition. This was ignited by the
-man’s foot and rapidly spread, probably a deposit which had accumulated
-under the floor became involved. The woodwork of the building and the
-wooden barrels then became ignited. The rapid decomposition of the
-chlorate caused by the heat liberated large quantities of free oxygen,
-which united with carbon in the smoke to form gas, which exploded upon
-reaching the correct proportion for so doing.
-
-The writer has chiefly confined himself to accidents in firework
-factories; those occurring during the illegal manufacture of fireworks
-in premises unlicensed for the purpose present no further interest, and
-are generally caused by ignorance on the part of the participant of the
-often extremely dangerous nature of the material he is handling. To
-take an example:
-
-Two boys were engaged in grinding in a mortar a “small quantity” of
-chlorate of potash and sugar. An explosion resulted which blew out
-the entire window frames of the room, destroyed the partition between
-the room and the passage, considerably damaged the other wall, and
-projected the pestle into the ceiling, where it remained embedded.
-
-Accidents at displays are now happily rare; the most fruitful cause of
-such happenings was the detonation of shell in the mortar, that is,
-the detonation of the contents or “garniture” by the explosion of the
-propellant charge.
-
-The elimination of chlorate-sulphur composition has reduced the chances
-of this to a minimum, and the compulsory burying of mortars up to
-the muzzle has practically eliminated the danger to either firers or
-spectators.
-
-Apart from slight injuries caused by falling rocket sticks and mishaps
-of a similar nature, accidents to the public at firework displays are
-things of the past.
-
-
-
-
-                                PART II
-
-[Illustration: Types of Modern Fireworks.]
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER I
-
-                     SIMPLE FIREWORKS—ROCKET CLASS
-
-
-In the preceding chapters we have been dealing with displays of
-fireworks, that is to say; fireworks in the mass. We will now turn our
-attention to the firework units composing those displays, and endeavour
-to trace their gradual evolution from the crude originals.
-
-Fireworks may be divided into two classes, simple and compound.
-The first of these include fireworks which are a complete item in
-themselves, as the rocket, shell, or Roman candle; also the units
-which, fitted on a framework, go to compose the set pieces and devices
-of a display, and the small shop goods not used in displays. We will
-consider this class first.
-
-The two oldest forms of fireworks known are undoubtedly the cracker
-and the rocket. As we have already noted, both of these—or at least
-primitive forms—are mentioned by Marcus Graecus, Albertus, and Roger
-Bacon. The description by the former is sufficiently clear to leave
-no doubt in our minds that he is describing a rocket; although the
-description of a cracker is not so explicit as to enable us to say
-that he is actually describing a jumping cracker, yet his mention of
-folding and tying would certainly give colour to that belief. In fact,
-some writers have endeavoured to find a connection between the words
-“Graecus” and “Cracker.”
-
-Greene, in “Orlando Furioso” (1599), uses the words, “Yes, yes,
-with squibs and crackers brauly.” John Bate, in his book previously
-mentioned, under the somewhat misleading heading, “How to make
-Crackers,” says: “It is well knowne that every boy can make these,
-therefore I think it will be but labor lost, to bestow time to
-describe their making.”
-
-He also describes a kind of kite which he designates a “Fire Drake,”
-to the tail of which he fastens “divers crackers” which are shown in
-the illustration to be exactly like the jumping crackers of the present
-day. Babington illustrates a cracker fixed to the top of a rocket.
-
-Pepys makes the following entry in his diary for November 5th, 1661:
-“Seeing the boys in the streets flying their crackers.”
-
-The only practical difference between the cracker of 1635 and that
-of to-day is in the difference of methods of manufacture, the early
-practice being to fold the gunpowder in the paper, the modern, to
-roll a paper case and fill the powder in through a funnel, afterwards
-flattening it through a roller mill.
-
-[Illustration: Cracker Making]
-
-Curiously enough, although the cracker has been in use for centuries in
-England, there appears to be no early reference to it on the Continent,
-the word “petard” meaning a cracker in French, but more often being
-applied to a firework with a single report, such as a maroon or cannon.
-The _Dictionnaire National_ of 1852, however, describes the true
-cracker as one of the meanings of “petard.”
-
-The rocket is equal to the cracker in its claim to antiquity, and it is
-extraordinary that these two fireworks should have changed so little in
-form and composition.
-
-John Babington gives illustrations of rocket-charging tools and
-describes the manufacture of rockets, which are approximately those of
-the present day. It is only in the proportion of the ingredients that
-there is any considerable alteration.
-
-The word “rocket” appears to be Italian in origin, and to be based on
-the similarity in appearance of a rocket on its stick to the round
-piece of wood used in the Middle Ages to cover the point of a lance in
-mimic combat, and known as a “rockette,” from “rocca,” the Italian
-word for a bobbin, a diminutive of distaff.
-
-As a rocket is the most important unit in the art of pyrotechny, a
-description of its manufacture will assist in the consideration of a
-large number of other fireworks which are either modifications of or
-based upon the underlying principles of the rocket, as well as the
-several principles governing all fireworks.
-
-The ingredients of rocket composition are those of gunpowder in
-approximately similar proportions, but the resultant composition is not
-gunpowder, the reason being that the ingredients are less intimately
-mixed, with the result that the combustion is spread over a longer
-interval of time. Instead of the whole mass deflagrating instantly,
-only the exposed surface is consumed. It is the recoil produced by
-the rush of gases, and partially consumed matter, from the violently
-burning composition which projects the rocket forward. The obvious form
-for the case containing the composition is cylindrical, both on account
-of ease of construction and of charging. In order to get the greatest
-possible reaction from the burning composition, the case of the rocket
-is constricted or choked, so that the fire may issue as it were in the
-form of a jet. This choke has one obvious disadvantage, it reduces the
-surface of composition to the area of the opening, thus restricting
-the initial burning surface at the time when the maximum of effort is
-required to force the rocket into motion. This defect is overcome by
-having a tapering hole up almost the entire length of the composition,
-thus giving a large burning surface with a consequent discharge of gas
-through a small orifice and a resultant powerful jet of fire and gas.
-
-The rocket case is of stout paper rolled on a former consolidated by
-rolling under a board. The choke is formed by inserting into the bore
-of the rocket two wooden tools with rounded ends, the shorter tool
-having a peg projecting which is equal in diameter to the bore of the
-choke. The tools are of such length that when they are inserted the peg
-takes up the position where the choke is to be formed. The case is then
-constricted at this point by a strong pressure with a stout cord wound
-round the case and soaped to allow it to slip round easily.
-
-The case is then dried and charged by placing on a “spindle,” which
-is a strong gun-metal base with a nipple fitting into the vent of
-the rocket and having a tapering spindle which fits tightly in the
-choke and projects up into the bore of the rocket. The composition
-is poured in in small quantities measured in a scoop, each scoopful
-being consolidated by blows with a wooden mallet or a wooden “drift”
-hollowed to take the spindle. Before the first scoop of composition is
-introduced, the rocket is “set down,” that is, several blows are given
-on the drift to consolidate the paper at the choke and give it accurate
-shape. Next, a scoop of ground dry clay is poured in and charged
-firm as a protection to the paper of the choke. The charging is then
-proceeded with as detailed above. Varying drifts are used in order that
-the hole may approximately correspond with the diameter of the tapering
-spindle as the composition rises in the case.
-
-A short portion of the case above the spindle is charged solid; this is
-referred to as the “heading,” and is usually about one and a half times
-the bore in depth.
-
-Large rockets are charged in a mould which fits tightly round the
-outside of the case and prevents the case being split under the
-pressure of the blows whilst being charged.
-
-[Illustration: Rocket Manufacture, from Frézier’s “Feu d’Artifice,”
-  1747.]
-
-In early times these moulds were used for all sizes and were of cast
-metal, and it is from them that the classification of the sizes is
-derived. Rockets are designated by the weight of a ball of lead which
-fits the bore of the corresponding mould. Thus we have rockets
-varying in size from ½ oz. to 6 lbs. and over, war rockets being made
-up to 9 and 24 lbs., but their use is now almost extinct.
-
-This classification, although it serves its purpose well enough, is
-somewhat misleading, as the thickness of the case varies in practice,
-at any rate under modern conditions. In the seventeenth and eighteenth
-centuries pyrotechnists seem to have had a standard proportion between
-the case and bore, _i.e._, the thickness of the case was one-quarter
-the internal diameter of the rocket.
-
-In modern commercial practice a rocket—say for example of 1 lb.—is a
-rocket rolled on a former whose diameter is that of the bore of a 1 lb.
-rocket of standard thickness, but whose outside diameter is governed by
-the strength of the paper employed in the case.
-
-Several writers on pyrotechny, one Frézier writing in 1747 in
-particular, have endeavoured to supersede this classification
-of rockets by replacing it with a series of internal diameter
-measurements, so far without success. It is hard to supersede the
-traditions of centuries on a plea of mere rationalism.
-
-Rocket compositions, although containing the same ingredients, namely,
-saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, have them in differing proportions.
-Broadly speaking, the larger the rocket the greater the proportion of
-charcoal and sulphur, the variations in proportion being considerable,
-from the half-ounce rocket mixing of 13 saltpetre, 2 sulphur, and 5
-charcoal to the 9 lb. and 24 lb. war rocket, with 13 saltpetre, 3
-sulphur, and 4 charcoal approximately, and even higher proportions
-of the second and third ingredients for special purposes. A larger
-proportion of charcoal gives a larger tail—a desirable feature in
-display and signal rockets. Some compositions have a proportion of
-mealed gunpowder to produce fiercer burning.
-
-Early makers appear to have used mealed gunpowder and added charcoal
-and other ingredients to, as it were, dilute the powder and render
-the deflagration less fierce. Babington (1635) adds charcoal in the
-following proportion:
-
-   1 oz.—4 oz. rockets, 1 lb. of mealed powder to 2  oz. charcoal
-   4 oz.—10 oz.  „      1 lb.      „       „      2½ oz.    „
-  10 oz.—1 lb.   „      1 lb.      „       „      3  oz.    „
-
-John Bate’s compositions are rather erratically arranged; in some cases
-he adds the saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur, and a further addition is
-“yron scales,” presumably to increase the effect of the tail, for which
-purpose later pyrotechnists used iron filings.
-
-The rocket having been charged to the top of the heading, clay is
-charged in, forming a diaphragm above it. Earlier practice was to turn
-down the top edge of the case on the heading composition to form a
-diaphragm.
-
-The best-known form of rocket is the sky rocket, which is fitted with
-a stick held in position by having a dowelled end introduced into a
-rolled paper or metal tube secured to the side of the rocket. The
-object of the stick is to direct the flight of the rocket, and further
-serves to hold it in position for firing, being passed through two
-rings at a suitable distance one above the other on a stake, through
-which it slides easily.
-
-Sky rockets are fitted with a “cap” containing the “garniture” of
-the rocket, which may take the form of “stars” or other pyrotechnic
-effects, or a gun-cotton wad, or similar explosive to make a sound
-signal, or small cases charged with picrate of potash, producing the
-well-known “whistling rocket” effect.
-
-The “cap” is either cylindrical or in the form of a truncated cone,
-with a conical or other top. The cap is burst open and the contents
-ignited by an opening charge of powder lighted through a hole bored in
-the clay diaphragm above the heading, so that when the heading is burnt
-through the fire may be communicated to the opening charge.
-
-From earliest times the rocket has been the chief item in recreative
-fireworks; either the sky rocket as we know it to-day or its many
-modifications and derivatives was the chief constituent of the early
-displays.
-
-During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a display would contain
-the following items—dragons or similar figures issuing from the scenic
-castle provided for the display; these would be moved by line rockets.
-A line rocket has no cap or garniture, the socket usually provided to
-hold the stick being lengthened, and of sufficient diameter to allow it
-to slide along a tightly stretched cord passed through it. Pieces of
-a similar nature to the modern fountain and gerb would be represented
-by “ground rockets.” This is a rocket less fiercely burning, charged
-solid, fixed to a support so that it remains stationary whilst burning,
-the fire being thrown out in a jet. Rockets would also be used to turn
-such primitive wheels as were exhibited, and to actuate mechanical
-scenic devices, which are in effect the “turning cases” of the present
-day. Serpents of fiz-gigs were much used, both as a garniture for
-rockets, and to give animation to wheels and similar pieces. These were
-made on the rocket principle, similar to the squib, but slightly more
-elaborate. A choke was formed between the composition and the “bounce”
-or powder giving the report.
-
-To-day the ground rocket has developed into the gerb or Chinese tree,
-fountains of various kinds, the flower pot—of the larger kinds; and
-among the smaller varieties, the squib with its variations, such as
-Black Jack and Blue Devil, and the golden rain with its variations.
-
-The modern, or rather more recent, method of heading the rocket with
-a clay diaphragm evidently suggested that the choking of the case
-might be dispensed with where the composition was less fierce, the
-necessary reduction of the orifice being produced by a clay diaphragm
-with a central hole of sufficient size. This method is followed with
-the gerb, fountains, and flower pot, and in the firework known to
-pyrotechnists as “fixt”; this unit is largely used in display work to
-form the fringe frame or lattice effect of a set piece. “Fixt” are made
-in 1 oz. and 2 oz. sizes, and contain a composition of approximately
-one part of steel filings to four of mealed gunpowder and finish with a
-bounce. The origin of the name is uncertain: it may refer to their use
-on fixed pieces in contradistinction to one revolving, or—as is most
-probable—was first used to distinguish between a fixed and a moving
-rocket.
-
-The time of the introduction of the clay choke is uncertain. Jones,
-writing in 1765, although using clay in the heading of rockets, still
-choked all cases, but Mortimer (1824) uses it, although Ruggieri
-(1821), whilst doing the same, appears to think choking preferable.
-
-The former gives instructions for charging the clay solid and boring
-the central hole; Ruggieri, however, uses a nipple like a much
-shortened rocket spindle, in which he agrees with the modern practice.
-This method is also utilised at the present time for small-sized
-rockets.
-
-Of the fireworks of the fountain class, probably the first to develop
-from the crude rocket form were the gerb and flower pot. The gerb, or
-Chinese tree, contains a composition of saltpetre, sulphur, charcoal
-and iron borings, with the addition—if more force is required, as
-for instance to turn a device—of mealed gunpowder. Early makers used
-mealed powder alone and “iron sand,” or cast-iron reduced to powder
-by hammering. This composition is known as Chinese fire, and, as its
-name implies, was introduced into Europe from the East. An interesting
-article appeared in the “Universal Magazine” of 1764, written by
-a Jesuit missionary on the subject of Chinese fireworks. In it he
-describes the making of iron sand as follows:
-
-  “Old broken or useless pots serve generally for making this sand;
-  they are broken into pieces of the breadth of the hand, after
-  which, being made red-hot in the fire of a forge, they are thrown
-  in that condition into a trough filled with fresh water, where they
-  are left to cool. Thus calcined, the rust falls off in scales, and
-  they are easily reduced into sand, being first broken into parcels
-  of a finger’s breadth. The anvil and hammer used for this purpose
-  must be also of cast-iron, because steel flats the grains of sand.
-  It is necessary that the angles of those grains should be sharp, as
-  it is the angles that form the flowers.”
-
-The word “gerb” is derived from the French word meaning a sheaf of
-corn, and was first applied to water fountains.
-
-The flower pot is charged with a composition formerly known as
-“spur-fire,” from the resemblance in form of its coruscations to the
-rowel of a spur. The effect produced is one of the most effective
-when successful, but has the disadvantage for display work that the
-effect is only appreciated at close quarters. The ingredients used are
-lampblack, sulphur, red arsenic, saltpetre, with sometimes the addition
-of charcoal and mealed gunpowder.
-
-Of the smaller works of this division the squib and golden rain are
-too well known to need description. The squib and its variations have
-a choked case; the golden rain and similar works are left with an open
-bore.
-
-Squibs are generally filled with a composition of sulphur, saltpetre
-and charcoal, sometimes steel filings, with a bounce of fine-grain
-powder.
-
-A curious firework, now almost obsolete, for which it is difficult to
-find a class, is the five-pointed star. This work consisted of a case
-having a diaphragm of plaster of paris or clay above the filling, below
-which five holes are bored equidistant and at right angles to the axis.
-The case is fired in the unusual position of horizontal with the end
-towards the spectator, the fire playing all round the case, forming a
-star. The composition used was mealed powder, sulphur, saltpetre, and
-sulphuret of antimony. Ruggieri mentions this firework under the name
-“Etoile fixé,” and it is mentioned by Jones, writing in 1765, but not
-by Frézier.
-
-It is hard to believe that this unit was successful, so many factors
-militating against success, which depends upon the exactly similar
-jet from each of the five holes. But it is possible that in large
-geometrical pieces it was at least of use to give an additional effect
-in what, owing to the lack of variety of the fireworks of the time,
-must have been rather a monotonous repetition of a few effects. It
-also would enable small blank spaces to be filled in on set pieces. In
-a sun or star of the ordinary type, that is of radiating cases, the
-commencement of the jets must be as far apart as the length of two of
-the cases, which length is governed by the required time of burning.
-This leaves a blank centre; the five-pointed star, however, if working
-correctly, has the jets radiating from a point.
-
-Many of the earlier writers classified fireworks under the
-heads:—Fireworks for the ground, for the air, and for the water. Those
-falling in the latter division are only variations of those for the
-ground, that is to say, a gerb, fountain or other firework is fitted
-with a float, such as a block of wood, and functions floating on
-the surface of the water, the effect being greatly enhanced by the
-reflection.
-
-[Illustration: From “The Universal Magazine,” 1764.]
-
-It is not proposed to deal separately in this work with aquatic
-fireworks unless they have some essential difference from their
-parallel type for land display.
-
-One unit, of the rocket class, which is so distinct is the “skimmer.”
-This is in effect a stickless rocket with the cap (which is empty)
-fastened at an angle to the line of the main case. When fired the
-skimmer, as its name implies, skims over the surface of the water, with
-occasional dives under the surface in an erratic course. It requires
-for its safe display a considerable area of water. These are known by
-French pyrotechnists as “genouillères,” from their shape.
-
-Ruggieri and Frézier describe what they call “plongeons.” These are
-gerbs charged in the ordinary way, except that before each scoop of
-composition a small quantity of mealed powder is added. This produces
-a jerky burning, the recoil of each puff of powder driving the gerb
-beneath the surface of the water; the jet of fire, of course, is
-sufficient to prevent water entering the case while so submerged.
-These, and other earlier writers, in their section devoted to aquatic
-fireworks, give directions for firing ordinary land fireworks on the
-water, which would almost appear to have been included with the idea
-of filling space. One item which is generally included consists of
-directions for firing rockets under water. Jones, under this heading,
-gives the following directions:
-
-                   “TO FIRE SKY ROCKETS UNDER WATER.
-
-  “You must have stands made as usual, only the rails must be placed
-  flat, instead of edgeways, and have holes in them for the rocket
-  sticks to go through; for if they were hung upon hooks, the motion
-  of the water would throw them off: the stands being made, if the
-  pond is deep enough, sink them at the sides so deep that when the
-  rockets are in their heads may just appear above the surface of the
-  water; to the mouth of each rocket fix a leader which put through
-  the hole with the stick; then a little above the water must be a
-  board, supported by the stand, and placed along one side of the
-  rockets; then the ends of the leaders are turned up through holes
-  made in this board, exactly opposite the rockets. By this means
-  you may fire them singly, or all at once. Rockets may be fired
-  by this method, in the middle of a pond, by a Neptune, a swan, a
-  water-wheel, or anything else you chuse.”
-
-It will be seen that the rockets themselves are above the surface,
-which seems more reasonable than the instructions of some writers,
-who, to get the effect of a rocket rising from actually beneath the
-surface, give themselves an infinite amount of trouble to render the
-case and connections waterproof. The effect seen from a short distance
-is identical.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER II
-
-                     SIMPLE FIREWORKS—SHELL CLASS
-
-
-We now come to a distinct class of fireworks, those whose functioning
-depends on the propulsion of gunpowder. The first and parent of this
-class is the shell or bomb.
-
-The original name of the shell was “air balloon,” which is now
-obsolete. Some writers have been misled by its appearance in old
-amusement announcements into thinking a balloon ascent was referred
-to, or that a balloon carrying fireworks was to be exhibited, at dates
-considerably before the invention of gas or hot-air balloons.
-
-In this connection it is interesting to note that Ruggieri claims that
-his father was the first to release a balloon carrying fireworks in
-1786.
-
-As we have seen, the military use of shell dates from at least as early
-as the middle of the sixteenth century.
-
-Both Babington and Bate, writing in 1635, give instructions for
-making shell, and although the book of the former is more advanced in
-this particular matter, he is, generally speaking, considerably more
-primitive.
-
-Babington describes a hollow sphere of canvas, a part of which is
-filled with a slow-burning composition, the remainder being filled
-with stars and grain powder, the canvas is pierced to expose the slow
-composition. The shell is fired from a mortar having a touch-hole. The
-following are Babington’s instructions in the matter:
-
-  “Load your morter piece with one ounce of corne powder, putting
-  after a wadd and tampion, and put on your ball with the vent
-  towards the mouth of your piece: so elevating your piece to the
-  zenith, you may proceed to the firing of it, which must be after
-  this manner: provide two matches ready lighted, having one in each
-  hand, and first fire your ball with one hand and presently give
-  fire to your piece with the other, alwaies holding your head under
-  the horizontall line of your piece, for fear the blast annoy you:
-  this having done you shall see your ball mount very high with a
-  fair taile of fire, and when at its highest, shall break forth into
-  a goodly showre of starres.”
-
-This somewhat unconvincing account gives one to wonder if the worthy
-gunner had indeed fired a shell such as he describes, and if so,
-whether he was not more than “annoyed” at the result. He gives the
-lifting charge as exactly one ounce, but gives no indication of the
-size of the shell or mortar. It seems probable that he had never seen a
-shell of this nature, and was giving his idea of it without practical
-experience; this is the more curious as, generally speaking, his
-book is wonderfully advanced for the period, and indicates personal
-experience of the matters under discussion.
-
-John Bate, although less fluent, gives greater indication of practical
-knowledge of the matter. His “balloone” is rather oblong in section,
-and is made by rolling canvas on a former, using eight or nine turns.
-The ends are choked in the same way as a rocket case, one end being
-choked on to a “little cane rammed full of a slow composition.” The
-shell is placed in the mortar with the fuse downwards, which is ignited
-by the flash of the mortar charge. Bate takes the precaution of
-having a time fuse at the touch-hole of the mortar, and concludes his
-instructions for firing by saying, “and while that burneth, retreat out
-of harms way.” Altogether a more practical and convincing description.
-
-Frézier (1747) makes the following prefatory remarks to his chapter on
-shells:
-
- “The name of ‘balon’ is given to a firework which is thrown into the
- air like artillery bombs for war, so that they are often given the
- same name as bomb.
-
- “The difference between this firework and a bomb is not only that
- the former is to amuse and that the latter to destroy, and that the
- one is made of iron, and the other of wood, linen, or cardboard, but
- principally because the latter is made to burst and throw out its
- garniture at the point of the highest elevation, while the war bombs
- do so at the moment of their fall to the earth, also the war bombs
- are thrown towards the horizon, while the firework bombs are thrown
- vertically or nearly so.
-
- “The fireworks differ also from the war bombs in shape, the former
- being not always spherical, as the latter are.
-
- “We must therefore understand by the name of shell a firework of which
- the effect and principal beauty is that while going up in the air it
- only shews a small stream of fire, which multiplies itself suddenly
- into a great number of others at the moment of its highest elevation,
- which causes a pleasant surprise.
-
- “As this firework does not lift itself, but is thrown by impulsion
- the same way as a bomb, it can, like the latter, only be fired from a
- mortar.”
-
-He describes two shapes of shell, the spherical and cylindrical, with
-a hemispherical end, which shape is more convenient where the contents
-are long in form, as rockets, Roman candles, etc. He attributes the
-introduction of this shape to Siemienowitz, who, he says, made the
-cases of wood. He himself, however, adopts the modern method, as he
-does with the fuse, which he calls the port-fire. The lifting charge,
-however, is placed in the mortar separately from the shell and ignited
-at a touch-hole, in which, as will be seen, he differs from modern
-practice.
-
-He gives a list of garnitures or fillings, which are interesting as
-showing the practice of the day:
-
-  “The first is the one which gives the effect of a waterfall or
-  head of hair. This is made of thin narrow tubes, or if possible,
-  of thin canes, cut to the length of the shell, and filled with a
-  slow-burning composition made of three parts of priming powder, two
-  of charcoal, and one of sulphur, damped with a little petroleum,
-  and capped with a paste made of powder crushed in distilled water
-  or spirit and afterwards dried. All these are put in the tube,
-  around the one which is used for the passage of the port-fire.
-
-  “When it is full the loaded port-fire is introduced, and pushed so
-  far that it reaches the frame, and when it is touching the lid,
-  this lid must be glued by the rough ends to that of the tube, and
-  the shell is finished.
-
-  “As it is rather heavy, it is advisable to adopt means for its
-  resisting the shock of the lifting charge of powder which drives
-  it out of the mortar, by strengthening it with a covering of linen
-  strips, which should be stuck on to the shell by means of a paste,
-  composed of two-thirds of flour paste, and one-third of glue.
-
-  “Unless this is done it often happens that the shell bursts before
-  it rises in the air.”
-
-The second consists of serpents, the third of “saucissons volans,”
-similar to the “fiz-gig” of Bate; the choke in the middle between the
-composition and the bang being varied in position so as to produce a
-succession of bangs. The vacant spaces left over in the shorter may be
-filled with stars.
-
-The fourth is of stars arranged in beds of grain powder; the
-interstices being filled with a mixture of mealed powder and charcoal.
-The fifth of “light balls,” and for the sixth he describes “the manner
-of making figures and various shapes in fire appear in the air.”
-These letters are made on a frame covered with composition, and are
-consequently limited to a size to the internal diameter of the shell,
-that is, less than eight inches. It seems improbable that they could
-be distinguished satisfactorily at the height of a shell’s trajectory,
-besides which the difficulties involved, as he himself explains, are
-very great, which no doubt explains the fact that this idea is now
-obsolete.
-
-Under the heading “Double and Triple Balloons,” this writer describes
-the method of placing shell of smaller size inside a larger. The
-bursting of the first shell lights the short-time fuse of the contained
-shell, which falls some distance and bursts. With the triple shell this
-action is repeated.
-
-Jones (1765) divides shell into four kinds, namely, “illuminated
-balloons” filled with stars; “balloons of serpents,” “balloons of
-reports, marrons and crackers,” and “compound balloons.” The last
-description is misleading, as the balloon is not compound but the
-contents are varied, as for example, the contents of one specified ten
-crackers of six reports, twenty golden rains, sixteen two-ounce cases
-charged half-inch with star composition and bounced, two ounces each
-of brilliant, blue, coloured tailed, large string and rolled stars.
-It is hard to believe that this writer had ever seen a shell fired
-in this manner, the result would have been mere confusion. The star
-compositions of that date were very rudimentary, the colours when seen
-from the distance of a bursting shell were indistinguishable.
-
-One interesting detail in Jones’s work is the classification of sizes.
-The smallest shell mentioned by him is the “Coehorn Balloon”; he does
-not give the size, but it is given in the “Military Encyclopedia” as
-4⅔ inches. This corresponds to the 4½-inch of to-day. The name was
-apparently derived from a Dutch military engineer of that name. The
-next size is the royal 5½-inch, and above that 8-inch and 10-inch.
-
-Ruggieri (1821) is the first writer on the subject to have the shell
-and lifting charge in a unit as is the practice to-day, which indicates
-constructionally a great advance over his predecessors, although the
-fillings show little progress.
-
-The modern shell is arranged with a “lighter” of quickmatch, long
-enough to reach from the top of the shell when in position in the
-mortar to a sufficient distance outside the mouth to enable it to be
-ignited without danger. The lighter fires the time-fuse in the top of
-the shell, and at the same time two pieces of quickmatch which run
-round the shell in grooves worked in the paper shell case, and ignites
-the lifting charge, which is contained in a flannel bag, or in the case
-of small shell, a paper cone.
-
-The lifting charge projects the shell into the air and the time fuse,
-which is arranged to burn through at the top of the shell’s flight,
-ignites the bursting charge which opens the shell and fires the
-contents.
-
-The modern varieties of shell are almost infinite. Colours have been
-brought to a wonderful pitch of depth and brilliance, besides various
-kinds of fire for stars, producing stars with tails of the same and
-contrasting colours.
-
-Another class of shell, which might be called the compound, consists of
-shell filled with fireworks of other kinds—Roman candles, tourbillions,
-wheel-turning cases, small shell, and what gives undoubtedly the most
-dramatic aerial effect yet devised, with rockets. The “thunderbolt,” a
-shell 16 inches in diameter, containing a hundred 4-ounce rockets, has
-always been a popular feature of the Crystal Palace displays.
-
-Another variation of the shell is the comet, which is in effect a small
-shell (generally about three inches) with an exaggerated fuse of
-brilliant fire, which leaves a heavy tail during the comet’s flight.
-These are usually fired from either side of the firing-ground in rapid
-succession, producing an aerial arch, and opening just after having
-passed each other.
-
-The aerial maroon consists of a maroon fitted with a lifting charge and
-time fuse.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER III
-
-                      SIMPLE FIREWORKS—MINE CLASS
-
-
-The next group of fireworks is what may be called the “Mine” class, and
-has some of its members amongst the earliest firework units.
-
-To-day a mine consists of a quantity of small effects such as stars,
-crackers, squibs, etc., blown simultaneously from a case, or in display
-work—from a mortar. In the latter event they are made up into bags with
-the lifting charge below, and are known technically as “bags.”
-
-The “Mine of Serpents” and “Jack-in-the-Box” as sold in the shops
-consist of a rolled paper case which acts as the mortar, at the bottom
-of which is a lifting charge. This case has a light strawboard cover
-with a central hole, through which passes a case charged with a golden
-fountain composition, the lower end of which is not—as is generally
-the case—“clayed.” The space round the central case is filled in with
-squibs or crackers. When lighted the fountain case functions in the
-usual way, but when finished ignites the lifting charge, which lights
-and blows up the contained fireworks.
-
-A very early reference to the “Jack-in-the-Box” is by John Babington
-(1635). In Chapter XXXVII he says: “Another which I call Jack in a
-Box. The order of making this is after this manner: provide a box of
-plate, of what largeness you please—then putting in a quantity of corn
-powder or powder dust (in the bottom of the box) you shall fill it with
-fisgigs or serpents, leaving a case in the middle for a cane to go
-through to the bottom, which cane must be filled with a slow receipt,
-in which you shall put a quantity of champhire but no oyles, in regard
-of the narrow passage it has to burn without any other vent.” He then
-describes fitting the pasteboard top and concludes: “and light your
-cane, which will appear like a candle, and after a pretty distance of
-time you shall heare a sudden noyse and see all those fisgigs flying
-some one way, some another. This toy has given great content to the
-spectators.”
-
-Frézier calls mines “Pots à feu” or “d’aigrettes,” which, he says, were
-three, four, or five inches in diameter, and twelve to eighteen inches
-in length. When fired in batteries they were called “Pots de brins.”
-
-The smaller kind were ignited at a vent formed by choking the case,
-the vent—when the case was in position—pointing downward. The larger
-sorts were lighted from above, and were practically the same as the
-Jack-in-the-Box, with the difference that there was a case similar to a
-shell fuse instead of the central Roman candle.
-
-Jones’ description of “Pots d’aigrettes” and “Pots de brins” are
-similar, only that he fires the former with a Roman candle in the
-centre of the central mortar of a group with a lighter from it to each
-of the others, so that at the finish of the Roman candle the mortars
-are discharged simultaneously.
-
-An elaboration of the “Jack” is the “Devil-among-the-Tailors,” which is
-the same device surrounded by Roman candles.
-
-The next fireworks in this class—the Roman candle—is one whose genesis
-presents a most interesting study. From the evidence available there
-seems no doubt that this firework, in spite of its name, originated in
-this country.
-
-The first mention of anything resembling it is found in Babington’s
-book. He describes what he calls “a trunck of fire which shall cast
-forth divers fire balls.” It is one of a class, apparently in favour at
-this time, intended to be carried on a staff, and known collectively
-as “fire lances” or “clubs” (the former name is not to be confused with
-the lances used in set-piece work).
-
-The particular one under consideration, although it is very large,
-being four inches bore, and only emits two balls or stars, is
-undoubtedly the prototype of the “Roman.”
-
-Bate describes a somewhat similar lance with the difference that
-“petards” or single crackers are substituted for stars.
-
-This was in 1635. Over one hundred years later, Frézier describes
-an almost exactly similar firework under the heading “Artifices
-Portatifs,” which name he adopts instead of the old name “Lance à feu,”
-in order to avoid confusion with the lance as known to-day, which was
-then coming into use.
-
-This is the only mention he makes of anything that can be considered
-to even remotely resemble a Roman candle, and as he refers to several
-other writers, a justifiable inference seems to be that neither he or
-they had any knowledge of such a firework. Had he known of it, such is
-its popularity he would certainly have mentioned it.
-
-Eighteen years later Jones describes exactly the Roman candle as made
-to-day, to which he gives the name “Fire Pump.”
-
-“Pumps” and “Pumps with Starrs” occur in the description subjoined to
-engravings depicting English peace displays in 1697 and 1713; there
-can be no doubt that the reference is to Roman candles or the earlier
-development of them.
-
-When, however, the elder Ruggieri came over to this country in 1749 to
-conduct the Aix-la-Chapelle peace display in Green Park, in conjunction
-with Sarti, no firework of this nature appears in the programme of the
-display.
-
-Here we have two pyrotechnists who can be considered to represent
-the best skill of France and Italy; in fact, it was Ruggieri whose
-arrival in France from Italy in or about 1735 marked the great advance
-in pyrotechny in the former country. Yet the “Pump” does not appear in
-this great display planned and executed by them, although for years it
-had been a popular item in displays in this country. The obvious reason
-for this omission is that they did not know of it.
-
-In the early part of the nineteenth century the name “Roman candle”
-comes into use both here and in France. The “English Encyclopædia”
-of 1802 still uses the expression “Fire Pump,” but this is probably
-because their article is copied almost verbatim from Jones’ book. The
-name Roman candle, however, appears in an advertisement of a display
-at Ipswich by William Brock in 1818, and Ruggieri the younger uses the
-words “chandelle romaine” in his book of 1805.
-
-How this firework received the name Roman is obscure; it may have been
-affixed by one of the many Italian pyrotechnists working here, or it
-may have had political or religious significance.
-
-A firework functioning in the same way as a Roman candle is the Italian
-streamer, which has stars of a composition containing lampblack, which
-burn with a gold fire and leave a tail in their flight.
-
-The Roman candle of the present day is made with an almost endless
-variety of stars, but those in use when the name was first introduced
-were of very simple character. Coloured stars, as accepted to-day, were
-not introduced until about the thirtieth year of the last century.
-
-The compositions given by Jones and Ruggieri would produce
-approximately the same effect as the Italian streamer star of to-day,
-but with little or no tail.
-
-Lampblack compositions appear to have been introduced into Europe from
-the East, and there seems to be no reason why Italy should have had
-them before this country, or that the introduction of lampblack into
-Roman candle star composition should be credited to Italy.
-
-It seems more probable that the name Italian streamer was attached to
-that firework in this country to distinguish it from the Roman candle
-with tailless stars, and under the mistaken idea that the “Roman” was
-a foreign importation, or that it would be more acceptable if labelled
-with a foreign name.
-
-As we have said, the modern Roman candle is made with stars of very
-many varieties, but whatever kind of star may be used, the method of
-filling is the same.
-
-The principle on which the Roman candle is constructed is as follows:
-The case is charged with a series of repetitions of the following—Roman
-candle fuse, “dark fire,” star, blowing charge. These are repeated as
-many times as the case will hold, and function thus—the fuse burns with
-a fountain effect, and upon being exhausted lights the “dark fire,”
-which lights the star, flashes round it and fires the blowing charge
-which propels the star from the case. The blowing charge also ignites
-the next layer of fuse, and the effect is repeated.
-
-In filling the case different sized scoops are used for the blowing
-charge, which is of fine-grain powder, the smaller scoops being used
-at the lower portion of the case. This is done so that the stars may
-rise to approximately the same height; the charge at the bottom acting
-through a greater distance, naturally acts more effectively and less is
-required.
-
-Earlier pyrotechnists, in addition, as a means of regulating the height
-of the stars’ flight, made the stars of differing sizes; this under
-modern manufacturing conditions would be impossible, and has been
-abandoned.
-
-Roman candle fuse is composed of sulphur, charcoal, saltpetre in the
-proportion of 4, 8, 15. The “dark fire” is of mealed powder, with a
-small admixture of charcoal.
-
-[Illustration: An old Firework Bill.]
-
-Another firework which is probably a development of the Roman candle is
-the jewel fountain. This consists of a fountain mixture of saltpetre,
-sulphur, and charcoal, to which is added granules of star composition,
-which are thrown out by the force of the fire, giving a fountain effect
-in which appear variously coloured points of fire.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER IV
-
-                SIMPLE FIREWORKS—SAXON & LANCE CLASSES
-
-
-The fireworks which form a class by themselves are the Saxon or Chinese
-flyer, and the tourbillion. Both of these consist of a single case made
-to revolve in the plane of its axis by jets of fire projected through a
-hole at right angles to the axis.
-
-Saxons revolve about a nail driven through the case into a post or
-other support; they are charged with a composition of mealed gunpowder,
-saltpetre, and sulphur.
-
-The case is charged thus: the lower end is firmly “clayed” and the
-composition is charged up to a point about ⅝ inch below the centre,
-clay is then charged for ¾ inch, and again composition to within a
-short distance of the top, which is again firmly clayed. Two holes are
-bored near each end on opposite sides of the case, and a third hole is
-bored through the centre of the case at right angles to the other two
-and of sufficient size to take the nail or spindle on which the case
-revolves.
-
-The two holes at the end may be connected with match to light
-simultaneously, or the time of burning may be lengthened by leading the
-second half from the lower end of the first lit. In the larger sizes,
-and generally in display work, a small case charged with a colour
-composition is attached to the side of the case, producing a ring of
-colour inside the fire of the saxon.
-
-A smaller and cheaper form of saxon is what is in effect half of that
-described above, the nail being at one end and the propelling hole at
-the other.
-
-[Illustration: Rocket Charging.]
-
-[Illustration: Filling Roman Candles.]
-
-Formerly saxons for display work were made with a wooden centre, on
-which the two halves, which were charged separately, were fitted, and
-to which the colour case was secured by a nail.
-
-The tourbillion is a development of the saxon; instead of the central
-spindle a piece of curved wood is secured to the case, forming a pivot
-on which to revolve when lying on a flat surface, and two additional
-holes are bored on the under side of the case, so arranged as to light
-when the case has sufficiently rapid revolution and project it into the
-air.
-
-Jones describes tourbillions as made to-day, also saxons under the
-older name of Chinese flyer. In addition, he describes what he calls
-“table rockets,” which resemble four double saxon cases fitted to a
-centre, which has a projecting cone upon which the device revolves.
-
-He says that “table rockets are designed merely to show the truth of
-driving and the judgment of a fireworker, they having no other effect
-when fired than spinning round in the same place where they begin till
-they are burnt out, and showing nothing more than a horizontal circle
-of fire,” but afterwards adds that “these rockets may be made to rise
-like tourbillions by making the cases shorter and boring holes in the
-under side of each case at equal distances; this being done they are
-called ‘double tourbillions.’”
-
-Frézier shows tourbillions as at present manufactured, which he calls
-“tourbillion de feu” or “soleil montant,” but the nearest device he
-shows to a saxon is similar to Jones’s table rocket, made to revolve on
-a spindle, and having several holes bored down the side of each case,
-presumably to produce more effect. These he designates “tourniquets” or
-“soleils tournants.”
-
-He also illustrates two ordinary rockets mounted on a centre similar to
-that of a double saxon. This he calls “baton à feu,” and describes that
-one case lights after the other is burnt out, and one gathers that the
-device is intended to revolve but how it can be made to do this by fire
-issuing radially is not apparent.
-
-The word tourbillion is the French for a whirlwind and is applied by
-Ruggieri to a compound firework, which will be considered later under
-that head.
-
-What we know as tourbillion he names “fusée de table” (a table rocket),
-and adds that they are commonly called “artichauts.”
-
-The success of all the above, in common with rockets, depends on
-careful and experienced construction and strength of the case, and it
-is indeed curious that Jones describes the rolling of the cases for
-these fireworks without paste except on the edge of the paper. It seems
-incredible that an experienced pyrotechnist should make such a mistake,
-and one is almost inclined to agree with Kentish (1878), who says of
-Jones’s book: “The greater portion of it is absurd and impracticable,
-and shows it was written by a person who undertook to teach what he
-had not learnt.” Nevertheless Jones’s book, as Kentish says, has been
-copied by almost every book published since, just as his own matter
-was largely pirated from previous works. In fact, for a century and a
-half the plates illustrating pyrotechnic works were in a great degree
-fac-similes of one another.
-
-The catherine wheel, or, as it is sometimes called, the pin wheel, is
-a rotating firework of simple, as distinct from compound construction,
-and should therefore be included in this class.
-
-It consists of a long, thin case of small diameter, charged with a
-composition of sulphur, saltpetre, and mealed gunpowder. This case is
-wound round a circular block of thin wood, with a hole in the centre
-through which a pin or nail is passed, forming a pivot upon which the
-wheel turns.
-
-The case of the catherine wheel, unlike any firework we have considered
-up to the present, burns down as the composition is consumed, and
-for this reason it may be included equally well in another small
-class of fireworks. This class includes the lance, the port-fire, the
-starlights, feathers, and the colour cases used on wheels and saxons,
-etc.
-
-The lance is used in display work in greater numbers than any other
-unit. Some idea of the quantity used may be gathered from the fact that
-on one of the battle set pieces shown at the Crystal Palace as many as
-thirty thousand lances are consumed in a single display.
-
-Lances consist of thin paper cases about the diameter of a lead pencil,
-filled with colour composition, and primed, to facilitate the lighting,
-with mealed powder damped with water. This sets and further serves to
-retain the contents of the lance, which are not compressed solid as are
-fountains, rockets, etc.
-
-The port-fire is used as a means of lighting the pieces, etc., of a
-display, and in the last century for military purposes; its composition
-consists of a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and mealed gunpowder. It
-was formerly known as a blue candle.
-
-The starlight and feathers, as are the squib, golden rain, etc., are of
-the garden type, and are not used in display work, as although burning
-with pretty effect, it is not distinguishable at any distance.
-
-The feather and starlight compositions are similar to that of the
-flower pot, but the cases are smaller, that of the feather being
-catherine wheel pipe, but naturally not bent—the ends are closed by
-“dubbing.” This is a method usually adopted for closing the ends of
-“small goods.” The end of the case is introduced into an opening
-formed by opposing V-shaped notches in an upper and lower series of
-steel plates, the upper set being then forced down. The result is to
-constrict the end of the case, which is then dipped in a mixture of
-sealing-wax and glue.
-
-Under the same head fall the Light group, which are wide and
-comparatively thin cases filled with coloured or “bright” (as white
-composition is known in the trade) composition. They are used either
-for illuminating as Bengal lights, or for signalling purposes; if for
-the latter, they are generally provided with a wooden handle and some
-means of self-ignition.
-
-The name Bengal light is probably based on the use of Bengal saltpetre,
-and does not indicate their origin in that province.
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER V
-
-                          COMPOUND FIREWORKS
-
-
-Compound fireworks are those which are composed of a number of simple
-fireworks or units fixed to a framework or other device so that they
-produce a more elaborate effect than do single fireworks.
-
-Probably the earliest form of compound firework was the wheel. After
-the sky rocket had become an established fact, it was a small step to
-tie rockets round a wheel, so that when fired they caused it to revolve.
-
-Babington gives several devices based on the idea of imparting
-movement to a wheel by rockets: he describes horizontal and vertical
-wheels, which appear to be the same piece fired either horizontally or
-vertically. In neither case is there any further effect than the fire
-from the rockets tied to the periphery. His illustration shows no less
-than sixteen rockets to fire singly in succession, which would, by
-modern standards, make a rather lengthy and monotonous piece. He also
-describes ground wheels, which consist of two wheels fitted to an axle
-with a smaller wheel placed centrally between them. The centre wheel
-has rocket cases fitted to it, causing the whole arrangement to revolve
-and run along the ground. As an alternative he suggests substituting
-cases secured to the axle without a central wheel, so arranged that one
-being burnt out the second burns in the opposite direction and reverses
-the direction of the wheels. The device is now quite obsolete.
-
-One interesting point is the method of communicating fire from one case
-to the next; quickmatch, as used to-day, had not then been invented.
-His method was to fasten the cases head to tail a short distance apart
-by wrapping and tying paper round in the form of a tube, the space so
-formed containing some mealed powder.
-
-He also describes what he calls fixed wheels, which are in effect the
-fixed sun of to-day; that is, a framework with cases arranged radially
-so that the fire is thrown out from the centre.
-
-As variations of the above, he suggests various effects such as “a
-fixed wheel which shall give divers reports,” “which shall cast forth
-divers fisgigs, and likewise as many reports or breakers,” “which shall
-cast forth many rockets into the ayre.” The latter is evidently the
-prototype of a piece known later as the rocket wheel, popular for some
-time, but little used at the present, the objection to it being that
-there is no control over the direction in which the rockets fly from
-it. The wheel revolves horizontally, and projects a series of rockets
-into the air as it revolves.
-
-During the following century, as compound fireworks developed in this
-country, the Italian and French nomenclature was introduced, many of
-which survive at the present time.
-
-The pyrotechnists of the eighteenth century seem to have delighted in
-inventing new terms, possibly with the idea of impressing the layman.
-Frézier, writing over a hundred years later than Babington, records
-very little advance in revolving fireworks, except in the matter of
-names. He classifies all revolving pieces as girandoles. This word
-appears in pyrotechny very frequently; curiously enough, nearly every
-writer has attached a different meaning to it. Frézier explains that
-the word is derived from girare—to revolve or gyrate, from the Greek.
-
-Bate applied this meaning to it. He says, “How to make gironels or fire
-wheeles.” He is, however, the only English writer to do so; others use
-it to mean a flight of rockets, and occasionally for an elaborate fixed
-piece of the fountain type.
-
-Ruggieri and Sarti, both Italians, used it in the sense of a “flight”
-of rockets in the programme of their Green Park display in 1749.
-Ruggieri the younger, however, applies it to a specific kind of
-revolving firework in his book, and introduces a new word—girande—to
-which he applies the same meaning as the one generally accepted in this
-country for girandole. The confusion of these two words, which have the
-same derivation, may be the explanation of the duplication of meaning,
-or it may lie in the fact that the name was also applied to the rocket
-wheel previously mentioned, which both revolves and throws up rockets.
-
-Frézier shows a wheel similar to that given by Babington, and
-variations on the double saxon, a fixed sun also, as do most early
-writers, double line rockets to run backwards and forwards and
-variations. These latter, which appear to have been very popular at
-this period, were known in France as “courantins.” Bate calls them
-“swevels,” other early writers “runners on the line.”
-
-The above-mentioned, together with some rather intricate but
-impracticable appearing water devices, make up the compound fireworks
-in Frézier’s book.
-
-It seems, however, that he must have been behind his day in this
-branch of the art, as the Aix-la-Chapelle peace display appears to
-have included several elaborate pieces which, even allowing for the
-usual exaggeration of the programme, must have required considerable
-skill and knowledge in construction. These were mostly what were
-called regulated or regulating pieces, generally described as of a
-certain number of mutations. The pieces were, and are, although the
-old descriptions are now dispensed with, so constructed that after
-being lit they go through a series of alterations in form and movement
-without further attention.
-
-Some of those described in old works would seem to have required more
-than a slight element of luck for their successful performance.
-
-To-day it is often found more advantageous to make a second lighting in
-cases where there is a danger of premature ignition, the effect to the
-spectators being identical, and the successful functioning of the piece
-secured. This does not apply to all pieces of this nature, as with
-modern safety fuse the pyrotechnist has considerable advantage over the
-earlier practitioners.
-
-The modern spectator is only concerned with the effect produced, not
-by the means adopted to produce it. It is difficult to-day to realise
-the position occupied by the pyrotechnist of the eighteenth century. He
-carried out his work personally, with of course trained assistants, and
-occupied a position similar to the artist or sculptor. Each piece was
-looked upon as a work of art, the personal effort of the pyrotechnic
-artist. Ruggieri gives some idea of this in the following passage from
-his book:
-
-  “It was in the month of July, 1743, that my father and my uncles
-  Ruggieri exhibited for the first time at the Theatre de la Comédie
-  Italienne and before the King, the passage of fire from a moving to
-  a fixed piece.
-
-  “This ingenious contrivance at first astonished the scientists of
-  the day, who said when it was explained to them that nothing could
-  be more simple and that any one could have done it at once.”
-
-He then explains the method of construction, which is to lead from the
-back end of one of the turning cases through the hollow centre of the
-axle to the lighter of the fixed piece situated behind it.
-
-The development of fixed and mechanical pieces was made possible by the
-introduction of quickmatch.
-
-When this actually took place is uncertain. Frézier describes its
-making similarly to that in use to-day, under the name of “étoupilles.”
-Bate uses the word “stouple,” evidently a corruption of the French.
-He gives no actual description of the making of this, but it appears
-to be of “cotton weeke” dipped in “aqua vitæ wherein camphire hath
-been dissolved.” This would produce only a slow-burning match unless
-it was his intention to use it wet, in which case the burning of the
-spirits of wine might quicken the effect. It would, however, be quite
-out of the question to construct a piece of any elaboration with such
-materials.
-
-Quickmatch is manufactured to-day in the following manner. Cotton wick
-is run through a pan containing a paste composed of gunpowder and
-starch. It is wound on a frame six feet in length, dusted with mealed
-powder and dried. When dry it is cut off the frame and threaded into
-paper tubes or “pipes” of larger diameter, leaving an air space round
-the match.
-
-Before threading in the tubes it is known in the trade as “raw match,”
-and is used for priming and similar uses, and in this state will only
-burn quite slowly.
-
-Quickmatch is used to connect the units of all pieces. Display cases
-have a “cap” formed of a few turns of paper pasted on the case at the
-lighting end. When a piece is fitted up the cases are tied to the
-cleats provided to receive them on the framework; they are then “lead
-up.” A length of quickmatch has a small piece cut out of the pipe to
-allow the fire to flash through, it is then doubled at that point and
-inserted in the cap, which is gathered in and tied round securely.
-This is continued round the piece, each case having match entering and
-leaving the cap, and in some cases a further length connecting one
-series with another. This leading up of set pieces is work requiring
-skill and knowledge which is only gained by experience. An amateur at
-a first attempt might possibly be successful in lighting all the cases
-on a piece, but he would be very unlikely to produce that instant and
-symmetrical ignition which denotes the skilled pyrotechnist.
-
-The smaller wheels have turning cases, that is, small rockets to give
-them motion; these burn through very rapidly, and the continuation of
-movement is provided for by capping the turning cases at either end and
-leading them up vent to head in series; the motive power for the larger
-display pieces is provided by gerbs, which, from the nature of their
-fire, give more effect than would rocket cases, and have the further
-advantage of burning longer.
-
-It would not be possible in the present work to give a complete
-catalogue of the varieties of pieces which have been produced, but the
-list given by Ruggieri is typical of the whole, and includes many of
-the smaller compound pieces in use to-day for shop and small display
-work.
-
-The larger display pieces are generally designed and redesigned season
-by season by pyrotechnists, and are certainly being elaborated and
-improved. They, however, fall generally into certain classes in the
-same way as do those given by Ruggieri. His classification is as
-follows:
-
-  1. Stationary fireworks.
-  2. Fireworks turning vertically.
-  3. Mixed fireworks or fixed and turning.
-  4. Fireworks turning horizontally or on a pivot.
-  5. Built-up pieces turning on a pivot.
-  6. Cut-out pieces and transparencies.
-
-Of these, the last mentioned class are now obsolete: they consisted of
-transparent and silhouette pictures or designs illuminated from behind.
-He also includes both simple and compound fireworks in each class, but
-as the former have already been dealt with they will be ignored here.
-
-Class 1. (1) Glorys, fans and “pates d’oie” or goose foot, synonymous
-with our expression crow’s foot.
-
-Glory was a term used also in this country to signify fixed suns, as
-mentioned above. Fans were cases five or more in number, arranged as
-the name indicated, and pates d’oie, three similarly arranged.
-
-(2) Mosaiques. These are geometrical designs formed by arranging gerbs
-or fixt on framework, so that their fire forms a symmetrical pattern.
-The effect is heightened by saxons in suitable positions, and in large
-devices of this nature, small wheels, also formerly, the now obsolete
-fixed or five-pointed star.
-
-This type includes what are now called “lattice poles,” a series of
-poles provided with cleats so that the fire of the cases crosses,
-forming a lattice of sparks; also the more elaborate “carpet piece.”
-
-(3) Feux croisés. These were similar in conception to the above, except
-that the design is circular or based on the circle or wheel form; this
-type is represented by the “fixt piece” of to-day, which is constructed
-up to considerable dimensions, the large fixt piece at the Crystal
-Palace often measuring sixty feet across the fire.
-
-(4) Palm Trees. These consist of a framework intended to suggest the
-form of a palm, provided with cleats to take the cases.
-
-(5) Bouquets. These he describes also as a kind of tree different from
-palm trees; his illustration shows that they were similar to the modern
-lattice-pole with the difference that the cleats were not symmetrically
-arranged.
-
-To-day the word bouquet is applied to Roman candles arranged in what he
-called “pates d’oie.”
-
-(6) Cascade. This device needs no explanation. He says that Chinese
-fire is the best composition for such a piece; this remained true up
-to the introduction of the aluminium into pyrotechny, when the “weird
-white waterfall” became a feature of the Crystal Palace displays, being
-200 feet long and 90 feet high.
-
-(7) Decorations in coloured fire. This heading introduces the lancework
-set piece of to-day.
-
-The development of this branch since 1865 has been very marked. As will
-be seen from the description of the lancework pieces carried out at
-the Crystal Palace, the subjects dealt with have been of extraordinary
-variety. Up to the beginning of the nineteenth century pyrotechnists
-had failed to realise the possibilities of lancework. This was
-undoubtedly due in a great measure to the fewness of colours available.
-Ruggieri appears to have used lancework to outline architectural
-designs, evidently a survival of the temples or theatres of earlier
-years. In his time, and even as late as the middle of the nineteenth
-century, any subject of a pictorial nature was depicted by the use
-of scenery or transparencies. Lancework was, as Ruggieri describes
-it, merely “decorations in coloured fire.” The lances of his day were
-considerably thicker than those at present in use, which are about the
-diameter of a lead pencil. They were also spaced further apart and were
-in some cases “bounced,” as are fixed cases of the present day.
-
-The modern method of constructing a lancework set piece is as follows:
-An outline drawing of the subject is made in which all unnecessary
-lines are eliminated. This is ruled in square of such size that in the
-proportion one square to a foot the completed piece will be of the size
-required.
-
-Frames are then laid out on the drawing-floor: these are of light
-battens forming foot squares, and of a convenient size for handling,
-generally ten feet by five feet.
-
-[Illustration: Lattice Poles.]
-
-[Illustration: Chromatrope
-
-  (The outer fire forms the Guilloché of Ruggieri.)]
-
-[Illustration: Lattice Diamond
-
-  (The Feux Croisés of Ruggieri.)]
-
-The drawing is then transferred to the floor with the assistance of the
-squared lines, and the design followed by nailing on light wood strips
-or thin rattan cane.
-
-The lines thus indicated are then “pegged,” that is, pegs or small
-wire nails pointed at either end, are driven in at intervals of about
-four inches. The lances, whose construction has already been described
-in Chapter IV, have their ends glued and are pushed on to the pegs so
-that they stand vertically from the framework. The frames are then led
-up with quickmatch, secured by pins driven into the priming. The match
-is then pierced with a small awl above the priming, and secured and
-protected by a strip of paper pasted over it and round the case of the
-lance. The piece is then ready for hoisting into position and firing.
-
-Formerly, and sometimes now on the Continent, the match was secured by
-a wire passing through the case near the top, which was twisted over
-the match.
-
-Ruggieri, under this head, describes a method of illuminating by
-impregnating wick similar to that used for matchmaking, with a mixture
-of sulphur, antimony, and saltpetre. This was wired on to a metal
-framework. He says it is better than lancework for outlining curves,
-volutes, etc., as the line is continuous. This difficulty is disposed
-of in modern English lancework by the closer spacing of lances on
-curves rendered possible by the smaller lances now used.
-
-He also remarks that this method was rarely used in his time and it is
-now quite discontinued.
-
-Another device of which he seems proud was a palm tree, the leaves
-of which were of thin metal from which project spikes upon which was
-hung cotton impregnated with a composition composed of “vert-de-gris,
-vitriol blue and sel ammoniac” (copper acetate, copper sulphate and
-ammonium chloride).
-
-Immediately before firing the cotton was soaked with alcohol. Actually
-this composition can hardly be considered pyrotechnic; what takes
-place is that the alcohol burns, and the flame thus created is
-coloured with the copper present in the salts. The whole arrangement
-is too cumbersome and involved for modern use, but at the time of its
-inception, when colour was practically unknown, no doubt it attracted
-great admiration.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER VI
-
-                   COMPOUND FIREWORKS (_continued_)
-
-
-Ruggieri’s next class (fireworks turning vertically) includes the
-following:
-
-1. Revolving Suns. These are merely vertical wheels; he appears to use
-this term for the more ambitious pieces of this kind.
-
-2. Vertical Wheels. He illustrates a vertical wheel exactly as made
-to-day under that name. It has, however, been elaborated by the
-addition of colour cases on the spokes and centre, as rosette and
-rainbow wheels; also by the application of saxons to the spokes, as
-saxon wheels.
-
-He also shows the triangle wheel, consisting of three spokes with
-grooved ends to receive the cases whose sides form the sides of an
-equilateral triangle. This has been further developed into the double
-triangle wheel, with two sets of spokes placed one set behind the
-other. In all the wheels in this class the cases fire in succession,
-not as in the case of the sun—simultaneously.
-
-Windmills he illustrates as flat bars pivoted in the centre with three
-cases at either end fired in succession. There also were three, four,
-and up to eight-armed windmills of the same kind. The nearest device to
-these of modern times is the chromatrope, the simplest form of which
-has two bars with a gerb at either end so set as to revolve them in
-opposite directions, the front one carrying two saxons. This piece,
-which is of comparatively simple design, gives an extraordinarily fine
-effect by the intersections of the various streams of fire.
-
-The chromatrope has been developed and enlarged until for important
-display work quite elaborate pieces are fired under this name.
-Lancework of geometric form is used on the bars or spokes, and the
-intersection of these, forming ever-changing geometrical designs, adds
-greatly to the effect of the intersection of the fire.
-
-This effect is the basis of the Guilloché, a somewhat elaborate piece
-which falls in Ruggieri’s third class. It consisted of six wheels
-placed one behind the other in pairs of graduated size; the two
-smallest—which fired first—had six cases, the next eight, and the
-largest forty-eight, and was twenty feet in diameter.
-
-The next described is the Salamandre, a piece which, on a large scale,
-is still occasionally fired at the Crystal Palace. It shows a snake
-in pursuit of a butterfly which it seems to overtake but never quite
-catches. The mechanism is an endless chain of wooden links running in
-and out between eight sprocket wheels, arranged in octagon formation.
-About half the length of the chain is made out and lanced to represent
-the snake, and a lancework butterfly is situated in the centre of the
-other half.
-
-Ruggieri claims that his father fired this piece and the guilloché in
-1739 at Versailles.
-
-The other pieces mentioned in this section are too elaborate for
-description in the space available, but are interesting as showing
-the use of the helix and spiral as applied to wheels and cones, as
-secondary elements of larger pieces.
-
-The modern designer of pyrotechnic pieces has great advantage over the
-earlier practitioners in that he has available an infinitely larger
-range of colour and other composition. It is often possible to get a
-much-enhanced result with less cases giving more or varied effects as
-opposed to a larger number of cases of similar effects, which, in an
-attempt to produce a lavish show of fire, end in confusion.
-
-His fourth division begins with the “Caprice simple”; this is the
-modern horizontal wheel. This wheel is similar in arrangement to the
-vertical above-mentioned, except that its cases are arranged so that
-the first plays horizontally in the plane of the wheel, the next at an
-angle downwards, and the third upwards. This succession is repeated
-with the remaining three cases. In addition, the horizontal wheel has
-either a mine which is lit from the last case, or Roman candles and
-mine, at the centre playing upwards. The second form is arranged so
-that the Romans are fired simultaneously with the fourth case and the
-mine from the last.
-
-The wheel given by Ruggieri has a gerb in the centre. He explains that
-Caprice is a generic name applied to all horizontal wheels which vary
-the direction of the fire when revolving. However, at the present time
-the name Caprice is only applied to a wheel with three tiers of three
-cases, each similar in appearance to three single triangle wheels
-superimposed at distances about equal to their diameter, the grooves in
-the end of the spokes being so arranged as to vary the direction of the
-fire. The cases are led up in the following order—one case horizontal,
-one up, one down, one horizontal, two cases one up and one down, four
-cases in each direction and one vertical. For a compact piece this is
-one of the most effective made.
-
-A similar piece is the Furiloni Wheel, which has, however, two tiers of
-three cases each.
-
-Jones describes a furiloni wheel which is more elaborate, having
-twenty-five cases. His method of leading would, however, not be so
-effective as the modern wheels of this type. The cases used for these
-wheels are charged with a steel mixing formerly known as brilliant fire.
-
-He mentions two other devices—Caprices petans and Caprices des pâtés.
-The first of these was a modification of the piece formerly used in
-this country as the balloon wheel. It consisted of a solid wheel round
-which are a series of mines which discharged in succession as each
-turning case lit. The second was similar but more elaborate, having
-rockets as well as mines, and was a variation of the rocket wheel.
-
-In his description of the Girandole, he explains that it is composed of
-two horizontal wheels one above the other. This is the form taken by
-the rocket wheel as fired in this country which, as we have seen, was
-known as the girandole wheel. Ruggieri, however, appears not to have
-used rockets on his girandole.
-
-The last device he mentions in this class is the Spirali, which
-consisted of a framework in the form of a cone, round which was wound a
-spiral of cane fitted with lances.
-
-A very effective piece, not mentioned by Ruggieri, is the revolving
-fountain; it consists of a wood centre bored to turn on a vertical
-spindle. The centre has two spokes fitted with gerbs for turning, and
-has playing vertically a large gerb and Roman candles. The turning
-gerbs play tangentially and slightly upwards.
-
-Jones describes a similar device under the name of “illuminated spiral
-wheel”; also two other horizontal pieces—the spirali and the plural
-wheels, which approximate to the furiloni and caprice wheels of the
-present day.
-
-The spiral and helix are much used in larger devices, and the use of
-modern lancework and colour has greatly added to their effect.
-
-Ruggieri’s next division deals with built-up lancework pieces such as
-the globe, which it was thought worthy of separate mention in his time,
-but to-day is included with many devices of this nature too numerous to
-mention, forming, as they do, a large proportion of the mechanical and
-other pieces used in display work.
-
-[Illustration: A Display ready for Firing, Dresden, September 1st,
-  1899. Firework Portraits of the King and Queen of Saxony on the
-  right, Bismarck second from the left.]
-
-He then deals with tourbillions and table wheels. The latter
-consisted of a circular table with a central pivot, round which is free
-to revolve a bar which forms the axle of a wheel, the hub of which runs
-on the edge of the table. When the wheel is turned, the hub running on
-the edge of the table moves it forward in a circular path round the
-pivot. This principle is applied to similar and more elaborate devices.
-The name tourbillions, as before mentioned, is by other writers
-differently applied.
-
-The section dealing with cut-out and transparent devices is of little
-interest. These devices were an attempt to give variety from the
-monotonous repetition of turning cases and gerbs. To-day the use of
-colour cases, lances, a much-enlarged range of fountain and similar
-compositions, including aluminium and other brilliant fires, has
-obviated the employment of effects which cannot be rightly considered
-as pyrotechnic.
-
-The moving and stationary pieces considered in this and preceding
-chapters give a good general idea of the firing methods in compound
-fireworks. As we have already noted, the difference of designs and
-effects at the present time is infinite, so that it would be impossible
-in a work of the present size to give anything approaching a complete
-survey of what has been accomplished. But it is hoped that enough has
-been said to give the reader some idea of the methods adopted and the
-lines upon which the modern pyrotechnist works.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER VII
-
-                         FIREWORK COMPOSITIONS
-
-
-It may have been remarked in the foregoing chapters that, although the
-ingredients composing the firework mixtures are given, generally the
-proportions are not.
-
-The reason for this is two-fold: primarily, as we have seen in the
-chapter on rockets, the proportion of the ingredients of a firework
-varies in accordance with its size. So that to give the proportions of
-the compositions of any one type of firework would often require as
-many formulæ as there are sizes.
-
-Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the quality and purity of
-chemicals as supplied in bulk vary so enormously that a constant
-series of experiments has to be conducted in order to ascertain what
-modifications and adjustments are necessary in the formulæ to give the
-required standard of performance.
-
-It is not meant to suggest that the impurities generally to be found in
-bulk supplies are necessarily harmful to pyrotechnic results. This is
-not so; salts give far better results in their natural or mineral form
-than do those prepared synthetically. As an example of this saltpetre
-may be cited. For pyrotechnic purposes the best obtainable is that from
-Bengal, yet an analysis of this would probably be found to be less pure
-than that synthetically prepared in Germany. But experiments have shown
-that samples of the latter, taken from the same cask, but in different
-parts, produce very distinctly varying results pyrotechnically.
-
-Pyrotechny is an art, chemistry is a science, and although it is
-impossible to deny that the former is greatly indebted to the latter
-for the supply and production on a commercial scale of chemical
-ingredients, yet it is possible to overestimate the position of
-chemistry in the art, or possibly it might be more correct to say that
-pyrotechny has its own chemistry.
-
-Chemistry without pyrotechnic experience is apt to lead to erroneous
-conclusions. To take a concrete instance: in an article in a famous
-encyclopædia, obviously written by a chemist of standing, a portion
-deals with the use of metal salts in the production of colour; the
-writer gives copper as producing green, which no doubt it does in
-the laboratory; in practice, however, copper is used solely for the
-production of blue.
-
-The question of purity in chemicals used in pyrotechny is a secondary
-consideration, that is, of course, as long as the adulterants have no
-adverse effect either as regards the pyrotechnic result or the safety
-of the worker in manipulation. What is of first importance is its
-pyrotechnic suitability, that is, it must produce the required result
-and must be consistent. Unequal results are the bugbear of the firework
-makers. As we have seen, constant experiments are necessary to keep an
-even standard, but with irregularly functioning chemicals these would
-be multiplied to an impossible degree.
-
-The first group of compositions for consideration is that nearest
-related to gunpowder, in fact, for the purposes of a work on
-pyrotechny, gunpowder may be considered a particular case of this class.
-
-The governing principle of this group, and one may say of all firework
-compositions, is the same. For combustion to take place oxygen must be
-present. When an inflammable article such as a piece of paper is set
-on fire it takes up oxygen from the air. A pyrotechnic composition,
-however, is so arranged that one of the ingredients has a supply of
-oxygen which it is ready to give up; another, or others, are of a kind
-ready to receive and combine with this oxygen.
-
-The oxygen-supplying ingredient which is by far the most frequently
-used is saltpetre, or, as it was formerly called, nitre, known
-chemically as nitrate of potash.
-
-Saltpetre may be said to be the basis of pyrotechny. There is hardly a
-formula by any of the writers on pyrotechny up to at least the middle
-of the nineteenth century which does not contain it.
-
-Gunpowder is composed of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, three
-chemicals which it will have been gathered from the previous pages
-play a prominent part in very many of the pyrotechnic compositions. In
-some compositions their proportion is apparently identical with that
-of gunpowder, yet they do not form gunpowder as they are not milled,
-and are consequently not so intimately mixed. Compositions containing
-these ingredients have frequently an admixture of mealed gunpowder, the
-function of which is to give additional fierceness when required, as is
-the case in some rocket mixings.
-
-These chemicals, as we have seen in the previous chapters, are the
-components of rockets, turning cases, tourbillions, saxons, Roman
-candle fuse, and many others. When variation was required in fireworks
-used to give a simple fountain effect the earliest addition was of
-metal in finely divided particles, as filings, borings, or the now
-almost obsolete iron sand.
-
-Steel filings were used in what was known as “brilliant fire,” a term
-which has fallen into disuse since the introduction of other metals
-whose effects eclipsed that of steel. It has also been used where extra
-effect is wanted, that is, more tail in rockets and tourbillions. It
-is, however, not much used in the former case to-day, as the presence
-of steel in a composition which is to be charged on a steel spindle
-introduces a decided element of risk into the operation.
-
-The introduction of steel and iron was the first use of metals in
-firework making, probably the next metal to be introduced was
-antimony, either black (sulphide) or regulus. Jones (1765) was already
-using what he calls crude antimony; this was probably the black
-sulphide.
-
-Before the introduction of genuine colour, and while the chemicals
-which had been adopted for pyrotechny were still very limited in
-number, attempts were made to obtain either a semblance of colour or
-some variety in stars and garnitures by the addition of such substances
-as powdered glass, brass, sawdust, beech raspings, which appear to
-have functioned as do the iron or steel in the compositions already
-discussed, except that there would be no coruscation even with the
-brass. These additions would merely show as red-hot particles in the
-jet of fire.
-
-Kentish gives two gerb compositions, one of which contains coke grains,
-and the other porcelain grains, which would apparently produce cognate
-results; the use, however, of both these ingredients is now almost if
-not quite obsolete.
-
-Antimony, on account of its ready combustion, is more completely
-consumed before leaving the case. In this connection it may be
-mentioned that care is necessary in a mixture containing steel or iron
-to avoid too large a proportion of the oxygen-bearing ingredient, for
-fear of consuming it inside the case.
-
-Another composition producing remarkable coruscations is the
-old-fashioned “spur fire,” which consists of saltpetre, sulphur, and
-lampblack. This composition requires very careful and experienced
-mixing, or no effect will be produced, rendering its preparation a very
-lengthy process.
-
-This difficulty was somewhat overcome during the last century by the
-addition of orpiment or sulphide of arsenic. Even with this addition,
-however, its manufacture requires care and patience. It is a curious
-fact that this composition, unlike most others, has the quality of
-markedly improving by keeping. How the lampblack produces this unique
-effect, or why its effect should be so different from that produced by
-any other form of carbon, has not been satisfactorily explained.
-
-The compositions we have been considering fall into one of two classes,
-namely, those to produce force and those to produce sparks. These
-two classes, with one other, namely that of colour, may be said to
-include all the modern recreative firework compositions. Up to the
-end of the eighteenth century the ingredients used in the production
-of the compositions of these three classes were very few in number. A
-considerably larger number went to supply the ingredients for a fourth
-class now almost extinct, these might be called the flame-producing
-class. The principle on which these compositions were designed was,
-as it were, to overload a mixture of saltpetre and sulphur with
-combustible material; this latter took the form of gums, resins, or
-fats, the object being to produce a reddish or golden coloured flame.
-The early writers give formulæ for variously coloured stars and fires,
-which must have required considerable effort on the part of the
-observer for identification. These belonged to the flame class.
-
-Frézier, with more perception than most of the others, realised the
-shortcomings of such compositions, merely designating them greenish
-(_verdâtre_), yellowish, reddish, and russet. The only colour which
-he professes to produce distinct is blue, which he obtained with pure
-sulphur.
-
-Progress from the earliest times of pyrotechny up to the first
-quarter of the nineteenth century was very gradual and very slight.
-The chemicals used by Bate and Babington in their actual pyrotechnic
-compositions were as follows:—Gunpowder and its constituents, camphor,
-pitch, resin, orpiment, linseed oil, both pure and boiled, oil of spike
-(_spica lavandula_), oil of petre (rock oil), an oil known either as
-benedict or tile, varnish (probably amber), iron scales, and aqua vitæ
-(spirits of wine).
-
-[Illustration: Diagram Illustrating the evolution of Pyrotechnic
-  Composition.]
-
-Bate extends this list considerably by the ingredients of a series of
-compositions which he has evidently taken from some alchemistic work.
-These compositions are all either designed to burn under water or to
-ignite spontaneously in water, and fall somewhat outside the bounds
-of our subject. Frézier also includes these, evidently from the same
-source.
-
-Bate also refers to a liquid, the recipe for which was probably taken
-from the same work.
-
-“Aqua ardens.” The following are his directions for preparing it:
-“Take old red wine, put it into a glassed vessell, and put into it of
-orpiment one pound, quicke sulphur halfe a pound, quicke lime a quarter
-of a pound; mingle them very well, and afterwards distill them in a
-rosewater still; a cloth being wet in this water will burne like a
-candle and will not be quenched with water.”
-
-It is difficult to see what he obtained by this process differing from
-spirits of wine. The quicklime would serve to dehydrate the wine, and
-probably no part of the orpiment or sulphur would be taken over in the
-distillation.
-
-Rather over a century later we find Frézier and Jones have made
-some additions to the ingredients of pyrotechny, the most notable
-innovations being the use of iron filings (not to be confused with
-the iron scales of Bate, which were probably hammerslag, the magnetic
-oxide of iron), steel filings and pulverised cast-iron. Beyond these,
-and the spark-producing agent already mentioned, the other additions
-are of small importance, the most notable being lapis caliminaris, or
-the mineral carbonate of zinc, which however was not used as are metal
-salts to-day, that is, for the production of colour.
-
-Jones’s book, written some years after that of Frézier, shows little
-advance from the latter as far as pyrotechnic results are concerned.
-What he has done, however, is to eliminate what might be called the
-alchemistic, or one might almost say magic element with which it is
-pervaded.
-
-In attempting to classify the compositions in Frézier’s book one
-is staggered by the grotesque character of many of them and by the
-extraordinary variations in the proportion of their ingredients, even
-amongst compositions designed for a similar effect.
-
-Presumably with the intention of impressing his readers with the
-wonders of the science, he added ingredient after ingredient, which, if
-they did actually no harm to the composition, certainly in no degree
-assisted its functioning.
-
-In what he calls a simple star there are eleven ingredients, of which,
-in fact, four only are essential.
-
-Further, beyond the multiplication of unnecessary ingredients in
-individual compositions, there is often their incompatibility and
-innate unsuitability for the purpose. Such components as ink, onion
-juice, and the drainings of a dung-heap suggest so strangely the
-formulæ of the alchemists that one almost expects to come across “the
-hair of a Barbary ape,” or similar absurdity.
-
-Ruggieri, who may be considered as the last of the old school, is the
-first author to deal with the subject in such a way as to convince the
-professional reader of the practical knowledge of the subject.
-
-His additions to the list of ingredients are not many, but they are
-genuine. He is the first writer to make use of metals or their salts
-in the production of colour; he includes among his chemicals metallic
-copper and zinc, also the acetate and sulphate of copper, and chloride
-of ammonium. The notable advance in his colour compositions, besides
-the use of metal salts for that purpose, is the introduction of a
-chloride, which has the effect of improving the colour by assisting in
-the volatilisation of the metal. For this purpose he used sal-ammoniac,
-the use of which has now been almost discontinued on account of its
-hygroscopic nature, notwithstanding that its base of ammonium is very
-useful in compositions containing copper. Its place is now generally
-taken by calomel; in such compositions chloride of sodium had been used
-for many years, but not as a chlorine carried. Ruggieri appears to have
-been the first to produce colour on anything approaching modern lines,
-and although he did not progress greatly, what he did achieve was
-undoubtedly a marked advance in the art.
-
-His account of the invention of this composition is interesting. He
-says that he was told by a returned traveller from Russia of a set
-piece representing a palm tree, “the colour of which rivalled nature.”
-This piece he set out to imitate, which he did, at any rate to his own
-satisfaction. The result he obtained would undoubtedly give a good
-colour, if the method of firing was very clumsy. He remarks that he
-does not know if his method was as that adopted in Russia, and later of
-the “merit if not of discovering a new fire at least to have imitated
-or rather to have rediscovered it.” It appears, therefore, that there
-may be some doubt as to the originality or priority of Ruggieri’s
-achievement in this direction, but he must be credited at least with
-independently arriving at the result. Indeed it is more than probable
-that the piece seen in Russia was quite different, a transparency
-or illumination, either imported or copied from the work of Eastern
-pyrotechnists, and that the whole credit of introducing colour into the
-art belongs to Ruggieri and to him only.
-
-He mentions that he puts it on record with the object of “thus
-preventing writers from attributing it to the Chinese, the Medes, or
-Arabs, as is the custom in Europe, and above all in France, where more
-than elsewhere there is a mania for enriching foreigners with our
-merits and to rob ourselves of the birthrights of genius.”
-
-
-
-
-                             CHAPTER VIII
-
-                     MODERN FIREWORK COMPOSITIONS
-
-
-Ruggieri may be regarded as the last of the ancients. It is true that
-his book shows a marked advance on anything that had gone before,
-also that he appears to have been one of the first, if not actually
-the first, to introduce the use of metal salts in the production of
-colour. But he makes no reference to the use of chlorate of potash, and
-it is the introduction of this salt into pyrotechny which marks the
-commencement of the modern epoch of the art.
-
-This earliest use of chlorate, or as it was then called, oxymuriate
-or hyperoxymuriate of potash, appears to have been soon after its
-discovery in 1786 by Berthollet. Samuel Parkes, in a work on chemistry
-written in 1811, says: “The shocking death of two individuals in
-October, 1788, and the burns others have suffered by it, render it
-feared by chemists in general,” that is in conjunction with sulphur and
-charcoal.
-
-He later remarks that notwithstanding this accident “the French have
-since —— actually employed in one of their campaigns gunpowder made
-with oxymuriate of potash instead of saltpetre,” and adds that a Scotch
-clergyman had taken out a patent for the use of a powder containing
-chlorate of potash to be fired by percussion.
-
-This patent, granted in 1807, is the first for the percussion system in
-firearms.
-
-The use, however, of chlorate of potash in propellant compositions
-presents no very great advance in pyrotechny, however revolutionary
-may have been the introduction of the percussion system into the
-manufacture of firearms.
-
-It is its use in the production of colour that marks the modern epoch.
-
-The exact date of this innovation appears to be about 1830.
-
-A Belgian lieutenant of artillery, Hippert by name, published in 1836
-a translation of a work by Captain Moritz Meyer, of the Prussian
-Artillery, on the application of chemistry to artifices of war.
-
-In a chapter devoted to coloured fires he gives several formulæ
-containing chlorate of potash. Although this appears to be the first
-published notice of its use, it seems likely that by the time the book
-was published that it was fairly well established.
-
-Meyer concludes his remarks on coloured composition by saying that the
-English at that time made use of coloured rockets for signalling at
-sea, and had succeeded in producing ten different shades, “which are
-quite sufficient for the purpose of signalling particular pieces of
-information.”
-
-This seems rather to indicate that the elaboration if not the first
-introduction of chlorate of potash into pyrotechny may be attributed to
-this country.
-
-His mention of ten distinguishable tints, however, is somewhat
-optimistic. During the late war it was found that to avoid any chance
-of a mistake in code signals only three colours could be used for
-long-distance signalling, namely, red, green, and white.
-
-It is curious that Meyer makes a mistake over the first composition
-he mentions. He describes a light composition of chlorate of potash
-and sugar, which he says burns with a red light. In fact, however, the
-light so produced is a bluish white, similar to the so-called blue
-shipping light.
-
-The directions he gives for the preparation of other colours are as
-follows:
-
-“A powder which burns with a green flame is obtained by the addition of
-nitrate of baryta to chlorate of potash, nitrate of copper, acetate of
-copper.
-
-“A white flame is made by the addition of sulphide of antimony,
-sulphide of arsenic, camphor.
-
-“Red by the mixture of lampblack, coal, bone ash, mineral oxide of
-iron, nitrate of strontia, pumice stone, mica, oxide of cobalt.
-
-“Blue with ivory, bismuth, alum, zinc, copper sulphate purified of its
-sea water (_sic_).
-
-“Yellow by amber, carbonate of soda, sulphate of soda, cinnabar.
-
-“It is necessary in order to make the colours come out well to animate
-the combustion by adding chlorate of potash.”
-
-These formulæ, if somewhat incoherent, and clearly showing a want of
-experimental verification, indicate a real advance in pyrotechnic
-chemistry, not only by the addition of chlorate of potash, but by the
-multiplication of the number of metal salts used.
-
-At the same time it is evident that the old alchemistic ideas were not
-entirely extinct by the use of such ingredients as ivory, mica, and
-pumice stone.
-
-However, there can be no doubt that from the third decade of the
-nineteenth century dates the modern era of the pyrotechnic art. From
-this date onward chemical ingredients, metals and their salts as they
-were provided by the commercial chemist were eagerly taken and tested
-by the pyrotechnist, and adopted or rejected on their merits. And from
-this date begins the rapid elimination of useless additions.
-
-Of those compositions given above the following salts are at present
-in use: nitrate of baryta, sulphide of antimony, sulphide of arsenic,
-nitrate of strontia, copper sulphate, carbonate of soda, and chlorate
-of potash.
-
-Zinc, alum, lampblack, and oxide of iron are also used, but not for the
-purpose indicated.
-
-Nitrate of copper and sulphate of soda would both be valuable
-ingredients, but their unstable nature prevents their use under modern
-conditions.
-
-Meyer also describes the use of salts to tint an alcohol flame, which
-is merely an elaboration of Ruggieri’s palm tree and of little interest
-at the present time.
-
-The next name prominent in pyrotechny is that of F. M. Chertier, who
-published in 1854 his “Nouvelles recherches sur les feux d’artifice,”
-after having published a pamphlet on the subject about twenty-five
-years previously.
-
-In this work Chertier devotes most of his attention to the subject of
-colour, and although new ingredients have been introduced which were
-either unknown or were not then available on account of expense or
-other causes, since the time of his writing, yet there can be no doubt
-that Chertier stands alone in the literature of pyrotechny and as a
-pioneer of the modern development of the art.
-
-Tessier, in the introduction to his “Treatise on Coloured Fires,”
-published in 1859, whilst paying tribute to Chertier’s work, regrets
-that he only possessed “quite superficial notions of chemistry.” Here
-speaks the chemist. The writer recently asked a pyrotechnic chemist of
-many years’ experience, whose knowledge of pyrotechnic chemistry is
-probably second to none, his opinion of Tessier’s book, and received
-this answer. “Tessier’s book contains too much chemical theory and too
-little pyrotechnic practice.” There speaks the pyrotechnist.
-
-The writer, as he has before remarked, has no wish to belittle the
-value of the chemist’s work in relation to pyrotechny, but a knowledge
-of chemistry is not the most important attribute of the successful
-pyrotechnist.
-
-As in other arts so in pyrotechny, experience and natural aptitude are
-the first essentials.
-
-Chertier may have had little knowledge of chemistry, but in spite
-of or perhaps because of his lack of chemical knowledge, he was able
-to produce a work which, from the point of view of the practical
-pyrotechnist, has never been equalled.
-
-His researches were conducted by practical experiments; he had one
-end in view, namely, pyrotechnic effect, and by exhaustive trials of
-the materials obtainable, unbiased by theoretical consideration, he
-succeeded in advancing the art to a stage undreamed of a few years
-previously. It is true that many of his formulæ are not in use to-day,
-in this country that is, on account of the danger of using sulphur or
-sulphur compounds in conjunction with chlorate of potash; but there can
-be no doubt that his writings and research work laid the foundation of
-modern pyrotechnic practice.
-
-Once the theory of colour production was established, that is to say
-the volatilisation of a metal salt in a hotly burning composition, it
-was a matter of less difficulty to either eliminate the sulphur, which
-was present chiefly as a burnable, or to replace it.
-
-This prohibition, as we have seen, took place in 1894, under Order
-in Council 15, and affected the production of coloured fireworks far
-less than might have been anticipated. During the period between the
-introduction of chlorate of potash and the Order in question, the
-development of commercial chemistry had increased greatly the number
-of chemicals available in pyrotechny, so that in some few cases it was
-found possible to replace the chlorate.
-
-In addition, moreover, most of the leading makers, anticipating
-some form of restriction on this admixture, had been for some time
-previously seeking substitute colour formulæ, and although it may be
-said by some that colours were obtained by the use of chlorate and
-sulphur which have not been equalled by subsequent formulæ, yet most
-have not only been equalled but improved upon, and the small minority
-remaining are an insignificant price to pay for the security and
-safety gained in manufacture.
-
-Between the publication of Chertier’s book in 1856 (nearly thirty years
-later than his first pamphlet) and the close of the century, several
-works on pyrotechny made their appearance, several by Frenchmen:
-Tessier, 1859, “Traité Pratique des Feux colorés,” two works in the
-Roret encyclopædia series, “Pyrotechnie Civile” and “Pyrotechnie
-Militaire,” published 1865, and in 1882, “Traité pratique des Feux
-d’Artifice,” by Denisse.
-
-The English works of any value during this period were: “Pyrotechny,”
-by Practicus, Brown’s “Practical Firework Making,” and “The
-Pyrotechnist’s Treasury,” by Kentish, 1878. Hutstein and Websky’s “Art
-of Firework Making,” published at Leipzig in 1878, a book published
-under the same title by Oscar Frey about 1885, and “A Theoretical
-and Practical Treatise of Civil Pyrotechny,” by Antoni, published
-at Trieste in 1893, together with some works on military pyrotechny
-published both in Europe and the United States, complete the list.
-
-Some of the military works are of considerable value, but are chiefly
-directed to the study of rockets and signals; some, however, are in
-the same category as “The Artillerist’s Manual and British Soldier’s
-Compendium,” by Captain F. A. Griffiths, R.A., published in 1852. The
-section dealing with fireworks in this work might almost be taken as
-an attempt to be humorous on the subject. The author quotes in all
-seriousness formulæ dating from the days of Bate and Babington, and
-knows so little of his subject that he gives instructions for making
-the same firework under different names under the impression that
-they are distinct units, the information being obviously pillaged
-from earlier writers. Generally a study of the above-mentioned works
-indicates that the tendency in pyrotechnic compositions has been
-in the direction of simplification. During the eighteenth century
-the useless ingredients had been in a great measure eliminated. The
-“burnables” had been reduced from a long list of alchemistic survivals
-to a mere half-dozen or so.
-
-Gums had been reduced practically to shellac alone (the use of gum
-arabic as an adhesive is quite distinct), carbons to lampblack and
-charcoal, and these with sulphur and sulphides of antimony and arsenic
-practically completed the list.
-
-Of the metals the use of pure zinc, copper, and brass has been
-discontinued, and the two almost revolutionary additions of magnesium
-and aluminium made, the former about 1865 and the latter in 1894.
-
-The date of the introduction of these metals marks almost as great
-advances in the art as did the introduction of chlorate of potash. Not
-only are they used as spark-producing metals in the same way as are
-steel and iron, but they are also used as “burnables,” that is, they
-are consumed inside the case; and many of the present-day firework
-compositions owe their brilliance to one or other of these metals.
-
-It is, however, in colour compositions that the tendency towards
-simplification is most strongly exhibited. In Kentish’s book colour
-compositions containing as many as seven or eight ingredients are
-common, whereas to-day formulæ containing over four are the exception
-rather than the rule.
-
-[Illustration: Roman Candles. This untouched photograph illustrates
-  the extraordinary brilliance of aluminium compositions. Each
-  “plume” (200 ft. high) is produced by a single star about ¾ in.
-  diameter and ¾ in. long. Each line is a microscopic particle of
-  aluminium.]
-
-The reason for this complexity is not easy to follow, but it may have
-been in some measure due to the difficulty of obtaining sufficiently
-finely ground chemicals before the days of machine grinding; in some
-cases it was found that by melting two of the ingredients together
-and allowing the mass to cool they could be ground with greater ease.
-Chertier went so far as to melt shellac and salt together, grind them
-and remove the salt by dissolving in water. Also by adding a finely
-ground chemical of similar action to one only coarsely ground a better
-result was obtained.
-
-Whatever may have been the reason, there can be no doubt that, except
-for secondary shades, the fewer the chemicals used the more brilliant
-will be the resulting fire.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER IX
-
-                          MILITARY PYROTECHNY
-
-
-The use of pyrotechnic mixtures for military purposes is the basis of
-artillery, and one might almost say the foundation of chemistry. Before
-the age of the alchemist men were at work endeavouring to produce some
-weapon which would give them an advantage over their enemies. Of the
-natural phenomena none made so strong an appeal as fire, which from
-earliest times had been a mysterious and therefore terrible element.
-
-The early use of fire or pyrotechnic mixtures gave the users so decided
-an advantage over their enemies that their use was chronicled by
-historians of the day either on the side of the victors as a pæan of
-praise for their invincible weapon, or as an excuse for defeat on the
-side of the vanquished.
-
-Such reports are necessarily vague and exaggerated, vague because
-the writer had no technical knowledge of the subject, and the users
-naturally wished for secrecy and exaggerated because exaggeration
-increased the value of the weapon.
-
-It is from such reports that we obtain our information about Greek fire
-and similar compositions, and when one considers that the translations
-were generally biased, in most cases unintentionally but still biased,
-in favour of reading into passages referring to fire or projectiles an
-early reference to gunpowder, guns or some unknown pyrotechnic effect,
-it is obvious that all information so gained must be accepted with a
-considerable amount of reserve.
-
-The translators, too, in many cases were men of no technical knowledge,
-which made them even more prone to fall into errors which would be
-avoided by the expert.
-
-Of the mass of writing dealing with the subject, the work of two
-writers stands out prominently—the late Mr. Oscar Guttman in his
-“History of Explosives,” and Col. H. W. L. Hime in his “Origin of
-Artillery,” whose observations cover the field of information on the
-subject, although approaching from slightly different angles.
-
-Neither, however, gives an exact explanation satisfactorily covering
-the projection of Greek or sea fire. Col. Hime, rejecting earlier
-theories, goes somewhat to the other extreme: he denies the knowledge
-of saltpetre before the twelfth century, but attempts to explain the
-phenomenon by the use of phosphide of calcium.
-
-He premises four conditions to be filled by the weapon or apparatus.
-These conditions are fulfilled by the explanation already briefly
-touched upon on page 15, and the writer is convinced that this simple
-although apparently little known phenomenon is the true explanation of
-the terrible, mysterious Greek or sea fire.
-
-If a mixture of saltpetre, pitch, and sulphur is charged into a long
-tube sufficiently strong and ignited it will burn, giving off dense
-smoke, for a short time, when it appears to choke momentarily. This
-choking is followed by a more or less violent outburst, which may
-be likened to a “cough,” projecting a burning mass of composition
-to a considerable distance; the action is repeated with surprising
-regularity during the burning of the whole of the composition
-throughout the length of the tube, and will, the writer is confident,
-satisfy any unbiased observer that here is the true explanation of the
-phenomenon.
-
-Let us see how the requirements mentioned by Col. Hime are fulfilled.
-The first, “It was a wet fire,” _i.e._, its action necessarily
-connected in some way with water or the sea, and as a matter of fact it
-was used at sea with great success on many occasions. May not a “wet
-fire” be a way of saying “a molten, viscous mass of fire”? The masses
-would float and although some might become extinguished, some would
-probably burn on the surface of the water; also its use at sea would,
-with a range up to a hundred yards, be quite as easy as on land.
-
-Secondly, “Its composition was such as could be kept secret at
-Constantinople.” If, as Col. Hime says, saltpetre as such was unknown
-at the time, it was only as a separate kind of salt. It was undoubtedly
-known, but not distinguished from sea salt or nitrate of soda. Would
-not this fact render the concealment of the ingredients used more easy?
-
-Thirdly, “It burned with much noise and smoke.” Allowing for some
-slight exaggeration the first condition is fulfilled, as undoubtedly is
-the latter.
-
-Fourthly, “It was necessarily connected in some way with syphons.” As
-Col. Hime points out, there is ambiguity between the word syphon and
-tube, and if the latter word meets the facts it seems the more likely
-rendering.
-
-The writer saw this effect produced during experiments with
-smoke-producing compositions, and it is probable that the mixture in
-question was not in the most effective proportions, but so striking was
-the result that there is little doubt that experiments on such lines
-would produce a terrible and effective weapon under the conditions of
-warfare then in existence.
-
-The “Dictionnaire Mobilier Français” gives a diagram of a weapon of a
-somewhat similar nature stated to have been used by the Arabs in the
-fifteenth century. The illustration shows what is virtually a Roman
-candle, and appears plausible until one considers the facts. What is
-most probable is that the weapon, which was of an incendiary nature,
-was similar to that described above, which fulfils the requirements of
-the description without assuming a knowledge of compositions which at
-the time did not exist.
-
-From the period of Greek fire onward military and recreative pyrotechny
-appear to have marched side by side.
-
-As we have seen, the progress in the latter branch was extremely slow,
-so with the former, and it was not until the introduction of modern or
-comparatively modern methods that real progress commenced.
-
-With the progress came divergence, the introduction of the rifled bore
-in artillery, and of nitro compounds and high explosives whose dynamic
-force exceeds many times that of gunpowder, which however useful they
-might be to the artillerist, were of little value to the recreative
-pyrotechnist. It was not until the great war that the resources of
-pyrotechny were fully realised and utilised by the military. It is
-curious to note that just as the tactics and methods of warfare
-eventually adopted—although on an unprecedentedly large scale—were
-in a great measure those of centuries before, so military pyrotechny
-returned to ideas just as antiquated. With the advantages of modern
-science, and by the assistance of knowledge gained in the development
-of recreative pyrotechny, the progress made in a month or so in
-military pyrotechny during the war may, without exaggerating, be said
-to have exceeded that of previous centuries.
-
-Speaking generally, the use of pyrotechny in warfare, or indeed any
-science, has two objectives, the first to destroy or embarrass the
-troops of the enemy, and secondly, to assist one’s own.
-
-Until the late war it was the first of these which received by far the
-greater attention, and it is but natural that the introduction of the
-modern methods mentioned above should have provided means which left
-pyrotechnics far behind. In the second division, however, pyrotechny
-triumphed.
-
-Of the offensive type the earliest use of pyrotechny was the
-incendiary. Greek fire, wild fire, and similar compositions have been
-used from time immemorial to set fire to enemies’ works or ships or to
-injure his personnel. And just as incendiary compositions antedated
-the propellant, so the incendiary shell appears to have preceded the
-explosive.
-
-Incendiary projectiles of the past were known as carcasses; the
-earliest form appears to have been a canvas bag or container pitched
-over on the outside and bound with iron hoops, which, from their
-likeness to the ribs of a corpse—according to “Chambers’ Encyclopædia”
-(1741)—suggested the name.
-
-The fireball was similarly constructed and designed for hand
-projection, bearing the same relation to the carcass as does the
-grenade to the bomb.
-
-The composition in most incendiary missiles consisted of a mixture of
-saltpetre, sulphur, and pitch, with or without the addition of mealed
-gunpowder.
-
-The most recent form of carcass was a spherical shell of iron, having
-three vents, and filled with incendiary composition. This projectile
-became obsolete in the Service at the end of the last century.
-
-Another form of pyrotechnic projectile was that designed to give out
-smoke, either with the idea of rendering the atmosphere of works or
-casemates unbearable to the defenders (a principle revived in the late
-war by the use of poison gas), or to hinder them by obscuring their
-vision either by firing a smoke cloud in their (the enemy’s) works, or
-so placed as to hide one’s own troops.
-
-It is open to discussion if the use of smoke is not indeed of greater
-antiquity than that of incendiary missiles, but it is probable that
-its origin was its production by the combustion of grass or similar
-material, and not with pyrotechnic composition.
-
-Read’s “Weekly Journal” of October 25th, 1760, in an account of a
-review in Hyde Park, mentions as the concluding item of the manœuvres,
-that “pieces of a new construction, of a globular form, were set on
-fire, which occasioned such a smoke as to render all persons within a
-considerable distance entirely invisible, and thereby the better in
-time of action to secure a retreat.” There can be little doubt that
-this is one of the first demonstrations, at any rate in this country,
-of the use of smoke balls.
-
-The Chinese made use of both projectiles many centuries ago, and the
-smoke—or stink-pot—was in use by them until comparatively recently.
-
-Smoke balls from 4⅖th inches up to 13 inches calibre were included in
-the official list of projectiles for smooth-bore guns until about 1873,
-when with ground light balls they became obsolete. The latter, as their
-name suggests, were intended to be burnt on the ground and light up
-enemy working parties, etc. This also was the object of the parachute
-light-ball, which was fitted with a time fuse and an opening charge;
-upon opening, a light was ignited suspended from a parachute. This
-method appears to have been invented in Denmark in 1820, and they were
-used in Austria the following year.
-
-Another class of war store which naturally suggests itself is that used
-to give light for the purpose of signalling. The light is either burnt
-on the ground as a hand light or fitted to a rocket. Fireworks for
-this purpose have been in use from earliest times, being the logical
-development of the signal beacon, but it was not until the introduction
-of genuine colour—that is to say, colour distinguishable at a long
-distance—that they reached their full standard of utility.
-
-It is, however, the rocket which has received most attention for
-military purposes, and certainly with good reason. Here was a
-projectile which, in the days of smooth-bore ordnance had a good
-range and required no heavy gun or transport. Moreover, it formed
-its own time fuse. Congreve wrote: “Rockets are ammunition without
-ordnance, the soul of artillery without the body.” Many methods of
-fitting up rockets for warlike purposes have been evolved, invented and
-re-invented, most of which for practical purposes were useless.
-
-It is the military use of the rocket, however, which presents the most
-interesting study in military pyrotechny.
-
-There are several early references to what is supposed to be the use of
-rockets in warfare. The Paduans are stated to have burned the town of
-Mestre with these projectiles.
-
-Orleans used rockets in its defence in 1429, and Dunois fired them in
-1449, when besieging the town of Pont-Andemer. In 1452 they were used
-against Bordeaux, and the following year at Gand.
-
-Rockets were employed in 1586 for lighting purposes and as projectiles
-against cavalry. The description seems to indicate a method of fitting
-up to produce a similar effect to a shrapnel shell.
-
-Hanselet, writing in 1630, refers to rockets with grenades attached.
-Casimir Siemienowitz, Lieut.-General of the Ordnance to the King of
-Poland, published in 1650 his “Great Art of Artillery,” which contains
-a treatise on fireworks both for civil and military purposes. He refers
-to a work on the military use of fireworks written ninety years before,
-and speaks of rockets up to 100 lbs. and describes their construction.
-
-A French work published in 1561, entitled “Treatise upon several kinds
-of War-Fireworks,” suggests a rocket case of varnished leather.
-
-It is on record that in 1688 trials were made in Berlin with rockets
-of 50 lbs. and 120 lbs., which carried a bomb weighing 16 lbs. The
-composition was nine parts saltpetre, four parts sulphur, and three
-parts charcoal. The case is stated to have been of wood covered with
-linen.
-
-Hyder Ali is credited with making considerable use of rockets
-against our troops in India; he is said to have had a corps of 1,200
-“rocketers” in 1788, whilst later on, his son, Tippoo Sahib, employed
-as many as 5,000, and Captain Moritz Myer, writing in 1836, ascribes to
-experience of these weapons so gained the efforts made in England to
-bring them to perfection.
-
-He also describes the Indian rocket as “an iron envelope about 8 inches
-long and 1½ inches in diameter, with sharp points at the top. The stick
-of bamboo 8 or 10 feet long, but sometimes consisting of an iron rod.
-They were hand-thrown by the rocketers, and did much damage to the
-cavalry.”
-
-This description, which, to say the least, is unconvincing, would seem
-rather to refer to some other pyrotechnic missile.
-
-Whatever may have been the cause, there was undoubtedly great interest
-in the subject of rockets during the first half of the nineteenth
-century. Sir William Congreve is perhaps best known in connection with
-the work of this period. His efforts, however, were rather directed to
-the development of existing ideas than to invention.
-
-In 1804, after experiments at the Royal Laboratory, Woolwich, a
-flotilla of boats was fitted out under his direction for the purpose
-of bombarding Boulogne Harbour with incendiary rockets from frames
-fixed on the decks. The first attempt ended in a fiasco owing to heavy
-weather, but the following year better results were obtained, although
-the rockets were deflected by the wind and did more damage in the town
-than in the harbour.
-
-In 1807 Congreve personally superintended their use at Copenhagen
-with even better effect, and they were again used in the Walcheren
-Expedition and in an attack on the island of Aix.
-
-These rockets were all of an incendiary nature, with paper cases, and
-fired at an elevation of 55 degrees. Myer gives the proportion of
-the composition as 62.44 saltpetre, 23.18 charcoal, 14.38 sulphur.
-This writer gives Congreve’s rockets little credit for efficiency,
-but admits that they “attracted great attention and were regarded as
-formidable.” He remarks that at the siege of Flessingen “the rockets
-acted so badly that the English themselves said that they did more harm
-to the battery than the besieged town.” He also states that as a result
-of finding an “unburnt specimen” in the town after the bombardment of
-Copenhagen trials were conducted by Captain Schuhmacher, although how
-an unburnt rocket could reach the town is not clear; possibly he means
-from a reconstruction of the remains collected.
-
-These trials seem to have been successful, and in 1808 a rocket brigade
-was formed.
-
-In 1809 Admiral Cochrane used rockets upon the town of Callao, in
-1810 they were used against Cadiz, and in 1813 in the battle of
-Leipsic, where the commanding officer, Captain Bogeu, was killed, and
-at the siege of Dantzic. It is interesting to note that during that
-year they were used for propaganda purposes. At the siege of Glogau
-proclamations, etc., were printed on thin paper and fastened to the
-sticks with light thread. Rockets were used with effect at Waterloo,
-the rocket detachment being directed by Sergeant Dunnet.
-
-In 1813 Colonel Augustin, of the Austrian army, saw the English rocket
-batteries in action and trials of Congreve rockets in London, and the
-following year visited Copenhagen, where by arrangement between the
-two Powers he was instructed by Schuhmacher in his method of rocket
-construction.
-
-The Austrian Government as a result established shortly afterwards an
-extensive factory at Weinerisch-Neustadt for the manufacture of war
-rockets.
-
-Much work and ingenuity was expended about this time in seeking to
-eliminate the necessity of the rocket stick. Congreve is credited with
-introducing fins similar in action to the feathers on an arrow; this,
-however, had been done nearly one hundred years previously, and Frézier
-illustrates the method in his treatise.
-
-A Mr. Heath, of Boston, is credited with having reached a range of two
-and a half-miles with a five-pound rocket of this type.
-
-Garnier in 1813 proposed to avoid the alteration in position of the
-centre of gravity by using a wire or chain with a weight at the end
-fastened to the centre of the rocket and hanging vertically. From
-Ruggieri’s book it would appear that this idea had often been tried
-previously.
-
-However, the most successful series of inventions were those based on
-the principle of the rifle, that to give the rocket a rotary motion in
-its passage through the air.
-
-In 1815 successful trials were made in America with rockets of the
-rotary type, rotation being imparted by means of holes bored through
-the case into the composition in an oblique direction.
-
-Congreve established a factory at Bow for the manufacture of rockets
-for the East India Company, and Captain Parlby, of the Bengal
-Artillery, manufactured similar rockets, both being made to rotate,
-probably on similar lines to the American model. The “Calcutta Journal”
-of the period contains a discussion of the rival merits of Congreve’s
-and Parlby’s rockets.
-
-Hale patented a rocket constructed on similar lines as late as 1844,
-the holes at the side of the case being nearly tangential. He also
-gave his name to a service rocket—Hale’s 24 pr. and 9 pr. These were
-constructed of iron with a wooden head, fitted metal plug at the base
-with three vents, a tail piece or flange continuing from the base so as
-to enclose half the periphery of each jet. This arrangement imparts a
-rotary motion to the rocket.
-
-In 1853 Macintosh patented a method of rotating the tube from which the
-rocket was fired so as to give an initial rotary movement before the
-flight commences.
-
-The following year Fitzmaurice patented the idea of causing rotation by
-a screw-shaped head, and Court a method by which the fire impinged on
-surfaces inclined to the axis of the rocket.
-
-In 1826 Congreve patented a method of fixing two or more rockets
-together so that the heading of one ignited the next and so obtained a
-longer time of burning; this method is, however, again anticipated in
-Frézier’s book.
-
-About this time all the leading Powers in Europe were manufacturing
-rockets for war purposes, factories for their manufacture being
-established at Warsaw, Turin, Toulon, and Metz. The Russians used them
-at this period in their war with Turkey, firing them in salvoes of nine.
-
-In 1831 a series of trials were made by the Swiss military authorities
-of 6 lb. rockets fired from a 6 ft. tube, when a range of from 18–1900
-yards was obtained, and three hits registered out of five were made at
-1,100 yards.
-
-Although great interest was aroused by the rocket for war purposes, it
-quickly subsided, and it is now practically only used for signalling
-and line-carrying purposes.
-
-William Bourne, who describes himself as a “poor gunner,” the first
-to produce an original book on artillery in this country, as distinct
-from translation of continental works, makes the following observations
-on military pyrotechnics: “Divers gunners and other men have devised
-sundry sorts of fireworks for the annoyance of their enemies, yet as
-far as I have ever seen or heard, I never knew any good service done by
-it, either by sea or land, but only by powder, and that has done great
-service for that the force of it is so mighty and cometh with such a
-terror. But for their other fireworks it is rather meet to be used in
-the time of pleasure in the night rather than for any service.”
-
-
-
-
-                               CHAPTER X
-
-                 MILITARY PYROTECHNY IN THE GREAT WAR
-
-
-The outbreak of the great war, whatever may have been the case
-as regards other branches, found the Service badly equipped
-pyrotechnically. The great and almost frantic interest taken in
-military pyrotechny during the first half of the nineteenth century
-had died away. Gradually the pyrotechnic stores included in the
-official schedule had been reduced until in 1914 a few rockets—mostly
-signal—lights for signalling and illumination, Very pistol cartridges
-for signalling purposes, with single stars of various colours, and
-incendiary and light stars for shells constituted the entire list.
-
-The cause of this neglect of the art of pyrotechny for warlike purposes
-was not difficult to understand. Rifled barrels, breech-loading, and
-quick-firing ordnance had entirely destroyed interest in the rocket
-as a projectile. The telephone and telegraph had almost entirely
-superseded older methods of signalling, and so with most of the
-pyrotechnic contrivances which, less than a century before, had been
-thought to be indispensable.
-
-As events proved, this abandonment of old ideas was premature. Although
-every thinking man in the country realised that war was some day
-inevitable, no one, or at least very few, realised the nature of the
-struggle. The development of land war into what were practically siege
-operations on a gigantic scale; the nature of sea warfare with the new
-factors, the submarine, seaplane and wireless; the extent and ferocity
-of aerial warfare—all were unforeseen. Yet each of these called for new
-inventions, new methods of destruction, new methods of protection and
-communication, and in many cases the resuscitation of old ideas long
-since abandoned.
-
-And as fire has for all time been associated with the sword, it is
-small wonder that pyrotechny played no inconspicuous part in the
-struggle.
-
-As has always been the case, and no doubt always will be, the outbreak
-of hostilities was the signal for an epidemic of inventions. Men who
-had never before interested themselves either in war, or in that
-particular department of science to which their ideas belong, and in
-spite of or perhaps because of an entire ignorance of the subject,
-inundated the authorities with so-called inventions which were so much
-waste of time to all concerned.
-
-In this connection it is interesting to turn to a volume of
-“Abridgements of Specifications relating to Fire-arms and Other
-Weapons,” published by the Patent Office in 1859. The preface contains
-the following remarks: “It is worthy of notice that a very large
-proportion of the so-called inventions of the present day are, in
-fact, old contrivances, sometimes modified and adapted to modern
-requirements, but very often identical with what has been tried and
-abandoned as useless long ago. From the year 1617 down to the end
-of the year 1852, not more than about 300 patents were granted for
-inventions relating to fire-arms. When the war with Russia broke out
-the Patent Office was inundated with applications for Letters Patent
-for similar inventions, and about 600 have since been actually granted.
-Of these it may be safely said that five-sixths of the applications
-related to old contrivances which have been patented over and over
-again.”
-
-Many of these inventions recall a story of the Duke of Wellington,
-who was examining a steam rocket invented and patented by a Jacob
-Perkins in 1824. This device consisted of an iron case with a stick
-like that of a rocket. The case was filled with water and had a
-fusible metal plug at the base. The case was heated, and when the plug
-melted the generated steam escaped and impinging on the air drove
-forward the projectile. The absurdity of the idea is too obvious to
-need discussion. The Duke carefully examined it, and after asking many
-questions, remarked: “If this had been invented first and gunpowder
-afterwards, what a capital improvement gunpowder would have been.”
-
-The great war saw these “inventions” multiplied a thousand-fold. The
-spread of education, the availability of books from which at least a
-smattering of any subject could be obtained, and from the increase both
-in quality and quantity of newspaper news a consequent closer knowledge
-of what was happening—all these factors helped to add to the crop
-of ideas. In many cases undoubtedly these ideas were elaborated and
-worked out by the inventor, adopted by the authorities, and proved of
-the highest value. These cases were, however, greatly in the minority,
-and were generally the work of one who had at least some pre-knowledge
-of his subject. Such a man was the late Wing-Commander F. A. Brock,
-R.N.A.S., of whom it can be said without fear of contradiction no one
-man did more for military pyrotechny during the great war, and possibly
-in no other single subject during the war was one man so invaluable.
-
-Born in 1884, educated at Dulwich, he entered the firm of C. T. Brock
-and Co. in 1901, where he remained until the outbreak of war. Endowed
-with a marked inventive ability and a phenomenal memory, and brought
-up as it were in an atmosphere of pyrotechny, he developed a knowledge
-of pyrotechnic chemistry which was extraordinary and appeared almost
-instinctive.
-
-A naval correspondent, writing in “The Navy,” speaks of him as follows:
-“From H_{2}O to WO_{2} they knew all about it, or thought they did
-until the wayward genius of the Commander, who never pretended to be a
-chemist, taught them that there were permutations and combinations to
-the _n_th degree that they had never dared to think of.
-
-[Illustration: WING-COMMANDER FRANK ARTHUR BROCK, R.N.A.S.
-
-  Killed at Zeebrugge, April 23rd, 1918.]
-
-“Wing-Commander Brock’s great secret was originality. To the accepted
-formula he would add just a touch of the unexpected. The chemists would
-say it can’t be done, or it wouldn’t work. Sometimes it did not, but
-often it did, very nearly. And Brock’s pioneer brain touched it a bit
-more—and lo! the impossible and the unexpected had arrived.”
-
-During his connection with the firm he had travelled over a large
-portion of the world on its behalf. His experience at a comparatively
-early age in organising and carrying out large displays—where the
-safety of thousands of spectators is in the hands of the directing
-mind—no doubt did much to develop those qualities of self-reliance and
-self-confidence which were so marked a characteristic of his Service
-career.
-
-Wing-Commander Brock was responsible for many pyrotechnic inventions,
-and for the practical development of many ideas and inventions not his
-own, but which required technical knowledge and experience to ensure
-success.
-
-It is perhaps as the “inventor of the smoke screen” that he is
-best known, a quite mistaken idea, the fallacy of which a moment’s
-consideration will show. There are many references to the use of smoke
-as a screen in classic times and even in mythology. The smoke ball,
-as we have seen, was a recognised military store up to the middle of
-the last century. It is just as absurd to credit Commander Brock, or
-for that matter any living man, with the invention of the use of the
-smoke screen in warfare as to credit the inventor of a patent fire
-extinguisher with the idea of putting out fires.
-
-What Commander Brock did do was to provide the means when the demand
-arose of producing smoke suited to the particular purpose for which it
-was to be used, whether for screens, signalling, or other purposes.
-
-As an example the “E” float may be cited. A demand had arisen for a
-smoke-producing device for use on board merchant ships to assist escape
-from enemy submarine attack. Commander Brock, with characteristic
-energy, in a very short space of time produced the “E” float, which
-for ease in manipulation by untrained operators and volume of smoke
-produced was probably unsurpassed by any subsequent device, and on the
-score of cheapness it undoubtedly held the field.
-
-This store, which was in reality a triumph of pyrotechnic design, was
-in appearance so simple as to mislead some at least to whom greater
-insight might have been credited as to the ingenuity of its design.
-Counsel at a sitting of the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors,
-described the float as “half-a-dozen or so drain rockets in a box.” A
-remark which might be considered as accurate as to describe a clock as
-some pieces of metal in a box, were it not for the fact that the box
-in question contained no drain rockets, or anything resembling them
-more closely than one firework resembles another designed for quite a
-different purpose.
-
-[Illustration: Smoke Float in Action.]
-
-The requirements to be met were as follows: The apparatus was to be
-used by men whom by nature of their employment it was impossible to
-train individually, therefore its ignition must be simple and at
-the same time certain and quick in action, and carried on the float
-itself; a chamber had to be provided in which to as it were accumulate
-the smoke generated, which chamber had of necessity to have holes
-through which the smoke could issue. As the float had to be dropped
-after ignition from the deck of the vessel into the sea, and would
-consequently be submerged for a short time, these holes must be in some
-way sealed until the float rose to the surface. The pyrotechnic
-compositions which produce the greatest volume of smoke were found to
-take some considerable time to attain their maximum of production,
-and separate units had to be included which would develop almost
-instantaneously a big mass of smoke, pending the generation of the main
-supply.
-
-In addition, the float must be so constructed as to remain efficient
-when stored on the deck of a merchant vessel in all weathers and
-conditions.
-
-Two hundred thousand of these floats were issued during the war.
-
-The subject of smoke is one which naturally attracts the attention of
-the pyrotechnist, although in what might be called a negative direction.
-
-For display work the elimination of smoke is obviously of greater
-importance than its production, but inquiry into the one of necessity
-leads to a knowledge of the other.
-
-In some few cases the smoke generated is of value in adding to the
-effect of the burning composition; the most noticeable case of this is
-the use of coloured fire as flares, that is to say, burnt in masses
-for the illumination of trees and other natural features. Some years
-ago Messrs. C. T. Brock & Co. spent considerable time in eliminating
-as far as possible the smoke from coloured fire, when it was found
-that without the smoke the result was very poor. It was the reflection
-of the colour on the smoke upon which the illumination depended for
-its effect. This, however, is hardly germane to our subject, but is
-mentioned to indicate how largely the question of smoke enters into the
-work of the modern pyrotechnist.
-
-Commander Brock had, apart from his ordinary work, been engaged for
-some months prior to the outbreak of war on the question of the
-production of smoke for the Admiralty, and had also interested himself
-in the subject for commercial purposes, such as insecticide and other
-uses. He was therefore in a position, when the demand arose for smoke
-both for naval and military use, to start research in the matter
-considerably ahead of other inquirers, and to produce immediately
-a smoke that would supply the needs for the time being until more
-satisfactory means could be evolved.
-
-The Royal Naval Experimental Station at Stratford, of which he was
-in command and which he organised and brought into being, had many
-activities besides smoke. But even the exacting work of controlling
-its many activities was not sufficient for the Commander’s untiring
-energy; the few moments he could snatch from his duties and the many he
-stole from sleep were devoted to the invention and elaboration of war
-devices. His greatest achievement was the Brock anti-Zeppelin bullet,
-for which he and he alone is responsible, and which beyond any shadow
-of doubt delivered this country from the terror of the Zeppelin raids.
-
-His other inventions include many purely pyrotechnic smoke devices and
-inventions connected with the production of smoke, such as igniters
-which were used to start the action of smoke production, the Dover
-flares of one million candle power each, used by the anti-submarine
-patrol in the Straits of Dover, and burned to the extent of several
-hundreds every night.
-
-He was also responsible for several forms of stars for use in Very
-pistol cartridges.
-
-Captain Carpenter, V.C., in his splendid book, “The Blocking of
-Zeebrugge,” writes as follows of his work in connection with that
-operation:
-
-  “It would be difficult for anybody to speak too highly of
-  Wing-Commander Frank A. Brock. He was a rare personality. An
-  inventive genius, than whom the country had no better, it was
-  his brain that differentiated this blocking enterprise from all
-  previous attempts in history in one most important particular. The
-  difficulty of reaching the destination in the face of a strenuous
-  opposition had hitherto brought failure, but he provided an
-  antidote in the form of a satisfactory artificial fog designed to
-  protect the blockships from the enemy’s guns during the critical
-  period of approach. That in itself was a wonderful achievement, but
-  his inventive mind was not satisfied therewith. To him we owed the
-  special flares intended for turning darkness into light.
-
-  “A special buoy was wanted—one that would automatically provide
-  its own light on being thrown into the water. Brock made so little
-  of the problem that he produced such a buoy, designed, constructed
-  and ready for use in less than twenty-four hours. Special signal
-  lights were required: Brock produced them. Flame projectors, far
-  exceeding anything hitherto known, were mooted: Brock produced them
-  also. No matter what our requirements were Brock was undefeated.
-  With a highly scientific brain he possessed extraordinary knowledge
-  of almost any subject. He had travelled much and could tell you
-  all that was worth knowing of any country from Patagonia to
-  Spitzbergen. He was no mean authority on old prints and books, was
-  also a keen philatelist, and was blessed with a remarkable memory.
-  Wherever he went he carried with him a pocket edition of the New
-  Testament, which was his favourite possession; his knowledge of the
-  contents was quite unique. And with it all he was a great shot and
-  an all-round sportsman. His fine physique was well remembered by
-  many a Rugby footballer from the days when he played in the pack
-  of one of the leading club fifteens. His geniality and humour were
-  hard to beat. But of all his qualities, optimism perhaps held first
-  place. At times we, who were far from being pessimistic, thought
-  his optimism excessive, but it was justified absolutely with regard
-  to the success of the enterprise.”
-
-The “Very” was a pre-war invention, patented in 1878; it was not
-adopted into the Service until about ten years later. It consists of
-a short-barrelled pistol of 1 inch calibre—or rather that was the
-original size, a 1½ inch pattern was introduced during the war, and
-subsequently a 1½ inch pattern with a longer barrel and shoulder piece.
-
-The original cartridge was in effect a single star Roman candle, fired
-by percussion. A small propelling charge drove out a single coloured
-star, either red, white, green or blue. The star rose to a height of
-about 300 feet. These were used purely for signalling purposes.
-
-The war suggested another use of the “Very” pistol, that is for
-illuminating purposes, and various illuminating stars were introduced,
-both to light up upon reaching their objective with a range of two to
-three hundred yards, and to hang suspended from a parachute, similar
-to the old parachute light ball, but with many times the brilliance,
-although considerably less in size.
-
-The difficulty of identifying coloured stars in daylight suggested the
-use of coloured smokes. These were successfully evolved by Major Wicks
-and Captain Gray, an achievement of far greater difficulty than the
-casual observer might think.
-
-Apart from these synthetically prepared colours, the yellow smoke
-natural to orpiment was much used in signal stars.
-
-Later stars were suggested by Commander Brock, which ascended burning
-white and at their height broke into two, and in a subsequent pattern
-into three, stars of varying colours.
-
-The rifle grenade, which was fired by a rod fixed to the base of the
-grenade and running down the barrel of a rifle, being blown out by a
-cartridge without a bullet, was also fitted up for signalling purposes.
-Upon opening, a series of lights, arranged to code, were suspended from
-a parachute.
-
-Recognition and illuminating lights were constructed for use from
-aeroplanes, and were ignited by dropping through a launching tube fixed
-to the machine, which made contact and fired them electrically as they
-passed through.
-
-Landing lights and wing-tip lights, electrically ignited, were other
-stores used in connection with aerial warfare.
-
-Another was the incendiary bomb. Until the outbreak of war the
-incendiary composition for use as stars in incendiary shells was of a
-most primitive nature, and even during the war incendiary compositions
-were used which were ridiculous in comparison with those produced later.
-
-The construction also of some of the earlier efforts was quite as
-absurd. Projectiles were devised in a thin paper case, intended to
-be dropped from heights of many thousand feet, and ignite on impact,
-whereas the impact produced by the velocity of a projectile after such
-a fall was sufficient to scatter the case and its ingredients in all
-directions.
-
-It was the use of aluminium in pyrotechny which pointed the way to real
-incendiary composition, composition which exceeds the temperature of
-these primitive pitch and other elementary compositions by many times
-more than the flame of a candle exceeds the temperature of ice.
-
-Bombs containing thermit, and later on thermalloy (a composition which
-set hard, and did away with the necessity of a case), were terrible
-weapons, giving a temperature which has hardly been exceeded by other
-means.
-
-These compositions were almost identical with some of those containing
-aluminium used in pyrotechny for a considerable time before the
-war, but of course not for incendiary purposes. The intense heat is
-naturally accompanied by brilliant light, which was of great value
-to the pyrotechnists, the more so as aluminium compositions do not
-deteriorate on being kept as do those containing magnesium, and
-although the light is not quite so brilliant, and has less actinic
-value, the fact that it is considerably cheaper, combined with its
-keeping qualities, renders it a very satisfactory substitute for that
-rather expensive metal, in very many cases at least.
-
-
-
-
-                              CHAPTER XI
-
-                      THE CIVIL USE OF FIREWORKS
-
-
-The utility of fireworks and the number of purposes to which they have
-been applied are far greater than most people imagine, both at sea,
-where possibly their usefulness is most fully exploited, on land, and
-since the war and its consequent developments of aeronautics, in the
-air.
-
-Firework signals at sea are used in almost endless variety for the
-purpose of identifying vessels at night. Each shipping line has its own
-signal or signals, which are fired on such occasions as when passing
-Lloyd’s signal stations. These signals consist of hand lights, Roman
-candles, rockets, or Coston lights. The last-mentioned is a small hand
-light which is arranged to burn with either one colour or two or more
-colours in succession. This signal is used by the majority of foreign
-vessels. The signal used may be either lights burnt singly or together,
-or a light or lights burnt in combination with Roman candles or
-rockets. By making use of the various combinations a great number and
-variety of signals have been arrived at: a few typical examples will
-illustrate the kind of signals used.
-
-The Zud-Amerika Lyn of Amsterdam burns a white light at stern, green
-at bridge and blue at bow. The White Star have a green light at bow
-and green at stern. W. Johnston and Co., a green light followed by a
-Roman candle, throwing three red and three blue stars, followed by a
-white light. The Aberdeen have a red light followed by a Roman candle,
-throwing red, white and blue stars three times successively, shown from
-aft. J. L. Burnham and Co., a blue light changing to white, then to
-red, followed by a red star.
-
-The Cunard Line, off the coast of Ireland, fire a blue light followed
-by two golden star rockets. The Ulster Steamship Co. fire three
-vertical lights, yellow, blue and red, followed by two Roman candles
-fired together, each throwing two yellow, two blue and two red stars.
-
-These examples will give some idea of the variety of signals used; they
-are often followed by another signal, or rather have a suffix which
-if fired has a particular meaning. For instance, a red light after
-the signal may mean “All’s well,” or a green may signify a wish to
-communicate. Some lines bring the whistle into the signal and combine
-long and short blasts with pyrotechnic signals.
-
-Besides the house signals there are some generally accepted signals
-used by all vessels. A blue light is the signal for a pilot in all
-waters, except those of the United States. It is curious, however, that
-no universal pyrotechnic signal of distress has yet been arranged,
-although in 1889 Mr. F. Crundall endeavoured to get a standard distress
-signal recognised by shipping throughout the world. This signal, which
-consisted of a Roman candle surrounded at the mouth by four lights
-which burnt simultaneously with it, was demonstrated before the Board
-of Trade, and was distinguishable across the Channel at Dover, but was,
-however, not universally adopted.
-
-Another extensive field use of pyrotechnic signals at sea is in the
-fishing industry. Lights and rockets are used to communicate between
-vessels of the fishing fleets and with the carriers.
-
-The use of such signals by the coastguard and the Lifeboat Institution
-and at harbours and ports throughout the world is also very great.
-
-Another pyrotechnic store of the greatest utility is the line-carrying
-rocket, a device which has been responsible for the saving of thousands
-of lives.
-
-The credit for suggesting this use of the rocket appears to belong
-to a Mr. Trengouse, of Cornwall. This was in 1807. The proposal did
-not, however, make as much headway as it should have done, owing to
-the fact that Capt. Manley had that year introduced a device with a
-similar purpose, the line being carried by a shot fired from a mortar.
-This idea had been previously worked out by a Sergt. Bell of the Royal
-Artillery and by La Fère, a Frenchman, the two working independently.
-
-The Manley apparatus was officially adopted, and stations established
-at forty-five positions round the coast.
-
-The rocket method was, however, revived in 1826 by a Mr. Dennett, of
-Newport, Isle of Wight, and four stations were established on the
-island for the use of rockets of his pattern. The advantages of the
-rocket over the shot apparatus are obvious—the lightness and mobility
-of the rocket trough as compared with a mortar, the fact that the
-rocket traces its own flight, which can be seen and followed even at
-night, not to mention greater simplicity in working. However, it was
-not until 1855, when a rocket of greater range was invented by Col.
-Boxer, of the Royal Laboratory, that the rocket as a line carrier came
-into its own.
-
-The Boxer rocket consisted actually of two rocket cases joined head to
-tail, and so arranged that when the first case had burnt out it was
-blown off, and the second gave renewed impetus. This rocket is still in
-use at the Board of Trade rocket stations.
-
-A further development of the line-carrying rocket which is making rapid
-headway is a compact apparatus designed for use on the wrecked vessel
-to carry a line to the shore.
-
-This system has two great advantages, namely, the target is so much
-greater when firing from the ship, consisting as it does of the whole
-coast line, whereas the ship forms in comparison an insignificant mark
-from the shore. Again, a vessel is generally wrecked on a lee shore,
-so that in firing from the ship the rocket travels with the wind.
-
-Both the Brock and Schermuley systems are designed for this purpose,
-and there is little doubt that in a few years all vessels will carry
-their own means of establishing communication with the shore.
-
-As a further development of the line-carrying rocket, it is interesting
-to note that Congreve, in association with Lieut. J. M. Colquhoun,
-took out a patent for the use of the rocket as a harpoon in whale
-fishing, which, if it proved satisfactory in use, must have been a
-marked advance, especially as this was before the advent of the now
-universally used harpoon gun.
-
-Another pyrotechnic invention responsible for the saving of many lives
-is the Hale’s Light apparatus. This apparatus is fitted to a lifebuoy,
-which is arranged for launching from a vessel’s bridge; the act of
-launching ignites a flare, enabling the person in the water to see the
-buoy and the rescuing boat to pick them up.
-
-The practical use to which fireworks have been put on land are many.
-Probably that which comes most readily to the mind is the sound signal
-or alarm. Many fire brigades whose members are volunteers and therefore
-scattered use aerial maroons to warn and call them for duty. These
-maroons became familiar to Londoners during the air raid period in the
-late war.
-
-The maroon has also been adopted for firing with a trip line as a
-burglar alarm, or for protecting game preserves or similar purposes.
-
-Another well-known pyrotechnic sound signal is the fog signal used
-on the railways, which consists of a tinned iron envelope containing
-a mixture of chlorate of potash and red phosphorus. It is secured in
-position on the rail by two lead clips provided for the purpose, and
-is fired by percussion on the impact of the engine wheel. Bird scarers,
-consisting of a series of single crackers connected by a time fuse, and
-so arranged as to fire at regular intervals, have been much used for
-the protection of seed and crops.
-
-The miner’s squib and chieza stick or fuse lighter are to all intents
-port-fires for lighting the fuse in blasting operations in mines, their
-form and composition being adapted to the particular circumstances of
-their use.
-
-[Illustration: Crystal Palace. From a photograph taken by the light
-  of a magnesium shell.
-
-  The crowd at “Brock’s Benefit” (64,000 persons present).]
-
-The use of pyrotechnic compositions for photographic purposes is well
-known; those in use at the present generally contain magnesium, which
-has greater actinic value than any other firework composition.
-
-Magnesium lights fitted up to fire with a trip line have been
-successfully used for obtaining photographs of big game in their native
-surroundings at night.
-
-Smoke pyrotechnically produced has for several years been used for
-the testing of drains, and recently successful experiments have been
-carried out establishing the value of smoke as a protection for fruit
-blossom against frost.
-
-It has also been used as an insecticide for use against various kinds
-of parasites; a poisonous smoke has been found of great use in the
-dislodging and exterminating of rats.
-
-Another agricultural use of pyrotechnic, or in this case perhaps more
-correctly explosive composition, is the use of explosive cartridges for
-ploughing; that is, cartridges are exploded at a certain depth in the
-ground, the effect being to break up the subsoil. The explosive used is
-a mild and cheap form of dynamite.
-
-The use of rockets and other explosive fireworks for producing rain
-has been much discussed recently. Many writers deny the possibility of
-success by such means. There cannot be the slightest doubt, however,
-that given clouds in the right condition and altitude it is quite
-possible to cause rain. The writer has seen it done, not once but many
-times; generally it must be admitted when the rain was not wanted.
-Maroons fired in wide-mouthed mortars have been used on the Continent
-for some years to break up hail clouds and bring them down in the form
-of rain over the vineyards, where a hail storm is a serious calamity to
-the wine grower.
-
-The use of pyrotechnic signals in connection with aerial travel is
-gradually increasing. The stores used are practically those evolved and
-adopted during the great war, modified in some cases to suit peace time
-requirements, but substantially they are those described in the chapter
-on Military Pyrotechny.
-
-
-
-
-  LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL INGREDIENTS USED IN PYROTECHNY AT THE PRESENT
-                                 TIME.
-
-  _Force and Sparks Compositions._
-
-  Saltpetre
-  Sulphur
-  Charcoal
-  Mealed Gunpowder
-  Iron Borings
-  Steel Filings
-  Zinc Filings
-  Aluminium and Alloys
-  Magnesium and Alloys
-  Lampblack
-  Orpiment (Sulphide of Arsenic)
-  Black Antimony (Sulphide of Antimony)
-
-  _Chlorate Colour Compositions._
-
-  Chlorate of Potash or Perchlorate of Potash.
-
-         { Nitrate  of Strontia
-  Red    { Carbonate „    „
-         { Sulphate  „    „
-
-         { Nitrate  of Baryta
-  Green  { Chlorate  „   „
-         { Carbonate „   „
-
-         { Carbonate of Copper
-  Blue   { Sulphide  „    „
-         { Arsenite  „    „
-         { Calomel   „    „
-
-  Yellow { Oxalate   of Soda
-         { Carbonate  „   „
-
-  For extra brightness Magnesium added.
-
-  Secondary tints obtained by mixtures of the above.
-
-  _Non-Chlorate Colour Compositions._
-
-  Saltpetre
-  Sulphur
-  Charcoal
-  Black Antimony
-  White Arsenic
-  Orpiment
-  Aluminium
-  Magnesium
-  Sulphate of Copper
-  Borax
-
-  _Burnables._
-
-  Shellac
-  Pitch
-  Sterine
-  Paraffin
-  Sugar of Milk
-  Linseed Oil
-
-  _Agglutinants._
-
-  Shellac and Spirit
-  Starch Paste
-  Gum Water
-  Linseed Oil
-  Dextrine
-
-  _Sound Producing._
-
-  Gunpowder
-  Gun-cotton
-  Picrate of Potash
-  Chlorate of Potash
-  Aluminium
-
-
-
-
-                       PYROTECHNIC BIBLIOGRAPHY
-
-
-  _Manuscripts_
-
- 1225. Treatise of the Ruses of War, the capturing of Towns and
-       the Defence of Passes, according to the instructions of
-       Alexander son of Philip (in the Leyden Library).
-
- 1432. Feuerwerksbuch (MS. 362 in the University Library of
-       Freiburg i. B.).
-
- 1438. (about). Latin Manuscript, with enumeration of materials for
-       all fires (No. 197 in the Royal Library, Munich).
-
-
-  _Printed Books_
-
- 1529. Strassburg. Anonymous: Buchsenmeisterei von Geschoss,
-       Buchsenpulver, Salpeter und Feuerwerk.
-
- 1540. Venice. Vanuccio Biringuccio: De la pirotechnia.
-
- 1573. London. Peter Whitehorne: How to make Saltpetre, Gunpowder,
-       etc.
-
- 1578. William Bourne: Inventions and Devices.
-
- 1579. Leonard Diggs: Stratistico.
-
- 1588. London. Cyprian Lucar: Lucar Appendix, collected to shew the
-       Properties, Office and Dutie of a Gunner, and to teach him
-       to make and refine artificial Saltpeeter to sublime for
-       Gunpowder, etc. (annexed to a translation of Tartagalia’s
-        book).
-
- 1591. London. Anonymous: A profitable and Necessary Book of
-       Observations for all those that are burned with the flame of
-       Gunpowder, etc.
-
- 1607. Argentorati (Strassburg) Albertus Magnus: De mirabilibus
-       mundi.
-
- 1614. Diego Ufano: Artillery.
-
- _c._ 1620. W. Eldred: The Gunners Glasse.
-
- 1628. Robert Norton: The Gunner.
-
- 1629. F. Malthus (Francois de Malthe): Treatise of Artificial
-       Fireworks.
-
- 1630. Pont-à-Mousson. Jean Appier, alias Hanzelet: La Pyrotechnie.
-
- 1635. London. John Bate: Mysteries of Nature and Art. The Second
-       Book teaching most plainly and withall most exactly the
-       composing of all manner of Fireworks for Tryumph and
-       Recreation.
-
- 1635. London. John Babington: Pyrotechnia.
-
- 1643. Robert Norton: The Gunners Dialogue.
-
- 1648. Worcester, Nathanael Nye: The Art of Gunnery.
-
- 1650. Casimir Siemienowitz: Great Art of Artillery. (Translated
-       into English by George Shelvocke in 1729.)
-
- 1698. Hafniae (Copenhagen). (?) Winter: De pulvere Pyrio.
-       Recreation.
-
- 1707 & 1747. Paris. Frézier: Traité des Feux d’Artifice.
-
- 1710. Frankfort. (?) Sinceri: Salpetersieder und Feuerwerker.
-
- 1735. Paris. Jean Baptiste Du-Halde: Description géographique
-       historique, Chronologique et physique de l’empire de la
-       Chine et de la Tartarie chinoise.
-
- 1740. Paris. Perinet-d’Orval: Essay sur les Feux d’Artifice.
-
- 1755. Frankfort. Anonymous: Der Wohlerfahrne Salpetersieder und
-       Feuerwerker.
-
- 1765 & 1776. London. Lieut. Robert Jones: A new Treatise on
-       Artificial Fireworks.
-
- 1801 & 1821. Paris. Claude-Fortuné Ruggieri: Elémens de
-       Pyrotechnie.
-
- 1807. Leipsig. Die Pyrotechnie nach der Vorschriften von Claude
-       Ruggieri und Thomas Morel.
-
- 1812. Paris. Claude-Fortuné Ruggieri: Pyrotechnie Militaire.
-
- 1824. London. G. W. Mortimer: A Manual of Pyrotechny.
-
- 1824. Strassburg. J. Ravichio de Peretsdorf: Traité de pyrotechnie
-       militaire, contenant tous les artifices de guerre en usage
-       en Autriche.
-
- 1836. Bruxelles. Capt. Moritz Meyer (translated into French by
-       Lieut. Hippert): Pyrotechnie Raisonnée.
-
- 1845. Madrid. D’Antonio Bermejo: Manual de pirotechnica militar.
-
- 1845. Paris. Joseph Toussaint Reinaud and General Ildephonse Favé:
-       Histoire de l’artillerie. 1^{ère} partie. Du feu grégois des
-       feu de guerre et des origines de la poudre à canon.
-
- 1847. Paris. Joseph Toussaint Reinaud and General Ildephonse Favé:
-       Controverse à propose de feu grégois. Réponse aux objections
-       de L. Lalanne.
-
- 1850. Breslau. Martin Websky: Schule der Lustfeuerwerkerei.
-
- 1854. Paris. F. M. Chertier: Nouvelles recherches sur les feux
-       d’artifice.
-
- 1859. London. Abridgments of the Specifications relating to
-       Fire-Arms, etc.
-
- 1864. Philadelphia. G. Dussauce: A Practical Treatise on the
-       Fabrication of Matches, Gun-Cotton, Coloured Fires and
-       Fulminating Powders.
-
- 1865. London. “Practicus”: Pyrotechny, or The Art of Making
-       Fireworks.
-
- 1865. Paris. A. D. & P. Vergnaud: 1^{ère} Partie, Pyrotechnie
-       militaire. 2^{ième} Partie, Pyrotechnie Civile.
-
- 1865. London. Richardson & Watts: Chemical Technology.
-
- _c._ 1870. London. “Practicus”: Manual of Pyrotechny.
-
- 1876. Paris. E. Désortiaux: La poudre, les corps explosifs et la
-       pyrotechnie. Traduction des ouvrages des docteurs Upmann et
-       Meyer.
-
- 1878. Paris. A. Lamarre: Nouveau manuel de l’artificier, ou traité
-       pratique pour la fabrication des feux de couleurs, etc.
-
- 1878. Washington. Major James M. Whittemore and Lieut. F. Heath:
-       Ammunition, Fuses, Primers, Military Pyrotechny, etc.
-
- 1878. London. Thomas Kentish: The Pyrotechnists’ Treasury.
-
- 1880. London. Dr. W. H. Browne: Practical Firework-Making for
-       Amateurs.
-
- 1882. Paris. Amédée Denisse: Traité pratique complet des feux
-       d’artifice.
-
- 1883. Paris. Paul Tessier: Chimie pyrotechnique, ou traité
-       pratique des feux colorés.
-
- 1884. Hull. Dr. W. H. Browne: Firework Accidents.
-
- 1885. Erfurt. Oscar Frey: Die Feuerwerkskunst.
-
- 1891. Paris. Marcelin Berthelot: Les compositions incendiares dans
-       l’antiquité et au moyen age. Le feu grégois et les origines
-       de la poudre à canon. (_Revue des Deux Mondes._)
-
- 1893. Trieste. Domenico Antoni: Trattato Teorico—Practico de
-       Pirotecnia Civile.
-
- 1895. London. Oscar Guttman: The Manufacture of Explosives.
-
- 1896. London. Warwick Wroth, F.S.A.: The London Pleasure Gardens
-       of the Eighteenth Century.
-
- 1906. Woolwich. Col. J. R. J. Jocelyn: The connection of the
-       Ordnance Department with National and Royal Fireworks.
-
- 1909. London. The Rise and Progress of the British Explosives
-       Industry.
-
- 1915. London. Lieut.-Col. H. W. L. Hime: The Origin of Artillery.
-
-
-  _Encyclopædias, Periodicals, etc._
-
- 1753. Chambers’ Cyclopædia.
-
- 1802. English Encyclopædia.
-
- 1830. Brewster’s Cyclopædia—MacCullock.
-
- 1865. Boys’ Own Volume: Papers on Pyrotechny, “Practicus.”
-       Encyclopædia Britannica.
-
- 1886. The Techno-Chemical Receipt Book. Brannt & Wahl.
-
- 1921. Harmsworth Universal Encyclopædia. A. St. H. Brock.
-
-
-
-
-                                 INDEX
-
-
-  Abdulla, 15
-
-  Aberdeen Line, 174
-
-  Abridgments, Patent Office, 165
-
-  Absent-minded Beggar, 53
-
-  Abusavanani, 11
-
-  Accidents, 74, 77, 78, 79, 81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87
-
-  Acetate of copper, 145
-
-  Adirvedis, 10
-
-  Admiralty, 169
-
-  Aerial maroons, 109
-
-  Aeroplane signal lights, 172
-
-  Aix, Island of, 160
-
-  Aix-la-Chapelle, 28, 45, 123
-
-  Albertus Magnus, 14, 91
-
-  Alcohol, 130, 147
-
-  Alexander the Great, 6
-
-  Alexander II, 46
-
-  Alexandra Palace, 38
-
-  Alexandria, 48
-
-  Alphonso, Duke, 15
-
-  Alum, 146
-
-  Aluminium, 150, 173
-
-  Amber, 140, 146
-
-  America, 161
-
-  Ammonium chloride, 129, 142
-
-  Angelo, Mr., 33
-
-  Antimony, 139
-
-  Antimony sulphide, 146
-
-  Antoine de Lalaing, 15
-
-  Antoni, 149
-
-  Aqua ardens, 141
-
-    „  vitæ, 125, 140
-
-  Arabic gum, 150
-
-  Arc de Triomphe, 50
-
-  Arctic regions, 52
-
-  Arsenal, Woolwich, 43
-
-  Arsenic sulphide, 10, 146
-
-  Arthur’s Seat, 45
-
-  Artichauts, 118
-
-  Artifices portatifs, 112
-
-  Artillerists’ Manual, 149
-
-  Artillery bomb, 105
-
-  Astley, senior, 36, 37
-
-  Avalanche, 50
-
-  Augustin, Col., 160
-
-  Austrian Government, 161
-
-    „  Army, 161
-
-
-  Babington, John, 26, 92, 96, 103, 110, 111, 121, 140
-
-  Bacon, Roger, 14, 91
-
-  Bagdad, 7
-
-  Bags, 110
-
-  Bailey, Bill, 53
-
-  Balloon, Air, 103
-
-    „  Fire, 60
-
-    „  Gas, 103
-
-    „  Coehorne, 107
-
-    „  double and triple, 107
-
-  Balloone, 104
-
-  Balon, 105
-
-  Bate, John, 17, 27, 91, 96, 103, 104, 112, 122, 123, 140, 141
-
-  Baton à feu, 117
-
-  Battle, Bantry Bay, 49
-
-    „  Jutland, 49
-
-    „  Nile, 40, 49
-
-    „  Trafalgar, 48, 49
-
-    „  Tsu-Shima, 49
-
-  Beacon, signal, 157
-
-  Beaconsfield, 51
-
-  Beckman, Sir Martin, 27
-
-  Bell, Sergeant, 177
-
-  Bell’s Weekly Messenger, 63
-
-  Belvue Gardens, 38
-
-  Benedict, Oil of, 140
-
-  Bengal lights, 120
-
-    „  saltpetre, 120, 136
-
-  Bergheri, Victory of, 22
-
-  Berlin, 159
-
-  Bermondsey Spa, 36
-
-  Berthollet, 144
-
-  Bird scarers, 178
-
-  Bismuth, 146
-
-  Black antimony, 139
-
-  Black Jack, 97
-
-  Blackmore, 33
-
-  Blaney, Lord, 42
-
-  Blantyre, Africa, 55
-
-  Blondin, 52
-
-  Blowing charge, 114
-
-  Blue devil, 97
-
-  Blue vitriol, 129
-
-  Bobb’s Hall Tavern, 36
-
-  Boiled oil, 140
-
-  Boleyn, Anne, 16
-
-  Bomb, Artillery, 105
-
-    „  Firework, 105
-
-    „  Rocket, 159
-
-    „  Thermit, 172
-
-    „  War, 105
-
-  Bombardment, Alexandria, 48
-
-    „  Canton, 49
-
-    „  Sebastopol, 49
-
-  Bombay, 39, 55
-
-  Bombshell, 15, 103
-
-  Bone ash, 146
-
-  Bonfire, 24, 58
-
-  Bordeaux, 158
-
-  Borings, Iron, 98
-
-  Boulogne Harbour, 159
-
-  Bounced lances, 128
-
-  Bounces, 97, 99
-
-  Bouquets, 127
-
-  Bourne, William, 162
-
-  Bow, 161
-
-  Boxer, R.A., Lt.-Col., 67, 177
-
-  Boxing kangaroo, 52
-
-  Boxing match, 51
-
-  Boyers, Captain, 160
-
-  Brand, Peter, 15
-
-  Bridge of Louis XVI, 42
-
-  Bright composition, 120
-
-  Brilliant fire, 133, 138
-
-  Brittany, Duke of, 21
-
-  Brock, 34, 36
-
-    „  Arthur, 48, 78
-
-    „  Charles Thomas, 46, 54, 68
-
-    „  C. T., & Co., 166, 178
-
-    „  F. A., Wing Comdr., 166
-
-    „  William, 33, 37, 46, 63, 115
-
-  Brooklyn Bridge, 55
-
-  Burglar alarm, 178
-
-  Burgundy, Duke of, 21
-
-  Burnham, J. L., & Co., 175
-
-  Bursting Charge, 108
-
-  Burusu, 11
-
-  Burying mortars, 87
-
-
-  Cadiz, 160
-
-  Caillot, 33, 35
-
-  Calaminaris, Lapis, 141
-
-  Calcium phosphide, 153
-
-  Calcutta, 55
-
-  Calcutta Journal, 161
-
-  Callao, 160
-
-  Calomel, 143
-
-  Camphor, 140, 146
-
-  Canton, Bombardment of, 49
-
-  Cap, Rocket, 96
-
-  Caprice, 132, 133
-
-  Caps, Percussion, 67
-
-  Carbonate of soda, 146
-
-  Carcasses, 156
-
-  Carpet piece, 127
-
-  Cascades, 30, 126
-
-  Cases, 71;
-    Wood, 105;
-    Turning, 126;
-    Bamboo, 4;
-    Rocket, 93;
-    Cap for, 125;
-    Iron, 159
-
-  Cast iron, pulverised, 141
-
-  Cat fight, 52
-
-  Cathedral, Salisbury, 50
-
-    „  Worcester, 50
-
-  Catherine wheel, 118, 119
-
-  Cenotaph, 30
-
-  Cetewayo, King, 50
-
-  Chaillot Barriere, 42
-
-  Challoner, Sir Thomas, 18
-
-  Chambers’ Encyclopædia, 156
-
-  Champs Elysées, 42
-
-  Chandelle romain, 113
-
-  Chandrajota, 11
-
-  Charcoal, 3, 7, 11, 14, 95, 96, 98, 99, 100, 114, 115, 116, 118, 119, 138
-
-  Charging, 71
-
-  Charging tools for rocket, 92
-
-  Charles II, Coronation, 27
-
-  Charles XI of Sweden, 24
-
-  Chateau Grand display, 21
-
-  Cherbourg, 43
-
-  Chertier, F. M., 146, 149, 150
-
-  Chesapeake and Shannon, 49
-
-  Chester accident, Pen., U.S.A., 83
-
-    „ Races, 17
-
-  Chiesa stick, 179
-
-  Chinese crackers, 8, 10
-
-    „  displays, 89, 99
-
-    „  fire, 4, 8, 11, 98
-
-    „  flyer, 116
-
-    „  tree, 97, 98
-
-  Chlorate accidents, 74, 85, 86
-
-  Chlorates and sulphur, 145
-
-  Chlorate of potash, 10, 74, 77, 84, 85, 86, 87, 144, 146
-
-  Chloride of ammonium, 142
-
-  Choke of a case, 94
-
-  Chromatrope, 131
-
-  Cinnabar, 146
-
-  Civil and military pyrotechny, 57
-
-  Civita Vecchia accident, 83
-
-  Clanfield, 34, 35
-
-  Clariner of Nuremberg, 20
-
-  Clarke, W., 37
-
-  Classification of pieces, 126
-
-  Claudius, 13
-
-  Clayed, 110
-
-  Clay choke, 94
-
-  Cleats, 125
-
-  Clifton Zoological Gardens, 38
-
-  Clithero, 33, 34, 35, 36, 61
-
-  Clubs, 112
-
-    „  Fire, 17
-
-  Coal (mineral), 146
-
-  Coastguard, 176
-
-  Cobalt oxide, 146
-
-  Cobonell & Sons, 37
-
-  Cochrane, Admiral, 160
-
-  Cockerill, 65
-
-  Coehorn Balloon, 107
-
-  Collins, Lottie, 53
-
-  Colombo, 55
-
-  “Colossus,” torpedo boat attack, 49
-
-  Coloured military smoke, 172
-
-    „  stars, 11, 113
-
-  Colour case, 119
-
-    „  cloud shells, 8
-
-  Colquhoun, Lt., 178
-
-  Columbus Centenary, 55
-
-  Comet, 108
-
-  Competition, Firework, 46
-
-  Composition, Bright, 120;
-    Flare, 11;
-    Golden Fountain, 110;
-    for Rockets, 93, 95
-
-    „  Incendiary, 156;
-    magnesium flash, 17
-
-    „  Slow, 103
-
-  Compositions, Pyrotechnic, 138
-
-  Compound fireworks, 121
-
-  Cone, Paper, 108
-
-  Cones, 28
-
-  Congreve, 41
-
-  Congreve, Sir W., 158, 159, 160, 161, 162
-
-  Constantinople, Defence of, 7
-
-  Copenhagen, 160
-
-  Copper, 142, 143
-
-    „  acetate, 129, 142
-
-    „  sulphate, 129, 142, 146
-
-  Coronation of Alexander II, 46
-
-    „  George IV, 41
-
-    „  Victoria, 41
-
-    „  William IV, 41
-
-  Coston light, 175
-
-  Cotton, Madame, 66
-
-  Cotton wick, 125
-
-  Courantins, 123
-
-  Court, 162
-
-  Covent Garden, 28
-
-  Crackers, 13, 14, 58, 91, 92, 110, 112
-
-  Cremorne Gardens, 37, 38
-
-  Crimean War, Peace Rejoicings, 43
-
-  Cromwell Gardens, 36
-
-  Crude antimony, 139
-
-  Crundall, Mr. F., 174
-
-  Crusaders, 15
-
-  Crystal Palace displays, 38, 46, 68, 108, 119, 128
-
-  Cullen, Peter van, 15
-
-  Cunard Line, 176
-
-  Cylindrical shell, 105
-
-
-  Dallas accident, 83
-
-  Dantzic, 160
-
-  Danube, 55
-
-  Darby, 66
-
-  Dark fire, 114
-
-  Dauphin 1730, 21
-
-    „  1782, 22
-
-  Delhi, Mosque at, 50
-
-  “De Miribilibus Mundi,” 14
-
-  Denisse, 149
-
-  Denmark, 157
-
-    „  King of, 18
-
-  Dennett, Mr., 176
-
-  D’Ernst, 41
-
-  Devil, Blue, 97
-
-  Diamond Jubilee, 55
-
-  “Dictionnaire Morbilier Français,” 154
-
-  Dijon, 20
-
-  Dillar, 37
-
-  Display, Calcutta, 55
-
-    „  Chinese, 21, 89, 99
-
-    „  Crystal Palace, 38, 46, 68, 108, 119, 128
-
-  Display, Delhi, 55
-
-    „  fireworks, 84
-
-    „  Guards, 35
-
-    „  Portsmouth Fleet, 45
-
-  Distress signal, 175
-
-  Don Pedro, 14
-
-  Double and triple balloons, 107
-
-    „ line-rockets, 123
-
-    „ tourbillions, 117
-
-    „ triangle wheel, 131
-
-  Dover, Attack on, 46
-
-  Dragon, 16
-
-  Drain tester, 178
-
-  Dreadnought, 49
-
-  Drewett, 65
-
-  Drift, 72, 94
-
-  Dubbing, 119
-
-  Duffel, 38
-
-  Dunnet, Sergeant, 160
-
-  Dunois, 158
-
-  Dutens, 14
-
-
-  “E” Smoke Float, 168
-
-  Eagle, The, 37
-
-  Edinburgh, 45
-
-  Edward, Prince of Wales, 55
-
-  Eider, Wreck of the, 50
-
-  Elizabeth, Princess, 30
-
-    „  Queen, 18
-
-  Elvetham, 18
-
-  Emperor, 1853, Fête of the, 43
-
-  Emperor’s birthday, 1859, 43
-
-  Empress of India, 55
-
-  Encyclopedia, English, 113
-
-    „   Military, 107
-
-  Entente Cordiale, 43, 55
-
-  Erith explosion, 67, 68
-
-  Eruption of Mt. Etna, 34
-
-  Eton, 56
-
-  Etoupille, 125
-
-  Evelyn, John, 19, 28
-
-  “Everyday Book,” Hone’s, 56, 59
-
-  Experiments at Nunhead, 68
-
-  Explosives Acts, 68, 69
-
-    „   magazine, 67
-
-    „   ploughing, 178
-
-
-  Factory rules, 69
-
-  Fair, Postdown, 32
-
-  Fairbanks, Douglas, 50
-
-  Falcon Court firework maker, 59
-
-  Falling rocket sticks, 87
-
-  Feather, 119
-
-  Ferrara, Duke of, 15
-
-  Festivals, religious, 11
-
-  Fête, Imperial, 55
-
-    „  of the Emperor, 1853, 43
-
-  Fêtes, Baptismal, 1856, 43
-
-    „  Military, 1852, 43
-
-  Feux croises, 127
-
-  Filings, Steel, 141
-
-  Filling, 71
-
-  Finch’s Grotto Gardens, 36
-
-  Fine-grain powder, 99, 114
-
-  Fire, 4
-
-    „  balloons, 60
-
-    „  brilliant, 133, 138
-
-    „  Chinese, 4, 8, 11, 98
-
-    „  clubs, 17
-
-    „  Drake, 92
-
-    „  Greek, 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 153, 154, 156
-
-    „  lances, 112
-
-    „  pumps, 112, 113;
-     wheels, 122
-
-    „  spur, 139
-
-    „  torches, 26
-
-    „  wild, 16
-
-  Fireball, 156
-
-  Fires, 43
-
-  Firework, 16, 17
-
-    „ accidents, 74, 77, 78, 79, 81, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87
-
-    „ bomb, 105
-
-    „ competition, 46
-
-    „ license, 67
-
-    „ manufacture, 57
-
-  Fireworks, Aerial, 7
-
-    „ compound, 121
-
-    „ daylight, 8
-
-    „ display, 84
-
-    „ illegal, 57
-
-    „ living, 51
-
-    „ on water, 24, 28, 39
-
-    „ philosophical, 37
-
-    „ Swedish, 23
-
-    „ water, 101
-
-  Fishing signals, 176
-
-  Fitzmaurice, 162
-
-  Five-pointed star, 99
-
-  Fixed sun, 29, 122, 123
-
-  Fixt, 98
-
-  Fizgigs, 97, 106, 110, 111
-
-  Flannel bag, 108
-
-  Flash composition, 178
-
-  Fleet at the Nore, 39
-
-  Flessingen, 160
-
-  Flights of rockets, 44
-
-  Flint, 4
-
-  Florence, 19
-
-  Flower pot, 97, 98, 99
-
-  Fog signal, 177
-
-  Fountains, 41, 97, 98, 115
-
-  Four and a half inch shell, 107, 108
-
-  “Fourth of June,” 56
-
-  Frame of quickmatch, 67, 125
-
-  Frames, lancework, 129
-
-  Frazer, Sir Augustus, 41
-
-  Frederick (Elector Palatine), Prince, 24
-
-  Frey, Oscar, 149
-
-  Frézier, 20, 95, 111, 112, 114, 117, 122, 123, 140, 161
-
-  Fulminate of mercury, 67
-
-  Funnel and wire, 71
-
-  Furiloni, 133
-
-  Fuse, lighter, 178
-
-    „ Roman candle, 114
-
-    „ safety, 124
-
-    „ time, 104, 105, 108, 109
-
-  Fusée de table, 118
-
-
-  Gand, 158
-
-  Garden, Covent, 28
-
-  Garden of the Senate, 42
-
-  Gardens, Belvue, 38
-
-    „ Bermondsey Spa, 36
-
-    „ Clifton Zoo, 38
-
-    „ Cremorne, 37, 38
-
-    „ Cromwell, 36
-
-    „ Finch’s Grotto, 36
-
-    „ Marylebone, 34
-
-    „ Mermaid, 37
-
-    „ Mulberry, 35
-
-    „ North Woolwich, 37
-
-    „ Rosherville, 37
-
-    „ Surrey Zoo, 38, 43, 45
-
-    „ Tea and Pleasure, 30, 31, 32
-
-    „ Yorkshire Stingo, 37
-
-  Garnier, 161
-
-  Garniture, 11, 87, 96
-
-  Gas balloon, 103
-
-    „ poison, 156
-
-  Genovini, Signor, 36
-
-  George III, 39, 56
-
-  George IV, Coronation of, 41
-
-  Gerb, 41, 44, 97, 98, 99, 127, 134, 139
-
-  German Petre, 136
-
-  Gibraltar, Siege of, 48
-
-  Girande, 123
-
-  Girandole, 122, 134
-
-  Gironels, 122
-
-  Globe, The, 37
-
-  Glogau, 160
-
-  Glorys, 127
-
-  God Save the Queen, 44
-
-  Gola, 10
-
-  Golden fountain composition, 110
-
-    „ rain, 97, 99
-
-    „ streamers, 44
-
-  “Good-bye, Dolly Grey,” 53
-
-  “Good-bye, my Bluebell,” 53
-
-  Goodship, Mr., 61
-
-  Graecus, Marcus, 13, 91
-
-  Grain powder, 99, 103, 106, 114
-
-  Granules, 115
-
-  Greek fire, 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 153, 154, 156
-
-  Green man, 17
-
-    „ Park, The, 28, 40, 41, 43, 112
-
-    „ Orlando Furioso, 91
-
-  Gregorini, Signor, 54
-
-  Gregory, Bill, 54
-
-  Grenade, 156
-
-    „ signal, Rifle, 172
-
-  Grey, Captain, 172
-
-  Griffiths, F. A., 149
-
-  Ground light balls, 157
-
-    „ rockets, 97
-
-    „ wheels, 121
-
-  Guards display, 45
-
-  Guilloché, 21, 132
-
-  Gun-cotton wad, 96
-
-  Gunpowder, 3, 5, 6, 13, 14, 15, 75, 96, 98, 103, 140
-
-    „  Acts, 58, 67
-
-    „  Mealed, 96, 99, 100, 106, 116, 118, 119
-
-  Guttman, Oscar, 153
-
-  Gyngell, 38
-
-
-  Hague, The, 28
-
-  Hail dispersers, 179
-
-  Hale, 161
-
-  Hale’s Light apparatus, 178
-
-    „  24-pounder rocket, 161
-
-  Hammerslag, 141
-
-  Hand lights signal, 175
-
-  Hanselet, 158
-
-  Harold Wood Factory, 75
-
-  Hawai, 11
-
-  Heading, 94
-
-    „ clay, 96
-
-  Heath, Mr., of Boston, 161
-
-  Hengler, 33
-
-    „ Madame, 62
-
-  Henry II, 20
-
-  Henry, M., 36
-
-  Henry VIII, 15
-
-  Hilton, 40
-
-  Hime, Col. H. W. L., 153, 154
-
-  Hindoo pyrotechnists, 10
-
-  Hippert, Lieutenant, 145
-
-  History of colleges, 27
-
-  Home Office, 84
-
-  Hone, William, 56, 59
-
-  “Honeysuckle and the Bee,” 53
-
-  Hoogstraten, Count of, 15
-
-  Horizontal wheel, 121, 133
-
-  Hornpipe, 52
-
-  Hotel de Ville, Paris, 21, 22, 42
-
-  House on fire, 52
-
-  Howard, 40
-
-  Hull, 37
-
-  Hutstein and Websky, 149
-
-  Hyde Park, 40, 41, 43, 56
-
-  Hyder Ali, 159
-
-  Hyperoxymuriate of potash, 144
-
-
-  Ignium, Liber, 13, 14
-
-  Illegal Fireworks, 57
-
-  Illuminations, 28, 32, 39, 41
-
-  Imperial Fête, Danube, 55
-
-  “Implacable,” 49
-
-  Incendiary, composition, 156
-
-    „ rocket, 159, 160
-
-    „ shell, 156
-
-    „ thermalloy, 172
-
-  India, 55, 159
-
-  Insecticide fumigators, 178
-
-  Inspector, H.M., 10
-
-  Invalides, Les, 42
-
-  Invetto, Mrs., 61
-
-  Iron, 138
-
-    „ borings, 98
-
-    „ cast, pulverised, 141
-
-    „ dust, 11
-
-    „ filings, 8, 98, 141
-
-    „ magnetic oxide, 141
-
-  Iron oxide, mineral, 146
-
-    „ pyrites, 4
-
-    „ sand, 98
-
-    „ scales, 140, 141
-
-  Italian streamer, 113, 114
-
-  Italians, 18, 21
-
-  Ivory, 146
-
-
-  Jack and the Beanstalk, 52
-
-  Jack-in-the-box, 110
-
-  Jaipur, 55
-
-  Jamaica House, 36
-
-  James I, 24
-
-  James II, 27
-
-  Jebb, Dr., 14
-
-  Jenny’s Whim, 36
-
-  Jesuit missionary, 98
-
-  Jewel fountain, 115
-
-  Johnson & Co., 174
-
-  Johnson, Dr., 35
-
-  Jones, Lieutenant, 31, 111, 112, 113, 117, 118, 133, 134, 139, 141
-
-  Jubilee, 55
-
-    „ 1809, 39
-
-    „ Naval Review, 49
-
-  Jumping cracker, 91
-
-  Jutland, Battle of, 49
-
-
-  Kenilworth, 18
-
-  Kentish, Thomas, 118, 139, 149
-
-  King’s birthday, 4th June, 1809, 39
-
-  Kingston, Duchess of, 30
-
-  Koroo, 10
-
-
-  La Fere, 175
-
-  Lamb, Charles, 40
-
-  Lampblack, 99, 112, 139, 146
-
-    „ compositions, 113
-
-  Lance, 112, 119
-
-    „ à feu, 112
-
-    „ bounced, 128
-
-    „ work, 128
-
-  Lances, Fire, 112
-
-  Lancework frames, 129
-
-  Lanterns, 8, 9
-
-  Lapis calaminaris, 141
-
-  Lattice poles, 127
-
-  Leading up, 125
-
-  Leipsic, 160
-
-  Leo VI, 13
-
-  Leo XIII, 20
-
-  Les Invalides, 42
-
-  Liber Ignium, 13, 14
-
-  Licenses for fireworks, 67
-
-  Lifeboat Institution, 175
-
-  Lifting charge, 104, 108, 109
-
-  Light balls, 106
-
-    „ ground, 157
-
-    „ parachute, 157
-
-  Lighter, 108
-
-  Lights, Bengal, 120
-
-    „ Coston, 175
-
-    „ signal, 66
-
-    „ signal, hand, 175
-
-    „ Very signal, 164, 171, 172
-
-  Li Hung Chang, 50
-
-  Line-carrying rocket, 176
-
-  Line rockets, 26, 50, 97
-
-  Linseed oil, 140
-
-  Living fireworks, 51
-
-  Lloyd’s signal station, 175
-
-  London, 28
-
-  Longueman, 33
-
-  “Lord Cobham’s Head,” 35
-
-  Louis XIV, 20, 24
-
-  Louis XV, 21
-
-  Louis XVI, 22
-
-  Louvre, 20
-
-  Lushalan, Mr., 62
-
-  Lutzelberg, Victory of, 22
-
-  Lyceum, 37
-
-  Lyons, 20, 21
-
-
-  Machine for fireworks, 28, 34
-
-  Macintosh, 162
-
-  Madame la Première, 21
-
-  Madras, 55
-
-  Madura, 55
-
-  Magazine fired, 83
-
-  Magnesium, 150, 173
-
-    „ flash composition, 178
-
-  Mahteb, 11
-
-  Majendie, K.C.B., Sir V. D., 68
-
-  Making crackers, 92
-
-  Malaga, 42
-
-  Mallet, 72
-
-  Manilla Bay, Battle of, 49
-
-  Manley, Captain, 176
-
-  Manufacture of fireworks, 57
-
-  Maori King, 50
-
-  Marcus Graecus, 13, 91
-
-  Marinari, 34
-
-  Maroon, Aerial, 109
-
-  Maroons, 43
-
-  Marryat, Captain, 32
-
-  Marylebone Gardens, 34
-
-  Match, 121, 122
-
-    „ pipes, 125
-
-    „ quick, 108, 124, 125
-
-    „ raw, 125
-
-  Mealed gunpowder, 96, 99, 100, 106, 116, 118, 119, 125, 138
-
-  Mechanical pieces, 53
-
-  Mercury fulminate, 67
-
-  Mestre, 158
-
-  Metz, 162
-
-  Meyer, Captain Moritz, 145, 159
-
-  Mica, 146
-
-  Military coloured smokes, 172
-
-    „ Encyclopedia, 107
-
-    „ fêtes, 1852, 43
-
-  Mine, 110
-
-    „ of serpents, 110
-
-    „ on wheel, 133
-
-  Miners’ squib, 179
-
-  Mixing, 73
-
-  Mortars, 4, 16, 87, 103, 104, 105, 106, 110
-
-  Mortram, 33, 38, 61, 77
-
-  Mosaiques, 127
-
-  Moscow, 45
-
-  Mould for rocket charging, 94
-
-  Mulberry Gardens, 35
-
-  Munitions, 76
-
-
-  Naphtha, 6
-
-  Napoleon, 42
-
-    „ Louis, 42
-
-    „ Marriage of, 42
-
-  Newhaven accident, Conn., U.S.A., 83
-
-  New Wells, 35
-
-  Nile, Battle of the, 40, 49
-
-  Nipple, 98
-
-  Nitrate of baryta, 145
-
-    „ copper, 145
-
-    „ potash, 138
-
-    „ strontia, 146
-
-  Nitre, 7, 138
-
-  Nomenclature of rockets, 94, 95
-
-  North Woolwich Gardens, 37
-
-  Nunhead experiments, 68
-
-    „ factory, 47, 68
-
-  Nuremburg, 23
-
-
-  Oil of Benedict, 140
-
-    „ petre, 140
-
-    „ spike, 140
-
-    „ tile, 140
-
-  “Old Bull and Bush,” 53
-
-  Opening charge, 97
-
-  Opus Majus, 14
-
-  Orange, Prince of, 27
-
-  Order in Council, 69, 74, 78
-
-  Orleans, 42, 158
-
-  Orpiment, 11, 139, 140
-
-  “Out,” 11
-
-  Oxide of iron, magnetic, 141
-
-    „ mineral, 146
-
-  Oxymuriate of potash, 144
-
-
-  Paduans, 158
-
-  Palm tree, 127
-
-  Paper cone, 108
-
-  Paris, 20, 21, 28, 42
-
-    „ accident, 83
-
-    „ Exhibition, Visit of Queen Victoria, 43
-
-  Park, Green, 28, 40, 41, 43, 112
-
-    „ Hyde, 40, 41, 43
-
-    „ St. James’s, 30, 41
-
-    „ Victoria, 43
-
-  Parkes, Samuel, 144
-
-  Parlby’s rockets, 161
-
-  Paste, 106
-
-  Pasting in, 129
-
-  Pataka, 10
-
-  Patent Office Abridgements, 165
-
-  Pates d’oie, 127
-
-  Peace, 1783, 28
-
-    „ 1802, 39
-
-    „ 1814, 40
-
-    „ Crimean War, 43
-
-    „ display, Hyde Park, 56
-
-  Pedro, Don, 41
-
-  Pegging, 129
-
-  Pepys, 27, 92
-
-  Percussion caps, 67
-
-  Perkins, Jacob, 165
-
-  Persia, Shah of, 53
-
-  Petard, 92, 112
-
-  Petre, Bengal, 136
-
-    „ German, 136
-
-    „ Oil of, 140
-
-  Petroleum, 106
-
-  Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, 55
-
-  Philippe, Don, of Spain, 21
-
-  Philosophical fireworks, 37
-
-  Philostratus, 6
-
-  Phosphide of calcium, 153
-
-  Pian-King Lo Yang, 7
-
-  Pickford, Mary, 50
-
-  Picrate of potash, 96
-
-  Piece, Mechanical, 53
-
-    „ Carpet, 127
-
-    „ Transformation set, 50
-
-  Pieces, Classification of, 126
-
-    „ Set, 47, 112
-
-  Piercing, 129
-
-  Pilot signal, 175
-
-  Pin wheel, 118
-
-  Pipes, Match, 125
-
-  Pitch, 140, 156
-
-  Place Royal, 20
-
-  Pleasure gardens, 31, 32
-
-  Pleissenburg, 23
-
-  Ploughing by explosives, 179
-
-  Poison gas, 156
-
-    „ smoke, Rat, 178
-
-  Pompeii, Destruction of, 50
-
-  Pont-Andemer, 158
-
-  Port Arthur, 49
-
-  Portfire, 105, 106, 119
-
-  Portsmouth fleet display, 45
-
-  Portugal, King of, 55
-
-  Postdown Fair, 32
-
-  Pot, Flower, 97, 98, 99
-
-  Potash, Chlorate of, 10, 74, 77, 84, 85, 86, 87
-
-  Pots à feu, 111
-
-    „ d’aigrettes, 111
-
-    „ de brins, 111
-
-  Powder, 97, 99, 103, 106, 114, 140
-
-  Practicus, 149
-
-  Pretender, Old, 27
-
-  Priming powder, 106
-
-    „ wet, 119
-
-  Primrose Hill, 43
-
-  Projectile, 5
-
-  Propellant charge, 87
-
-  Pumice Stone, 146
-
-  Pump (Star), 72
-
-  Pumps with stars, 28, 112, 113
-
-  Puzzle pictures, 51
-
-  Pyramids, 30
-
-  Pyrotechnia, 26
-
-  Pyrotechnic compositions, 138
-
-  Pyrotechnists, Japanese, 7
-
-    „ Hindoo, 10
-
-
-  Quebec, Tercentenary of, 55
-
-  Quickmatch, 108, 124, 125
-
-    „ frame of, 67, 125
-
-
-  Rain, Golden, 97, 99
-
-    „ production, 179, 180
-
-  Ranelagh, 33, 34, 35, 36
-
-  Raw match, 125
-
-  “Read’s Weekly Journal,” 157
-
-  Recreative fireworks, 97
-
-  Regulated pieces, 29, 123
-
-  Regulus of antimony, 139
-
-  Reports, 28
-
-  “Revenge,” 49
-
-  Rheims, 20
-
-  Richard Cœur de Lion, 15
-
-  Richmond, Duke of, 28, 29
-
-  Rifle grenade signal, 172
-
-  Riswick, 20, 28
-
-  Rochelle, 20
-
-  “Rocket” and express engine, 54
-
-  Rocket cap, 96
-
-    „ cases, 93
-
-    „ charging, Mould for, 94
-
-    „    „     tools, 92
-
-    „ composition, 93, 95
-
-    „ iron, 159
-
-    „ line, 26, 50, 97
-
-    „ spindle, 94
-
-    „ stick, 11, 87, 96
-
-    „ sticks, Falling, 87
-
-    „ wheel, 122
-
-  Rockets, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 24, 26, 28, 57, 61, 66, 91, 92, 96
-
-    „ Congreve’s, 161
-
-    „ ground, 97
-
-    „ incendiary, 159, 160
-
-    „ line-carrying, 176
-
-    „ nomenclature of, 94, 95
-
-    „ Parlby’s, 161
-
-    „ signalling, 145, 175
-
-    „ table, 117, 118
-
-    „ war, 158, 159
-
-  Rolling cases, 71
-
-  Roman candle, 28, 41, 44, 111, 113, 114, 127, 133, 134
-
-    „     „ fuse, 114
-
-    „     „ signal, 175
-
-  Rome, 19
-
-  Rosherville Gardens, 37
-
-  Rosin, 140
-
-  Rossi, 33, 34
-
-  Rotary rockets, 161, 162
-
-  Royal Commission on Fireworks, 68
-
-    „ Laboratory, Woolwich, 159
-
-  Ruggieri, 21, 22, 42, 103, 108, 112, 113, 118, 123, 124, 126, 128, 129,
-      131, 132, 134, 142, 143, 161
-
-    „ Gaetano, 28, 31, 112
-
-  Rules for factory, 69
-
-  Russia, 143
-
-  Russian war rockets 162
-
-
-  Safety Fuse, 124
-
-  Salamander la Rosace, 21
-
-  Salamandre, 132
-
-  Sal ammoniac, 142
-
-  Salisbury Cathedral, 50
-
-  Salome, 52
-
-  Saltpetre, 3, 7, 11, 14, 95, 96, 98, 100, 114, 115, 116, 118, 119, 138,
-      139, 156
-
-    „ Bengal, 120
-
-  Sand, iron, 98
-
-  Saqui, Madame, 33
-
-  Sarcophagus, 30
-
-  Sarti, Gioseppe, 29, 31, 112, 122
-
-  Saucissons volans, 106
-
-  Saxon, 116, 117, 122
-
-    „ wheels, 131
-
-  Saxony, Prince of, 23
-
-  Schumacher, 160
-
-  Sea battle, 48
-
-  Seasons, 51
-
-  Sebastopol, bombardment, 49
-
-  Second lighting, 124
-
-  Seine, 22, 24
-
-  Sel ammoniac, 129
-
-  Serpent, 44
-
-  Serpentine, 40
-
-  Serpents, 57, 60, 97, 106
-
-  Servandoni, Chevalier, 28
-
-  Set piece, transformation, 50
-
-  Set pieces, 47, 112
-
-  Setting down, 94
-
-  Seville, King of, 14
-
-  Shah, 53
-
-  Shakespeare, 16
-
-  Shellac, 149
-
-  Shell, incendiary, 156
-
-  Shells, 4, 8, 11, 15, 28, 44, 103, 105, 108
-
-  Siam, 11
-
-  Siege of Pian-King Lo Yang, 7
-
-  Siemienowitz, Casimir, 158
-
-  Signal beacon, 157
-
-    „ distress, 175
-
-    „ fishing, 176
-
-    „ fog, 177
-
-    „ hand lights, 175
-
-    „ lights, 66
-
-    „   „ aeroplane, 173
-
-    „   „ Very, 164, 172
-
-    „ pilot, 175
-
-    „ rifle grenade, 172
-
-    „ rockets, 145, 175
-
-    „ Roman candles, 172
-
-    „ sound, 96, 177
-
-    „ station, Lloyd’s, 175
-
-  Sir John Oldcastle, 35
-
-  Skimmer, 101
-
-  Sky rockets, 28, 61, 96
-
-  Slow composition, 103
-
-  Small factory license, 69
-
-  Smirk, 40
-
-  Smoke at Crystal Palace, 169
-
-    „ balls, 156, 157
-
-    „ drain testers, 179
-
-    „ float “E,” 168
-
-    „ screen, 167
-
-  Smokes, coloured military, 171
-
-  Snake and butterfly, 132
-
-  Sodium carbonate, 146
-
-    „ sulphate, 146
-
-  Soleil montant, 117
-
-  Soleils tournants, 117
-
-  Soleure, 21
-
-  Song pieces, 53
-
-  Sound signal, 96, 178
-
-  Southby, 33, 38, 41, 43, 45, 57
-
-  South Norwood Factory, 75
-
-  Spain, 20
-
-    „ King Consort, 1864, 43
-
-  Spherical shell, 105
-
-  Spike, Oil of, 140
-
-  Spindle, Rocket, 94
-
-  Spirali, 134
-
-  Spithead, 28, 43, 49
-
-  Spontaneous heating, 81
-
-  Spur fire, 139
-
-  Squibs, 57, 60, 97, 99, 110
-
-  Squibs, miners’, 179
-
-  St. Angelo, 19
-
-  St. James’s Park, 30, 41
-
-   „ Square, 28
-
-  St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin, 28
-
-  “Star and Garter,” Chelsea, 36
-
-  Starlights, 119
-
-  Stars, 8, 72, 103, 110, 112, 116
-
-    „ coloured, 11
-
-    „ two-coloured, 172
-
-  Statute of William III, 57
-
-  Steam rocket, 165, 166
-
-  Steel filings, 138, 141
-
-  Sticking, 129
-
-  Sticks, Falling rocket, 87
-
-  Stink pot, 157
-
-  Stockholm, 24
-
-  Stodard, 40
-
-  Stouple, 125
-
-  Stratford, R.N. Experimental Station, 170
-
-  Streamer, Golden, 44
-
-    „ Italian, 113, 114
-
-  Strontium nitrate, 146
-
-  Strutt, 30
-
-  Sully, Duc de, 20
-
-  Sulphide of arsenic, 10, 139, 146
-
-  Sulphur, 6, 14, 95, 98, 99, 100, 105, 114, 115, 118, 119, 138, 139,
-      140, 156
-
-    „ chlorate mixtures, 74
-
-  Sulphuret of antimony, 100, 139, 146
-
-  Sun, 29, 121
-
-    „ star, 44
-
-  Surrey Zoological Gardens, 38, 43, 45
-
-  Sutton Factory, 75
-
-  Swarms, 28
-
-  Swevels, 123
-
-  Swiss military rockets, 162
-
-  Sydenham, 47
-
-
-  Table rockets, 117, 118
-
-  Tagus display, 55
-
-  Tailed stars, 113
-
-  Taku forts, bombardment, 49
-
-  Tampion, 113
-
-  Tavern, “Lord Cobham’s Head,” 35
-
-    „ “Sir John Oldcastle,” 35
-
-  Temple of Flora, 36
-
-  Tessier, Paul, 33, 36, 149
-
-  Thames, 24, 27, 28, 29, 36
-
-  Theatre de la Comedie Italienne, 124
-
-  Theodosius, 13
-
-  Theresa, 15
-
-  Thermalloy, 173
-
-  Thermit bombs, 173
-
-  Throwdowns, 10
-
-  Time fuse, 104, 108, 109
-
-  Tinder, 3
-
-  Tippoo Sahib, 159
-
-  Toledo, King of, 15
-
-  Tools, Rocket charging, 92
-
-  Torches of fire, 26
-
-  Torré, Morel, 21, 31, 34, 35
-
-  Touch hole, 104
-
-  Toulon, 162
-
-  Tourbillion de feu, 117
-
-  Tourbillions, 44, 116, 117, 118, 134
-
-  Tourney display, 21
-
-  Tourniquets, 117
-
-  Tower Hill, 30
-
-  Trafalgar, Battle of, 48, 49
-
-  Transformation set piece, 50
-
-  Treatise on war fireworks, 158
-
-  Trees, 127
-
-  Trengouse, Mr., 176
-
-  Triangle wheel, 131
-
-  Tsu-Shima Battle, 49
-
-  Tubri, 10
-
-  Tun dish, 72
-
-  Tunis, King of, 14
-
-  Turin, 162
-
-  Turning cases, 97, 126
-
-  Tyrrel, 43
-
-
-  Ufano, Diego, 20
-
-  United States, 175
-
-  “Universal Magazine, The,” 99
-
-
-  Vanochio, 18
-
-  Vauxhall, 33
-
-  Vengagvedi, 10
-
-  Versailles, 20, 21, 24, 43, 132
-
-  Vert de gris, 129
-
-  Vertical wheels, 121, 131
-
-  Very signal lights, 164, 171, 172
-
-  Vesuvius, 50
-
-  Victoria Park, 43
-
-    „ Queen, Coronation of, 41
-
-    „   „ Portrait of, 51
-
-    „   „ Visit to Paris Exhibition, 43
-
-  Vienna, 23
-
-  “Village Blacksmith, The,” 52
-
-  Volcano, 9
-
-
-  Wadd, 103
-
-  Walcheren Expedition, 160
-
-  Wallis, Admiral Sir Provo, 49
-
-  Walpole, 29, 30
-
-  War inventions, 165
-
-   „ rockets, 158, 159
-
-  Warman, 34
-
-  Warsaw, 162
-
-  Warwick, Earl of, 18
-
-  Water fireworks, 24, 28, 39, 101
-
-  Waterloo, 160
-
-  “Weekly Journal, Read’s,” 157
-
-  Weinerisch-Neustadt, 161
-
-  Wheel, block, 118
-
-    „ brilliant, 30
-
-    „ catherine, 118, 119
-
-    „ double triangle, 131
-
-    „ hundred-feet, 55
-
-    „ pin, 118
-
-    „ rocket, 122
-
-    „ saxon, 131
-
-  Wheels, 41, 121, 131
-
-    „ fire, 122
-
-    „ horizontal, 26, 121, 133
-
-    „ revolving, 44
-
-    „ triangle, 131
-
-    „ vertical, 26, 121, 131
-
-  Whistler, 96
-
-  White Conduit House, 37
-
-  White Star Line, 174
-
-  Whitehall, 27, 28
-
-  Wicks, Major, 172
-
-  Wild fire, 16
-
-  William IV, Coronation of, 41
-
-  Windmills, 131
-
-  Woolwich Arsenal, 43
-
-    „ Royal Laboratory, 159
-
-  Worcester Cathedral, 50
-
-  Wordsworth, 40
-
-
-  Yalu, Battle of the, 49
-
-  Yellow orpiment smoke, 172
-
-  Yorkshire Stingo Gardens, 37
-
-  Ypres display, 21
-
-  Yron scales, 96
-
-
-  Zinc, 142, 146
-
-  Zud-Amerika Lyn, 173
-
-
-                             [Decoration]
-
-                         THE WESTMINSTER PRESS
-                              HARROW ROAD
-                                LONDON
-
-[Illustration: FEU D’ARTIFICE À VERSAILLES POUR LE MARIAGE DU
-  DAUPHIN, 1735.
-
-  FROM A WATER-COLOUR DRAWING BY MOREL TORRÉ.
-
-  _Back Endpaper._]
-
-
-                         Transcriber’s Notes:
-
-  - Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
-  - Blank pages have been removed.
-  - Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.
-  - All errata have been applied.
-
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-
-<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Pyrotechnics, by A. St. H. Brock</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-
-<table style='min-width:0; padding:0; margin-left:0; border-collapse:collapse'>
-  <tr><td>Title:</td><td>Pyrotechnics</td></tr>
-  <tr><td></td><td>The History and Art of Firework Making</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: A. St. H. Brock</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March 25, 2021 [eBook #64922]</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Robert Tonsing and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net</div>
-
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PYROTECHNICS ***</div>
-  <div class="figcenter x-ebookmaker-drop" id="cover">
-    <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" />
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="figcenter illow100 break" id="endpaperfront" style="max-width: 75em;">
-    <img class="w100" src="images/fcover.jpg" width="1200" height="634" alt="" />
-    <div class="attr"><i>Front Endpaper.</i></div>
-    <div class="caption"><span lang="fr">FEU D&rsquo;ARTIFICE À VERSAILLES POUR LE MARIAGE DU DAUPHIN</span>, 1735.<br />
-      FROM A WATER-COLOUR DRAWING BY MOREL TORRÉ.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="figcenter illow100 break" id="ifrontis" style="max-width: 75em;">
-    <img class="w100" src="images/ifrontis.jpg" width="1200" height="932" alt="" />
-    <div class="attl">Copyright. Brock. Sutton]</div>
-    <div class="attr">[Frontispiece</div>
-    <div class="caption">Display at the Tercentenary Fetes, Quebec, July 23rd, 1908. The largest display ever fired in the
-      Western Hemisphere. From a drawing by C. M. Padday.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="titlepage">
-    <h1><span class="bigger">PYROTECHNICS:</span><br />
-      THE HISTORY AND ART<br />
-      OF FIREWORK MAKING</h1>
-
-    <div class="fs195">BY A. <abbr title="Saint"><span class="smcap">St.</span></abbr>
-      H. BROCK, <span class="allsmcap">A.R.I.B.A.</span></div>
-
-    <div class="fs175">WITH NUMEROUS COLOURED<br />
-      AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS</div>
-
-    <div class="mt20"><span class="fs175">LONDON: DANIEL O&rsquo;CONNOR</span><br />
-      <span class="fs150">90 GREAT RUSSELL STREET, W.C.1<br />
-      <abbr title="1922">MCMXXII</abbr></span></div>
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="center large mt10 mb10 break">Dedicated<br />
-    to the memory of<br />
-    my brother<br />
-    Wing-Commander<br />
-    Frank Arthur Brock, R.N.A.S.<br />
-    Killed at Zeebrugge<br />
-    April 23rd, 1918</div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="center-container mt10 break">
-    <div class="poetry">
-      <div class="stanza">
-        <div class="i0">. . . . . . . . . . . be bright and busy</div>
-        <div class="i0">While hoaxed astronomers look up and stare</div>
-        <div class="i0">From tall observatories, dumb and dizzy,</div>
-        <div class="i0">To see a Squib in Cassiopeia&rsquo;s Chair!</div>
-        <div class="i0">A Serpent wriggling into Charles&rsquo;s Wain!</div>
-        <div class="i0">A Roman Candle lighting the Great Bear!</div>
-        <div class="i0">A Rocket tangled in Diana&rsquo;s train,</div>
-        <div class="i0">And Crackers stuck in Berenice&rsquo;s Hair!</div>
-      </div>
-    </div>
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="center mt3 mb10">Ode to Madame Hengler, Firework-maker to Vauxhall<br />
-    By THOMAS HOOD.</div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Contents">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">ix</span>
-    <h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2>
-  </div>
-
-  <table summary="Contents">
-    <tbody>
-      <tr>
-        <td colspan="3" class="tdc"><div><a href="#PART_I">PART <abbr title="1">I</abbr></a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <th class="tdr"><div>CHAPTER</div></th>
-        <th>&nbsp;</th>
-        <th class="tdr"><div>PAGE</div></th>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td>&nbsp;</td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><abbr title="13">xiii</abbr></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="1">I</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_1">The Origin of Pyrotechny</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>3</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="2">II</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_2">Pyrotechny in the East</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>6</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="3">III</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_3">Pyrotechny in Europe</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>13</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="4">IV</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_4">Pyrotechny in Europe (<i>continued</i>)</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>23</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="5">V</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_5">London Pleasure Gardens</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>32</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="6">VI</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_6">Fireworks in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>39</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="7">VII</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_7">Firework Manufacture</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>57</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="8">VIII</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_8">Modern Firework Manufacture</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>69</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="9">IX</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_9">Firework Accidents</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>77</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td colspan="3" class="tdc large"><div><a href="#PART_II">PART <abbr title="2">II</abbr></a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="1">I</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_1a">Simple Fireworks, Rocket Class</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>91</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="2">II</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_2a">Simple Fireworks, Shell Class</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>103</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="3">III</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_3a">Simple Fireworks, Mine Class</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>110</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="4">IV</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_4a">Simple Fireworks, Saxon and Lance Classes</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>116</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="5">V</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_5a">Compound Fireworks</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>121</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="6">VI</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_6a">Compound Fireworks (<i>continued</i>)</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>131</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="7">VII</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_7a">Firework Compositions</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>136</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="8">VIII</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_8a">Modern Firework Compositions</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>144</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="9">IX</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_9a">Military Pyrotechny</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>152</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="10">X</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_10a">Military Pyrotechny in the Great War</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>164</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="chapnum"><div><abbr title="11">XI</abbr></div></td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Chap_11a">The Civil Use of Fireworks</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>175</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td>&nbsp;</td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#List">List of the Principal Ingredients used in Pyrotechny at the present time</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>181</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td>&nbsp;</td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Biblio">Pyrotechnic Bibliography</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>182</div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td>&nbsp;</td>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#Index">Index</a></td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div>187</div></td>
-      </tr>
-    </tbody>
-  </table>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">xi</span>
-    <h2 class="nobreak">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
-  </div>
-
-  <table summary="List of Illustrations">
-    <thead>
-      <tr>
-        <td>&nbsp;</td>
-        <th class="tdr"><div><i>To face page</i></div></th>
-      </tr>
-    </thead>
-    <tbody>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Firework Display at Quebec. From a drawing by C. M. Padday</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><i><a href="#i004">Frontispiece</a></i></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Six Coloured Japanese Prints of Fireworks manufactured by Messrs. Hirayama of Yokohama</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i002">2</a>,&nbsp;<a href="#i004">4</a>,&nbsp;<a href="#i006">6</a>,&nbsp;<a href="#i008">8</a>,&nbsp;<a href="#i010">10</a>,&nbsp;<a href="#i012">12</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Facsimile Title Page of John Bate&rsquo;s &ldquo;Second Booke,&rdquo; 1635</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i016">16</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">A Display of the Earliest Type (<i><abbr title="circa">c.</abbr></i> 1650)</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i018">18</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Set Piece of the Scenic Type</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i021">20</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Firework Display at Nuremberg, 1650</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i022">22</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Great Firework Display near Stockholm, 1669</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i024">24</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Fireworks on the Thames, 1688</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i028">28</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Firework Display given by the Duke of Richmond, 1749</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i030">30</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Firework Temple at Vauxhall, 1845</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i036">36</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Fireworks at Versailles, 1855, from a drawing by Gustav Doré</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i044">44</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">The Grand Whim for Posterity to laugh at, 1749</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i046">46</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">A Full-size Picture of the Jumma Musjid in Fireworks at the Crystal Palace, 1892</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i050a">50</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Firework Display for the Coronation Durbar at Delhi, January 3rd, 1903</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i050b">50</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">A Crystal Palace Set Piece at the time of the South African War</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i052">52</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Panorama of the Aerial Effects in the National Display at Hyde Park, 1919</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i056">56</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">The Explosion at Madame Cotton&rsquo;s Firework Factory, 1858</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i066">66</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Programme of Experiments with Fireworks at Nunhead, 1872</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i068">68</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Modern Firework Tools</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i072">72</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Types of Modern Fireworks</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i090">90</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Cracker Making</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i092a">92</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">xii</span>Rocket Manufacture, from Frézier&rsquo;s &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Feu d&rsquo;Artifice</span>,&rdquo; 1747</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i094">94</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Manner of making and representing Flowers, etc., in the
-          Chinese Fireworks, from the &ldquo;Universal Magazine&rdquo;
-          of 1764</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i100">100</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">An Old Firework Bill:&mdash;Programme of Mr. Brock&rsquo;s
-          Superior Fireworks at Ipswich, 1818</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i114">114</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Rocket Charging</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i116a">116</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Filling Roman Candles</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i116b">116</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Types of Compound Fireworks:&mdash;Lattice Poles, Chromatrope,
-          Lattice Diamond</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i128a">128</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">A Display ready for Firing, Dresden, 1899</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i134">134</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Diagram illustrating the evolution of Pyrotechnic Composition,
-          showing their periods of use</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i140">140</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Roman Candles&mdash;illustrating brilliance of aluminium compositions</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i150">150</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">The Late Wing-Commander Brock, R.N.A.S.</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i166">166</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Smoke Float in action</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i168">168</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl">Crystal Palace&mdash;By the light of a Magnesium Shell</td>
-        <td class="tdr"><div><a href="#i178">178</a></div></td>
-      </tr>
-      <tr>
-        <td class="tdl"><a href="#endpaperfront">End</a> <a href="#endpaperback">Papers</a>:&mdash;<span lang="fr">Feu d&rsquo;artifice a Versailles pour le Mariage
-          du Dauphin</span>. Two displays from the original watercolour drawings by Morel Torré, 1735</td>
-        <td class="tdr">&nbsp;</td>
-      </tr>
-    </tbody>
-  </table>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Introduction">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">xiii</span>
-    <h2 class="nobreak">INTRODUCTION</h2>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">The</span> word &ldquo;fireworks&rdquo; as a metaphor, used either
-    to describe the higher flights of oratory, of literature,
-    or of human strife, whether it be in Parliament or
-    the Parish Hall, or merely descriptive of domestic discord, is
-    familiar, even threadbare.</p>
-
-  <p>Moreover, the metaphor has generally a humorous flavour;
-    why is this? Is there anything inherently comic about fireworks?
-    It is true that for a short season the less critical of the
-    comic papers used the cracker and squib as pegs upon which
-    to hang the type of joke which depends for its success on the
-    atavistic human trait of laughing at the misfortune or discomfort
-    of others, but this is the lowest type of humour
-    which soon palls upon the mind.</p>
-
-  <p>The Stage also has its comedy and clown, yet the mention
-    of the stage is not a signal for mirth. Can any who have heard
-    the long-drawn Ah-h! of rapture from many thousand throats,
-    at the bursting of a flight of shell, or the darting up of the
-    wonderfully tinted rays of the &ldquo;Magical Illumination&rdquo; at
-    the Crystal Palace, maintain that the most dramatic moment
-    on the stage is more affecting to the spectators?</p>
-
-  <p>Pyrotechny is possibly the only art which can compete with
-    nature; anyone who has seen a first-class firework display will
-    admit that for impressive grandeur, colour effects, and contrasts
-    of light and shade, pyrotechny is unapproached.</p>
-
-  <p>Pyrotechny paints on the canvas of the sky; and the results
-    are at once the joy and despair of the artist. Many artists have
-    tried to record their impressions, but the results have been
-    generally disappointing. Whistler came near success, but even
-    his wonderful work conveys merely the dying embers of passed
-    <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiv">xiv</a></span>glory. One feels that here has been a magnificent display, but
-    the scene in its full grandeur is not depicted.</p>
-
-  <p>One of the few black-and-white artists who can approach
-    the subject with some success is Mr. C. M. Padday, an example
-    of whose work is reproduced in the following pages. His
-    success comes from a careful study of the subject, both technically
-    and from the point of view of composition.</p>
-
-  <p>That fireworks are popular there is no doubt; no form of
-    amusement is capable of giving enjoyment to so many people
-    at one time; there is no entertainment which so appeals to
-    youth and age of all classes and tastes. And yet it is doubtful
-    if there is an industry concerning which the public at large
-    is so profoundly ignorant.</p>
-
-  <p>To the average onlooker any firework which rises in the air
-    is a rocket, any that revolve are catherine wheels; both of
-    these assumptions are incorrect.</p>
-
-  <p>What is the average conception of a firework factory? A
-    building, let us say, in which workmen, with sleeves rolled up,
-    are busily engaged in shovelling heaps of gunpowder. How
-    many know that a firework factory consists of dozens of small
-    buildings, the construction of which is exactly defined by
-    law, separated by spaces also specified by law; that workmen
-    may not roll up their sleeves in the danger buildings; or
-    that the amount of gunpowder in each building is strictly
-    limited to a small quantity? All of these restrictions being
-    enforced with the view, of course, of limiting the effects of
-    any explosion that may occur.</p>
-
-  <p>So far as I am aware, no history of the art has yet been
-    written. It is true that during the nineteenth century many
-    text-books on pyrotechny were written, but the historical
-    side of the subject has been generally represented by a few
-    disjointed remarks in the prefaces.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xv">xv</a></span></p>
-  <p>My object has not been to write a text-book on firework-making,
-    but rather to trace the art from earliest times, and to
-    give a description of the development and process of manufacture.
-    For those interested in the subject, and desiring fuller
-    information, the list of MSS. and books given in the Bibliography
-    at the end of this volume may be found useful.</p>
-
-  <p>My excuse for adding another volume to the literature of
-    the art is that I am of the eighth generation of a family of
-    pyrotechnists, whose work, I venture to claim, has not been
-    without its effect. If I succeed in interesting, and in some
-    degree enlightening, my readers, I shall feel I have not written
-    in vain; if I fail, I shall know it is not in my choice of subject
-    but in my capacity for dealing with it.</p>
-
-  <p class="right"><span class="smcap">A. <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> H. BROCK.</span></p>
-
-  <div>Sutton,<br />
-    <span class="ml3"><i>August, 1922</i>.</span></div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="center fs150 mb2 break">ERRATA</div>
-  <hr class="short" />
-
-  <div class="center-container mt2 mb10">
-    <div class="block-contents">
-      <div>Page 117 line 13 for &ldquo;filled&rdquo; <em>read</em> &ldquo;fitted&rdquo;</div>
-      <div>&nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; 133 &nbsp; „&nbsp; &nbsp; 8&nbsp; &nbsp;„&nbsp; &nbsp;&ldquo;and&rdquo;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; &ldquo;at&rdquo;</div>
-      <div>&nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; 153, 154 for &ldquo;Hume&rdquo; <i>read</i> &ldquo;Hime&rdquo;</div>
-    </div>
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="PART_I">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">1</span>
-    <h2 class="fs300 gesperrt1">PART <abbr title="1">I</abbr></h2>
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="figcenter illow58" id="i002" style="max-width: 52.5em">
-    <img src="images/i002.jpg" class="w100" width="709" height="1200" alt="Japanese print 1" />
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_1">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">3</span>
-    <h3 title="I. THE ORIGIN OF PYROTECHNY">CHAPTER <abbr title="1">I</abbr><br /><br />
-      THE ORIGIN OF PYROTECHNY</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Pyrotechny</span>, or the Art of Firework-making, is
-    of great antiquity, and the date of its origin is quite
-    unknown; indeed, it would be impossible to define
-    with any degree of exactitude what actually constitutes a
-    firework.</p>
-
-  <p>It is curious how universal is the belief that fireworks were
-    dependent upon the invention or discovery of gunpowder.
-    Very little consideration will prove the fallacy of this view; in
-    fact, will show that the reverse is probably the case. In India
-    and China saltpetre (or nitrate of potash) is found in large
-    quantities, and was, no doubt, used by the primitive inhabitants
-    in far-off times for such purposes as curing meat,
-    cooking, etc. The dropping of a quantity in the camp fire
-    may have attracted the attention of some early inventor to the
-    extent of starting him on a series of what were probably the
-    earliest chemical experiments.</p>
-
-  <p>He would notice that the presence of saltpetre made the
-    fire burn brighter, and its use as a tinder maker would
-    suggest itself by mixing it with some substance which he knew
-    to be combustible. The most common fuel he knew of was
-    wood, but it must be a powder to mix evenly with saltpetre.
-    Wood is not easily reduced to powder; saws had not been
-    invented, so that he could not add sawdust, and the nearest
-    thing he could get would be charcoal from the fire, which
-    could easily be reduced to powder. With this mixture he would
-    be well on the way to success in elementary pyrotechny.</p>
-
-  <p>The next step in his career as the first pyrotechnist is to
-    utilise his composition as an easy means of making fire.
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span>Gradually he gives up his hitherto necessary tasks of hunting
-    and trapping, as he receives the fruits of other labours in return
-    for his services as fire-maker to the tribe.</p>
-
-  <p>The most important item in early social life is fire, the
-    implements for producing it the most valued property of the
-    tribe; it was the focus of religion and the centre of daily
-    existence, so that any new phenomenon connected with fire
-    would be of the greatest interest to primitive people, and any
-    short cut to the production of fire would be accorded more
-    perseverance and care in its perfection than almost any other
-    invention.</p>
-
-  <p>Fire would be struck with a piece of iron pyrites on a flint,
-    small pieces of reguline particles of iron would be detached
-    and fall on the fire mixture unlit. Afterwards, when combustion
-    of the mass of fire mixture took place, these small
-    pieces of metal would scintillate as do the iron filings in a
-    modern firework composition. This would give rise to a further
-    series of experiments, and gradually the composition known
-    as Chinese Fire would be evolved, which is known to have
-    been in use in the East from remote times.</p>
-
-  <p>Having arrived at a pyrotechnic composition, attempt to
-    use it in other ways besides fire-making would naturally
-    follow, and sooner or later the idea of filling the mixture into
-    tubes would suggest itself, especially as both in India and
-    China (in one of which countries pyrotechny undoubtedly
-    originated) a serviceable tube&mdash;or to use the modern term
-    &ldquo;case&rdquo;&mdash;was ready to hand in any size or quantity in the
-    ubiquitous bamboo. The bamboo is in use for the purpose
-    at the present day in the East, and until recent times, when
-    displaced by European weapons, was used in the construction
-    of ordnance of considerable size. Mortars used for throwing
-    firework shell up to six or more inches in diameter are still in
-    use in Japan and China, the barrel consisting of a section of
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span>bamboo strengthened on the outside with a binding of split
-    cane.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow58" id="i004" style="max-width: 52.5em">
-    <img src="images/i004.jpg" class="w100" width="707" height="1200" alt="Japanese print 2" />
-  </div>
-
-  <p>Having reached the point of charging composition into a
-    tube, that is to say confining it, a more or less violent explosion
-    was likely or rather certain to follow during the course of the
-    experiments, which might suggest the use of a tube as a means
-    of discharging a projectile. This would lead to research in the
-    direction of the best composition for the purpose and the
-    evolution of gunpowder.</p>
-
-  <p>It must be remembered that the constituents of gunpowder
-    must be present in approximately exact proportion,
-    whereas with primitive pyrotechnic compositions, if the
-    ingredients saltpetre and charcoal are present, it is almost
-    impossible to fail in getting some result.</p>
-
-  <p>The above suggestion must not be taken literally as a statement
-    of fact, but rather as an attempt on the part of the writer
-    to trace the stages by which pyrotechnic and explosive compositions
-    came to be evolved.</p>
-
-  <p>If one disabuses one&rsquo;s mind of the curiously widespread
-    belief that all fireworks are composed chiefly of gunpowder,
-    and that without the invention of gunpowder fireworks could
-    not have been constructed, it seems far more likely that
-    pyrotechny is based on the discovery of the assistance given to
-    combustion by saltpetre, than on the discovery of gunpowder.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_2">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span>
-    <h3 title="II. PYROTECHNY IN THE EAST">CHAPTER <abbr title="2">II</abbr><br /><br />
-      PYROTECHNY IN THE EAST</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Pyrotechny</span> undoubtedly had its genesis in the
-    East, and for that reason we will deal with its development
-    there first. As he has intended to convey, the
-    writer is strongly of opinion that the discovery of pyrotechnic
-    compositions antedated that of gunpowder. In many cases
-    earlier writers have discovered passages which they consider
-    prove the use of firearms and gunpowder; in reality these
-    refer to Greek-fire and similar compositions, which were
-    used as projectiles, being thrown from machines or catapults,
-    and not as propellants. Gunpowder as a mixture of ingredients
-    may have been known from remote times, as undoubtedly
-    were other simple pyrotechnic compositions, but all evidence
-    goes to show that its use as a propellant was not known until
-    well into the Christian Era.</p>
-
-  <p>The composition Greek-fire, known in ancient times as
-    &ldquo;naphtha,&rdquo; was a mixture of pitch, resin, and sulphur, with
-    the addition in some cases of crude saltpetre. It may be considered
-    that in the absence of the latter ingredient the mixture
-    does not constitute a pyrotechnic composition, but from the
-    description of the use of &ldquo;naphtha&rdquo; in early writings, it
-    appears at least likely that it was generally present.</p>
-
-  <p>The fire was either enclosed in hollow stones or iron vessels,
-    and thrown from a catapult, or sometimes filled into the
-    end of arrows and assisted to propel them forward or sustain
-    their flight.</p>
-
-  <p>Philostratus (170–250 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>), writing of the Indian Campaign
-    of Alexander the Great (<span class="allsmcap">B.C.</span> 326), relates that the inhabitants
-    of a town on the river Hyphasis (Beas) &ldquo;defended
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span>themselves by means of lightning and thunder, which darted
-    upon their besiegers.&rdquo; This has been considered as evidence
-    of the use of firearms, but is more probably the first reference
-    to Greek-fire. Greek-fire or &ldquo;naphtha&rdquo; was used at the
-    defence of Constantinople between 660 and 667.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow58" id="i006" style="max-width: 52.5em;">
-    <img src="images/i006.jpg" class="w100" width="702" height="1200" alt="Japanese print 3" />
-  </div>
-
-  <p>At the siege of Pian-King Lo-Yang (1232), as mentioned
-    in the Chinese Annals, iron pots were thrown containing a
-    burning substance which could spread fire over half an acre,
-    and described by the historians as the &ldquo;thunder which shakes
-    heaven.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The Mongolians attacking Bagdad in the year 1258 made
-    use of similar vessels, also fire arrows. Marco Polo, describing
-    sieges of towns in China 1268 to 1273, mentions the throwing
-    of fire.</p>
-
-  <p>In most of the early records although noise is remarked
-    upon, it is apparently while the projectile is in the air or upon
-    impact; this disposes of the impression which many writers
-    have formed that firearms are referred to, there being no
-    reference to an initial explosion.</p>
-
-  <p>Sir George Stanton, writing in 1798 of his embassy to the
-    Emperor of China, says that &ldquo;nitre (saltpetre) is the daily
-    produce of China and India, and there accordingly the knowledge
-    of gunpowder seems coeval with that of the most distant
-    historic events. Among the Chinese it has been applied at all
-    times to useful purposes ... and to amusement in making
-    a vast variety of fireworks&mdash;but its force had not been directed
-    through strong metallic tubes, as it was by Europeans soon
-    after they had discovered that composition.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Although the place of origin of the art, pyrotechny has not
-    developed in the East as rapidly as in Europe, except in Japan.</p>
-
-  <p>Japanese pyrotechnists, with that wonderful capacity for
-    careful and exact manual work which is so characteristic of
-    the race, have developed aerial fireworks, that is to say, the
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span>shell, to a remarkable degree of perfection. The compositions
-    used are not to be compared with European manufactures in
-    point of colour or brilliance, but the effects obtained are extraordinary.
-    The stars, upon the bursting of the shell, are thrown
-    out in symmetrical patterns and designs, several examples
-    of which are given in the accompanying Japanese colour prints.</p>
-
-  <p>Daylight fireworks also originated in Japan. Instead of
-    pyrotechnic effects, the shell contains a grotesque balloon
-    in the form of an animal, human figure, or other form, which,
-    being open and weighted at the lower end, becomes inflated
-    as it falls and remains in the air for a considerable period.
-    Other daylight effects are coloured clouds formed by coloured
-    powder, distributed by the bursting of the shell, showers of
-    streamers, confetti, and toys.</p>
-
-  <p>Chinese firework displays have often been enthusiastically
-    described by travellers in China. Whether it is that the glamour
-    of the East distorts the perceptions, or that these travellers
-    have not seen a European firework display, there is no doubt
-    that such descriptions are, to say the least, over coloured.</p>
-
-  <p>Chinese fire (a composition of saltpetre, iron filings, sulphur
-    and charcoal), a few simple colour compositions, and a large
-    number of Chinese crackers of varying sizes constitute a
-    Chinese display; the rest of the exhibition being eked out
-    with lanterns, pictures, etc., which certainly do not come
-    under the heading of pyrotechnics.</p>
-
-  <p>The writer once had an opportunity of witnessing a
-    Chinese display of some importance, lasting several hours,
-    which produced the effect on the mind of watching some
-    performance or game of the rules of which one was in entire
-    ignorance. Pyrotechnically, only the crudest effects were
-    produced, the remainder of the display, consisting of such
-    items as a man slowly climbing a ladder carrying a lantern,
-    was to the uninitiated mystifying.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow58" id="i008" style="max-width: 52.5em">
-    <img src="images/i008.jpg" class="w100" width="703" height="1200" alt="Japanese print 4" />
-  </div>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span></p>
-
-  <p>The following is an account by a traveller in the early
-    nineteenth century of a Chinese display: &ldquo;The fireworks,
-    in some particulars,&rdquo; says he, &ldquo;exceeded anything of the kind
-    I had ever seen. In grandeur, magnificence, and variety they
-    were, I own, inferior to the Chinese fireworks we had seen
-    at Batavia, but infinitely superior in point of novelty, neatness
-    and ingenuity of contrivance. One piece of machinery I
-    greatly admired: a green chest, five feet square, was hoisted
-    up by a pulley fifty or sixty feet from the ground, the bottom
-    of which was so contrived as then suddenly to fall out, and
-    make way for twenty or thirty strings of lanterns, enclosed in
-    a box, to descend from it, unfolding themselves from one
-    another by degrees, so as at last to form a collection of full
-    five hundred, each having a light of a beautifully coloured
-    flame burning brightly within it. This devolution and development
-    of lanterns was several times repeated, and at every
-    time exhibiting a difference of colour and figure. On each
-    side was a correspondence of smaller boxes, which opened in
-    like manner as the other, and let down an immense network
-    of fire, with divisions and compartments of various forms
-    and dimensions, round and square, hexagons, octagons, etc.,
-    which shone like the brightest burnished copper, and flashed
-    like prismatic lightnings, with every impulse of the wind.
-    The whole concluded with a volcano, or general explosion
-    and discharge of suns and stars, squibs, crackers, rockets and
-    grenades, which involved the gardens for an hour in a cloud
-    of intolerable smoke. The diversity of colour, with which the
-    Chinese have the secret of clothing their fire, seems one of
-    the chief merits of their pyrotechny.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>It will be seen that lanterns play an important part in the
-    exhibition, and that when the fireworks proper are reached,
-    the result is an &ldquo;intolerable smoke.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Indian pyrotechnists are more advanced than their Chinese
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span>neighbours. Firework displays carried out by them are nowadays
-    more or less crude attempts to reproduce European work.</p>
-
-  <p>The writer has seen a set piece evidently intended to
-    follow a fire picture seen in a European display carried out
-    by small wicks burning in oil instead of the &ldquo;lances,&rdquo; as the
-    small fireworks used to outline the pictures are called in this
-    country.</p>
-
-  <p>In India as in China fireworks play a frequent part in
-    religious and civil ceremonies. In the former country, at
-    certain festivals, a primitive device for producing a series of
-    reports is used. These are called &ldquo;adirvedis,&rdquo; and consist of
-    a series of short iron tubes fitted to a wooden plank, charged
-    with gunpowder and tamped with clay.</p>
-
-  <p>At weddings, crackers are largely used under a variety of
-    names, such as Vengagvedi, Gola, Pataka or Koroo. To-day
-    these are simple crackers filled with country-made gunpowder
-    or the imported Chinese crackers. Formerly almost the only
-    composition used was chlorate of potash and one of the sulphides
-    of arsenic. A favourite form consisted of a small quantity
-    of the two ingredients put together unmixed into a piece of
-    rag with some small stones or grit and tied. The resulting
-    fireworks were similar to the &ldquo;throw-down&rdquo; crackers sold
-    in this country.</p>
-
-  <p>Owing to the very large number of accidents caused by
-    the casual methods, both in manufacture and use, with this
-    highly sensitive composition, H.M. Chief Inspector of
-    Explosives for India endeavoured, in 1902, to secure its
-    prohibition, as was done in this country in 1895, but it was
-    not until 1910, when it had been established that this composition
-    was being used by anarchists, that it was finally
-    prohibited.</p>
-
-  <p>The most successful effect produced by Hindoo pyrotechnists
-    is the &ldquo;Tubri.&rdquo; The composition is here known as
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span>Chinese fire, a mixture of charcoal, saltpetre, sulphur and iron
-    dust, charged into either bamboo tubes or earthen pots.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow58" id="i010" style="max-width: 52.5em">
-    <img src="images/i010.jpg" class="w100" width="702" height="1200" alt="Japanese print 5" />
-  </div>
-
-  <p>It is a common practice to fix a pot at either end of a long
-    bamboo, which is whirled quickly about by a performer; the
-    result produced is quite good, but seems rather to come under
-    the heading of juggling than that of pyrotechnics proper. As
-    the pots are theoretically the wrong shape for such a purpose,
-    that is to say, a large mass of composition is burning through
-    a narrow orifice, premature explosions are frequent. This
-    want of theoretical knowledge is noticeable throughout, but
-    such incidents seem to be appreciated as part of the show.</p>
-
-  <p>Another use of the earth pot is the &ldquo;burusu,&rdquo; a kind of red
-    flare; the composition used being sulphur, saltpetre, and
-    nitrate of strontia. Flare compositions are also used loose as
-    in England, and are known as &ldquo;chandrajota&rdquo; or &ldquo;mahteb.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Abusavanani or Hawai, that is to say, rockets, are now
-    made similarly to those manufactured in Europe except a
-    bamboo case is most generally used, but formerly chlorate
-    of potash and orpiment seem to have been employed for this
-    purpose.</p>
-
-  <p>The firework shell under the name &ldquo;out&rdquo; is also manufactured
-    very much as in this country, except that the range
-    of effects is very limited, simple coloured stars being almost
-    the only &ldquo;garniture&rdquo; used.</p>
-
-  <p>In Siam it is a custom, and one apparently of considerable
-    antiquity, to celebrate certain religious festivals with firework
-    displays. These displays take place in the day-time, and take
-    the form of discharges of rockets, some of which are of very
-    large size; a writer giving their length, exclusive of the stick,
-    as from 8 ft. to 10 ft. The case is composed of a section of
-    bamboo bound with string. The composition consists of coarse
-    native powder, of which from 20 lbs. to 30 lbs. is often used
-    in one case. The rocket stick, which is of bamboo, varying
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span>from 20 ft. to 40 ft. in length, is gaily decorated with coloured
-    paper and tinsel and fitted with bamboo whistles. A rough
-    scaffold is erected from which to fire the rockets, and according
-    to those who have witnessed such exhibitions, considerable
-    altitudes are reached by the rockets in flight. As may be
-    expected with such crude methods, mishaps are of frequent
-    occurrence.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow58" id="i012" style="max-width: 52.5em">
-    <img src="images/i012.jpg" class="w100" width="698" height="1200" alt="Japanese print 6" />
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_3">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span>
-    <h3 title="III. PYROTECHNY IN EUROPE">CHAPTER <abbr title="3">III</abbr><br /><br />
-      PYROTECHNY IN EUROPE</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Pyrotechnic</span> compositions and gunpowder are
-    inextricably mixed together in early European records;
-    for our inquiries it will serve no useful purpose to
-    disentangle them, the latter being only a particular case of
-    the former. We will therefore deal with them together, taking
-    the evidence of the knowledge of one as that of both,
-    as until gunpowder is specifically mentioned as being used as
-    a propellant in a gun or similar weapon, there is nothing to
-    distinguish it from any other pyrotechnic composition.</p>
-
-  <p>The earliest record of European pyrotechny is in Claudius&rsquo;
-    account of the public festivities during the consulate of
-    Theodosius in the fourth century <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, in which he describes
-    fire &ldquo;which ran about in different directions over the planks
-    without burning or even charring them, and which formed by
-    their twisting and turning globes of fire.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Leo <abbr title="the sixth">VI</abbr>, Emperor of the East, in a work written about
-    <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 900, says: &ldquo;We have divers ways of destroying the
-    enemies&rsquo; ships, as by means of fire prepared in tubes, from
-    which they issue with a sound of thunder, and with a fiery
-    smoke that burns the vessels on which they are hurled. A
-    tube of tin must be put on the front of the ship to hurl this
-    from.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The most interesting reference of an early date is supposed
-    to have been written by Marcus Graecus in his &ldquo;<span lang="la">Liber
-      ignium ad comburendos hostes</span>&rdquo; (Book of fires for burning
-    up the enemy), in which he not only gives the exact proportions
-    of the compositions, but describes what is virtually
-    the modern cracker, and also a primitive form of rocket. The
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span>case of the former was only partially filled, as with the
-    jumping cracker of to-day, and although the wording is not
-    very explicit, it was apparently bent in a similar way.</p>
-
-  <p>The date of this work is a subject of controversy; some
-    writers place it as early as the eighth century, and it can only
-    be said with certainty that it is not later than 1280. The latter
-    date is fixed by the death of Albertus Magnus, who, in his
-    book &ldquo;<span lang="la">De miribilibus mundi</span>,&rdquo; from internal evidence, is
-    obviously plagiarising the <span lang="la">Liber Ignium</span>.</p>
-
-  <p>Friar Roger Bacon (1214–94), in two of his works, refers
-    at least twice to compositions containing saltpetre, powdered
-    charcoal, and sulphur. In one place he refers to fires that
-    &ldquo;shall burn at what distance we please&rdquo;; in another to
-    &ldquo;thunder and corruscations,&rdquo; which references seem to
-    suggest that he is describing something of a pyrotechnic
-    nature rather than the simple effect of gunpowder. His
-    description in no way indicates that he claimed to be the
-    inventor, but rather as something well known before.</p>
-
-  <p>Dr. Jebb, in his preface to Bacon&rsquo;s &ldquo;<span lang="la">Opus Majus</span>,&rdquo; refers
-    to what seems to be an early example of both the rocket and
-    the cracker.</p>
-
-  <p>Dutens, in his &ldquo;Inquiries into the Origin of the discoveries
-    attributed to the Moderns&rdquo; (1790), makes reference to
-    many early writers, which are mostly so vague and exaggerated
-    that no definite conclusion can be drawn from them;
-    most refer to the early uses of Greek-fire or similar composition.</p>
-
-  <p>Don Pedro, Bishop of Leon, says that &ldquo;in 1343, in a sea
-    combat between the King of Tunis and the Moorish King of
-    Seville ... those of Tunis had certain iron tubes or barrels
-    wherewith they threw thunderbolts of fire.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>This description, if accurate, may be thought to suggest
-    the use of cannons, but it is more likely to refer to the use of
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span>Greek-fire; this composition will, in certain proportions, if
-    charged into a strong tube, give intermittent bursts, projecting
-    blazing masses of the mixture to a considerable distance.
-    The writer has seen this effect produced in a steel mortar of
-    5&frac12; inches diameter, the masses of composition being thrown a
-    distance of upwards of a hundred yards, a considerable range
-    in the days of close warfare. Anyone who has seen this phenomenon
-    will at once realise that here probably is the true
-    solution of many obscure early references to explain which
-    so much ingenuity has been expended.</p>
-
-  <p>An interesting fact which seems to have escaped the notice
-    of writers on this subject is that Theresa, daughter of Alfonso
-    <abbr title="the fifth">V</abbr>. King of Leon and the Asturias (<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> 999), when married
-    to Abdallah, King of Toledo, took for device on her coat of
-    arms a mortar in which a powder is being pounded. This
-    powder is supposed to represent gunpowder, a supposition
-    which is supported by the motto, &ldquo;<span lang="la">Minima maxima fecit</span>&rdquo;
-    (A little makes much). If gunpowder is intended, this must
-    be one of the earliest references to its quality of exploding,
-    and it is difficult to explain the meaning otherwise.</p>
-
-  <p>Richard C&oelig;ur de Lion used Greek-fire on his galley at
-    the siege of Acre in 1191, and it is thought by many that it
-    was introduced into Western Europe by the Crusaders, who
-    had learned its use in the East.</p>
-
-  <p>Alfonso Duke of Ferrara had as his coat of arms a bomb-shell
-    in flight, and Antoine de Lalaing, Count of Hooghstraeten,
-    had a bomb-shell exploding in water. The adoption
-    of these two devices at about the same time (1540) seems to
-    indicate that this projectile was coming into use, that is to
-    say, for military purposes at least.</p>
-
-  <p>An early reference to shell appears in Stowe&rsquo;s Chronicles
-    (1565). He mentions two foreigners, Peter Brand and Peter
-    Van Cullen, a gunsmith, in the employ of Henry <abbr title="the eighth">VIII</abbr> (<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span>1546), who &ldquo;caused to be made certain mortar pieces being
-    at the mouth eleven inches unto nineteen inches wide, for
-    the use whereof to be made certain hollow shot of cast-iron,
-    to be stuffed with firework or wild-fire, whereof the bigger
-    sort for the same had screws of iron to receive a match to
-    carry fire kindled, that the firework might be set on fire for
-    to break in pieces the same hollow shot, whereof the smallest
-    piece hitting any man would kill or spoil him.&rdquo; The missile
-    is to all intents the firework shell of the present day, except
-    that the modern shell has a papier-maché case.</p>
-
-  <p>The reference to &ldquo;firework&rdquo; without further explanation
-    seems to indicate that by this time the word was well established
-    in use. Shakespeare makes three references to fireworks.
-    In &ldquo;Love&rsquo;s Labour&rsquo;s Lost,&rdquo; Act <abbr title="5">V</abbr>, Scene 1, Don
-    Armado says: &ldquo;The King would have me present the
-    Princess with some delightful entertainment, or show, or
-    pageant, or antic, or firework.&rdquo; In &ldquo;Henry <abbr title="the eighth">VIII</abbr>,&rdquo; Act <abbr title="1">I</abbr>,
-    Scene 3, we read of &ldquo;fights and fireworks&rdquo;; and again in
-    &ldquo;King John,&rdquo; Act <abbr title="2">II</abbr>, Scene 1: &ldquo;What cracker is this same
-    that deafs our ears?&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>However, nothing in the nature of a firework display
-    appears to have taken place, at least in this country, before
-    the time of Elizabeth.</p>
-
-  <p>The use of fire for theatrical purposes, as in Mystery
-    Plays to represent the &ldquo;gate of Hell,&rdquo; has been taken by
-    some to refer to fireworks, but this seems doubtful as flames
-    are mentioned, and it is more probable that a torch or similar
-    contrivance was used.</p>
-
-  <p>When, however, we read a description of a barge at the
-    coronation of Anne Boleyn, in 1538, carrying a dragon
-    &ldquo;casting forth wild fire&mdash;and men casting fire,&rdquo; the reference
-    to some pyrotechnic effect, however primitive, seems fairly
-    obvious.</p>
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span></p>
-  <p>The men performers may be considered as early types of
-    the &ldquo;green man&rdquo; who made his appearance somewhat later.
-    The office of this performer was to head processions carrying
-    &ldquo;fire clubs&rdquo; and scattering &ldquo;fireworks&rdquo; (probably sparks)
-    to clear the way.</p>
-
-  <p>One account of a procession to the Chester Races on <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr>
-    George&rsquo;s Day, 1610, commences as follows: &ldquo;Two men in
-    green ivy, set with work upon their other habit, with black
-    hair and black beards, very ugly to behold, and garlands upon
-    their heads, with great clubs in their hands, with fireworks
-    to scatter abroad to maintain the way for the rest of the show.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The fire clubs referred to are described in John Bate&rsquo;s
-    book, published in 1635; the same writer illustrates a &ldquo;green
-    man&rdquo; on the title page of his work.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow70" id="i016" style="max-width: 52.5em">
-    <img src="images/i016.jpg" class="w100" width="843" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Facsimile Title-page of Bate&rsquo;s Book, showing a &ldquo;Green Man.&rdquo;</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>Regarding the origin of the Green Man, it has been suggested
-    that the character was evolved from the wild men,
-    satyrs, monsters, etc., which appeared in the earlier exhibitions.
-    This may or may not be so, but another explanation
-    suggested to the writer by an old Danish print of the
-    sixteenth century is at least plausible.</p>
-
-  <p>This print, which apparently represents a floating firework
-    device of the old scenic type, shows two figures carrying
-    fire clubs wearing leaves, and suggesting immediately the
-    green man of a slightly later date.</p>
-
-  <p>Behind them are two figures holding rockets, leaving no
-    doubt that a firework display is portrayed.</p>
-
-  <p>On the other hand, apart from the fact that normally they
-    have no fire issuing from their clubs, the supporters of the
-    Danish royal arms might be here depicted; a supposition
-    which is borne out by the fact that the figure surmounting
-    the erection carries the crown and sceptre of Denmark.</p>
-
-  <p>It seems quite within the bounds of possibility that these two
-    figures were introduced into Danish displays as a compliment
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span>to Royalty, and that later they appeared in England, and
-    became, as it were, acclimatised. Colour is lent to this belief
-    by the record of a display given on a float by the King of
-    Denmark in 1606 upon his departure from this country, where
-    he had been on a visit to his brother-in-law, James <abbr title="the first">I</abbr>.</p>
-
-  <p>This exhibition seems to have given James a taste for
-    fireworks, and one at least of the Danish artists appears to
-    have remained in this country, as some months after James
-    had a display carried out by &ldquo;a Dane, two Dutchmen, and
-    Sir Thomas Challoner.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>In 1572 a firework display was given in the Temple Fields,
-    Warwick, by the Earl of Warwick, then Master-General of
-    the Ordnance. The occasion was a visit to the castle by Queen
-    Elizabeth, who appears to have been rather partial to such
-    exhibitions.</p>
-
-  <p>The display consisted of a mimic battle, with two canvas
-    forts for a setting; noise was provided by the discharge of
-    ordnance of various sizes; the fireworks proper seem to
-    have taken the form of flights of rockets. The display was
-    evidently conducted in a somewhat reckless manner, some
-    houses being set on fire, and some completely destroyed, the
-    two inhabitants of which are said in a contemporary report
-    to have been in bed and asleep, although how that could be
-    with continuous discharge from twenty pieces of ordnance,
-    to say nothing of &ldquo;qualivers and harquebuses,&rdquo; in the immediate
-    neighbourhood, is to say the least curious.</p>
-
-  <p>Two other displays attended by Elizabeth were those at
-    Kenilworth in 1572 and at Elvetham in 1591.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i018" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i018.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="810" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">A Display of the Earliest Type. From a contemporary print (<i><abbr title="circa">c.</abbr></i> 1650).</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>The first European people to make headway in the art of
-    pyrotechny proper appear to have been the Italians. Vanochio,
-    an Italian, in a work on artillery, dated 1572, attributes to the
-    Florentines and Viennese the honour of being the first who
-    made fireworks on erections of wood, decorated with statues
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span>and pictures raised to a great height, some in Florence being
-    forty ells, or seventy-two feet high. He adds that these were
-    illuminated so that they might be seen from a distance, and
-    that the statues threw out fire from the mouths and eyes.</p>
-
-  <p>He refers to the practice, which survived up to the end of
-    the eighteenth century, of constructing elaborate temples or
-    palaces richly decorated, with transparencies illuminated
-    from inside, statuary, gilding, floral and other decorations.
-    On these erections the fireworks proper were displayed, and
-    which were then called artificial fireworks. Nothing very
-    large in the way of firework set-pieces seems to have been
-    attempted, but effect was gained by repetition of a small
-    device over the facade of the building.</p>
-
-  <p>Displays were given annually in Florence at the Feast of
-    <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> John and the Assumption. This custom extended to Rome,
-    where the festivals were given on the Feast of <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Peter and
-    <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Paul, and at the rejoicings on the election of a Pope.</p>
-
-  <p>The towers and fortifications of the castle of <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Angelo
-    furnished suitable spots for these, being visible from the
-    greater part of the city of Rome, and what are described as
-    braziers, firepots, and other fires would be placed there, so as
-    to give a great display without the expense of a building.</p>
-
-  <p>Evelyn, the famous diarist, gives an account of one such
-    display which he witnessed in 1664.</p>
-
-  <p>In other towns that wished to imitate the festival of
-    Rome, it was arranged to place illuminations on the highest
-    towers and steeples of the towns, but as it was found that
-    there was considerable danger of fire from these, it was afterwards
-    preferred to make suitable erections in the great public
-    squares, which were convenient for the exhibition itself and
-    also for the sightseers.</p>
-
-  <p>The Italians appear to have held the supremacy until the
-    end of the seventeenth century.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span></p>
-
-  <p>In the book of Artillery by Diego Ufano, written in 1610,
-    we read that only very simple fireworks were made in his
-    time in Spain and Flanders, consisting of wooden framework
-    supporting pots of fire wrapped round with cloth dipped in
-    pitch, but that more than fifty years before magnificent
-    spectacles could be seen in Italy.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1615, on the occasion of the marriage of Louis <abbr title="the thirteenth">XIII</abbr>,
-    a display was given at Paris in the Place Royale, in which
-    were included combats between men carrying illuminated arms.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1606 the Duc de Sully gave a spectacle which depicted
-    a battle between savages and monsters, the former throwing
-    darts and fire. A similar display had previously been given
-    on the occasion of the entry of Henry <abbr title="the second">II</abbr> into Rheims, and it
-    was repeated in 1612.</p>
-
-  <p>These spectacles, which are quoted as firework displays,
-    cannot rightly be considered as such, fireworks playing a
-    comparatively secondary part in the exhibitions.</p>
-
-  <p>A display of this nature to celebrate the capture of Rochelle
-    was conducted by Clariner of Nuremberg, a celebrated pyrotechnist
-    of the day.</p>
-
-  <p>During the reign of Louis <abbr title="the fourteenth">XIV</abbr>, 1638–1715, great advances
-    were made in pyrotechny in France; great displays were
-    given on the return of the King and Queen to Paris in 1660,
-    on five consecutive days at Versailles in 1676, also on the
-    occasion of the birth of the Dauphin in 1682, in Paris at the
-    Louvre, Dijon, and Lyons.</p>
-
-  <p>A particularly fine display in celebration of the Peace of
-    Riswick, 1669 (for which event displays took place in several
-    countries), is mentioned by Frézier, who wrote a treatise on
-    pyrotechny (1747); it was, he says, witnessing this display
-    that inspired him to study the art.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow83" id="i021" style="max-width: 61.875em">
-    <img src="images/i021.jpg" class="w100" width="990" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Set Piece of the Scenic Type.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>One of the chief causes of progress in France was the
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span>encouragement given by Louis <abbr title="the fifteenth">XV</abbr> (1710–1774) to the pyrotechnists
-    Morel Torré and the Ruggieri brothers, the latter
-    being Italians from Bologna who became naturalised Frenchmen,
-    and contributed very greatly to the development of
-    French pyrotechny. They were the first to rely chiefly on
-    fireworks for the effect, instead of using them merely to
-    embellish a scenic or architectural structure.</p>
-
-  <p>Louis <abbr title="the fifteenth">XV</abbr> expended large sums of money on displays,
-    one of the finest being that fired at Versailles in 1739 by
-    Ruggieri, on the occasion of the marriage of Madame La
-    Première of France with Don Philippe of Spain. Writing of
-    this display in 1821, Ruggieri&rsquo;s son says: &ldquo;There appeared
-    for the first time the <span lang="fr">Salamander la Rosace</span> and <span lang="fr">le Guilloche</span>,
-    which are still admired to-day.&rdquo; These are purely pyrotechnic
-    pieces and devices; similar or identical ones are used at the
-    present day, which seems to indicate that fireworks proper
-    were making headway against scenic effect.</p>
-
-  <p>Other displays in France during the eighteenth century
-    were those on the occasions of the birth of the Duke of
-    Brittany, 1704; birth of the Dauphin, 1730; the convalescence
-    of the King, 1744; and the return of the King to Paris, 1745.
-    Also there is in existence a series of prints which, but for the
-    fact that they are described as fireworks, would be taken to
-    be scenic tableaux; whether the figures are human beings or
-    wax-works is not indicated. These were erected in celebration
-    of the following events:&mdash;The taking of Tournay, the taking
-    of Chateau Grand, Victory over the Allies, all dated 1745;
-    the taking of Ypres, 1747, all of which took place in Paris
-    before the Hotel de Ville. Similar displays were given in
-    Lyons in 1765 to celebrate the taking of Fort San Philippe,
-    and at Soleure in 1777, in honour of the Swiss Guard.</p>
-
-  <p>Displays took place at Versailles (1751) on the occasion of
-    the birth of the Duke of Burgundy. In 1758–9 came a further
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span>series of victory celebrations in honour of the victory of
-    Lutzelberg, over the English in America, and over the Allies
-    at Bergheri, all of which appear to have been of the &ldquo;tableau&rdquo;
-    type mentioned above.</p>
-
-  <p>There were also displays for the peace celebrations on
-    the Seine, 1763, the birth of the Dauphin, 1782, in the Place
-    de Geneve, and peace rejoicings, 1783, before the Hotel de
-    Ville.</p>
-
-  <p>Ruggieri, however, states in his book that the display
-    fired on the marriage of Louis <abbr title="the sixteenth">XVI</abbr> (or, as he then was, the
-    Dauphin) was the only display since the great fetes of 1739
-    which showed any considerable advance in the art; he may,
-    however, be in some degree biased as his father was concerned
-    in each of these displays.</p>
-
-    <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i022" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i022.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="786" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Firework Display at Nuremberg, 1650. From a contemporary engraving</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_4">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span>
-    <h3 title="IV. PYROTECHNY IN EUROPE (continued)">CHAPTER <abbr title="4">IV</abbr><br /><br />
-      PYROTECHNY IN EUROPE (<i>continued</i>)</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">During</span> the later part of the seventeenth century,
-    and subsequently, many prints appeared depicting
-    firework displays; their number seems quite out of
-    proportion to the total number of prints published in that
-    period.</p>
-
-  <p>Possibly this may be taken as some indication of the
-    popularity of firework displays at the time, or may give the
-    measure of the favour in which they were held by the artists
-    of the day.</p>
-
-  <p>Many of these prints are of little value to the student of
-    pyrotechny, as they merely depict the more or less elaborate
-    structure for the display by daylight, and whatever may be
-    their architectural or artistic merit there is generally no indication
-    of what actual fireworks were to be used, or how they
-    were to be displayed.</p>
-
-  <p>In some cases a list of the works is given under the engraving,
-    adding greatly to its value in the eyes of the pyrotechnist,
-    and some, although they are considerably in the
-    minority, are intended to represent the display in progress,
-    although on the rather futuristic method of showing everything
-    going off at one time.</p>
-
-  <p>A series of prints published in Germany during the seventeenth
-    century are among the earliest in which a serious
-    attempt is made to depict pyrotechnic effects; the series
-    includes &ldquo;Swedish Fireworks,&rdquo; dated 1650; &ldquo;Fireworks
-    at Nuremburg in celebration of Peace,&rdquo; of the same date;
-    &ldquo;Fireworks given at Pleissenburg by the Prince of Saxony,&rdquo;
-    1666; and the same year, &ldquo;Fireworks at Vienna&rdquo;; all three
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span>prints show a good display of rockets, also bonfires, and there
-    are indications of primitive wheels. The same remarks apply
-    to a very fine plate published in 1669, depicting a display
-    given at Stockholm in honour of the investiture of Charles <abbr title="the eleventh">XI</abbr>
-    of Sweden with the Order of the Garter by the British
-    Ambassador. This engraving carries with it a feeling of conviction
-    that it is an actual representation of the scene, and
-    not&mdash;as is the case with earlier and with some later work&mdash;that
-    the artist is drawing on his imagination. In many of the
-    earlier prints it is difficult to judge if the artist is depicting
-    what he imagined, or monsters and scenic effects actually
-    constructed for the display.</p>
-
-  <p>It is worthy of note that even in early times, speaking
-    pyrotechnically, the value of water in enhancing the effect
-    of fireworks seems to have been realised. The display at
-    Stockholm we have already mentioned appears to have taken
-    place on the sea front. Many of the larger French displays of
-    the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were fired with a
-    foreground of water; in those at Versailles full advantage
-    was taken of the wonderful fountains and ornamental
-    water, the display given in celebration of the entry of Louis
-    <abbr title="the fourteenth">XIV</abbr> in Paris after his marriage being given on the Seine, and
-    many of the early English displays took place on the Thames.
-    Probably the earliest contemporary account of any length of
-    a firework display in England is one headed &ldquo;The Manner of
-    Fire-Workes shewed up upon the Thames&rdquo; in celebration
-    of the marriage of Prince Frederick (Elector Palatine) with
-    the daughter of James <abbr title="the first">I</abbr> in 1613. We read &ldquo;many artificiall
-    concusions in Fire-Workes were upon the Thames performed.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;First, for a welcome to the beholders a peale of Ordnance
-    like unto a terrible thunder ratled in the ayre.... Secondly,
-    followed a number more of the same fashion, spredding
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span>so strangely with sparkling blazes, that the skie seemed to be
-    filled with fire.... After this, in a most curious manner,
-    an artificiall fire-worke with great wonder was seen flying in
-    the ayre, like unto a fiery Dragon, against which another
-    fierrie vision appeared flaming like to Saint George on Horsebacke,
-    brought in by a burning Inchanter, between which
-    was then fought a most strange battell continuing a quarter
-    of an howre or more; the dragon being vanquished, seemed
-    to roar like thunder, and withall burst in pieces, and so
-    vanished; but the champion, with his flaming horse, for a
-    little time made a shew of a tryumphant conquest, and so
-    ceased.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i024" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i024.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="824" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Great Firework Display near Stockholm, July, 1669. To celebrate the Investiture of
-      Charles <abbr title="the eleventh">XI</abbr>, King of Sweden,
-      with the Order of the Garter by King Charles <abbr title="the second">II</abbr>.</div>
-  </div>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;After this was heard another ratling sound of Cannons,
-    almost covering the ayre with fire and smoke, and forthwith
-    appeared, out of a hill of earth made upon the water, a very
-    strange fire, flaming upright like unto a blazing starre. After
-    which flew forth a number of rockets so high in the ayre, that
-    we could not chose but approve by all reasons that Arte hath
-    exceeded Nature, so artificially were they performed. And
-    still as the Chambers and Culverines plaide upon the earth,
-    the fire-workes danced in the ayre, to the great delight of his
-    Highnes and the Princes.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;Out of the same mount or hill of earth flew another
-    strange piece of artificiall fire-worke, which was in the likenes
-    of a hunted Harte, running upon the water so swiftly, as
-    it had been chaced by many huntsmen.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;After the same, issued out of the mount a number of
-    hunting-hounds made of fire burning, pursuing the aforesaid
-    Harte up and downe the waters, making many rebounds
-    and turnes with much strangenes; skipping in the ayre as it
-    had been a usual hunting upon land.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;These were the noble delights of Princes, and prompt
-    were the wits of men to contrive such princely pleasures.
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span>Where Kings commands be, Art is stretcht to the true depth;
-    as the performance of these Engineers have been approved.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;But now again to our wished sports: when this fiery
-    hunting was extinguished, and that the Elements were a little
-    cleared from fire and smoke, there came sailing up, as it were
-    upon the Seas, certaine ships and gallies bravely rigged with
-    top and top gallant, with their flagges and streamers waving
-    like Men of Warr, which represented a Christian name
-    opposed against the Turkes; where, after they had awhile
-    hovered, preparing as it were, to make an incursion into the
-    Turkish country, they were discovered by her Towers or
-    Castles of defence, strongly furnished to intercept all such
-    invading purposes, so sending forth the reports of a cannon,
-    they were bravely answered with the like from the gallies,
-    banding fire and powder one from another, as if the God of
-    Battle had been there present.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;Here was the manner of a sea-fight rightly performed:
-    First, by assailing one another, all striving for victorie, and
-    pursuing each other with fire and sword: the Culverines
-    merrily plaid betwixt them, and made the ayre resound with
-    thundering echoes; and at last to represent the joyes of a
-    victorie, the Castles were sacked, burned, and ruinated, and
-    the defenders of the same forced to escape with great danger.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The foregoing appears to be the only full account of a
-    display in England during the early part of the seventeenth
-    century, but in the first serious work on fireworks, &ldquo;Pyrotechnia,&rdquo;
-    by John Babington, &ldquo;gunner and student of the
-    mathematicks,&rdquo; we find a proposed programme for &ldquo;a generall
-    piece of fire-worke for land, for the pleasure of a Prince or
-    some great person.&rdquo; The spectacle consists of two castles
-    with mechanical effects, but includes such devices as horizontal
-    and vertical wheels, flights of rockets, line rockets and
-    &ldquo;torches of beautifull fire.&rdquo; Babington also describes the
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span><abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> George and Dragon device, which is merely scenic, the
-    figures being of wickerwork and canvas with slight firework
-    effects. At this time, according to a &ldquo;History of Colleges in
-    and arround London,&rdquo; there were &ldquo;many men very skilful
-    in the art of pyrotechny and fireworks.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>In a book on fireworks, published in the same year, by
-    John Bate, the author concludes by saying: &ldquo;I might have
-    been infinite in the describing of such like with Ships, Towers,
-    Castles, Pyramides. But, considering that it would but increase
-    the price of the book and not better your understanding,
-    since all consist of the former workes, which are so
-    plainly described as that the most ignorant may easily conceive
-    thereof, and (if any whit ingenious) thence contrive
-    others, of what fashion they list.&rdquo; From this it would appear
-    that firework displays were by that date a well-established
-    institution.</p>
-
-  <p>Pepys, in his account of the coronation of Charles <abbr title="the second">II</abbr>,
-    1661, says: &ldquo;We staid upon the leads and below till it was
-    late, expecting to see the fireworks, but they were not performed
-    to-night.&rdquo; He seems to have looked upon fireworks
-    as a matter of course on such an occasion. However, a display
-    of considerable size did take place, conducted by Sir Martin
-    Beckman, later Firemaster to James <abbr title="the second">II</abbr>, who was responsible
-    for most of the important displays until 1706. One of the
-    earliest prints of an English firework display is that depicting
-    the fireworks on the Thames at Whitehall for the coronation
-    of James <abbr title="the second">II</abbr>, 1685, in which the artist appears to have drawn
-    somewhat on his imagination.</p>
-
-  <p>Three years later an elaborate display was given on the
-    Thames to celebrate the birth of an heir to the throne, who
-    was afterwards known as the Old Pretender. In the same year
-    we again see fireworks on the Thames, this time to celebrate
-    the reception of the Prince of Orange.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span></p>
-
-  <p>In 1690 displays were given, again on the Thames, and
-    in Covent Garden, on the occasion of the King&rsquo;s return from
-    Ireland.</p>
-
-  <p>The taking of Namur, 1695, was celebrated by a display
-    in <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> James&rsquo;s Square, and on the same site two years later,
-    the celebrations for the Peace of Riswick. This latter is
-    depicted in a fine engraving, giving the following list of fireworks
-    used on the occasion:&mdash;&ldquo;1,000 Sky Rockets, from four
-    to six pounds weight; 200 Shell; 2,400 Pumps with Starrs
-    (Roman Candles); 1,000 Cones; 7,000 Reports; 15,000
-    Swarms; 400 Light Balls; 23 Rocket Chests, each containing
-    60 rockets from one to four pounders.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>John Evelyn, in his &ldquo;Diary,&rdquo; says: &ldquo;The evening concluded
-    with illuminations and fireworks of great expense.&rdquo;
-    The display cost £12,000.</p>
-
-  <p>There seem to have been no fireworks in London at the
-    coronation of either Anne or the first two Georges, although
-    on the former occasion rockets appear to have been fired from
-    the Fleet at Spithead.</p>
-
-  <p>The Peace Rejoicings of 1713 were the occasion of
-    another display on the Thames off Whitehall, the erection
-    being about 400 feet long on barges chained together in the
-    stream. A feature of this display was the water fireworks,
-    described as: &ldquo;1,500 small and large water Rockets; 5 large
-    water Pyramids; 4 water fountains; 13 Pumps; 21 standing
-    Rockets, with lights all swimming on the water; 84 of
-    Coll Borgards; large and small Bees swarms, half of which
-    were set with lights to swim on the water.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The next event to be celebrated by firework displays on a
-    large scale was the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle; these were given
-    at Paris, The Hague, London, and <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Stephen&rsquo;s Green,
-    Dublin. The Duke of Richmond was responsible for a display
-    on the Thames off Whitehall, the official display taking
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span>place in Green Park, and was on a scale unequalled in this
-    country until well into the last century. It was conducted by
-    the famous pyrotechnist Gaetano Ruggieri, who came over
-    from France for the purpose, assisted by Gioseppe Sarti,
-    under the direction of the Board of Ordnance.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i028" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i028.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="807" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Fireworks on the Thames, June 17th, 1688. To celebrate the birth of a son to King James <abbr title="the second">II.</abbr> known to fame
-      first as the Prince of Wales, and afterwards as the Old Pretender.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>Following the practice of the period, an elaborate structure
-    was prepared. The following is taken from the official programme:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p class="center">&ldquo;A DESCRIPTION OF THE MACHINE FOR THE
-      FIREWORKS, &amp;c.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;The Machine is 114 feet high to the Top of His
-      Majesty&rsquo;s arms, and is 410 feet long. It was invented and
-      designed by the Chevalier Servandoni and all the framing
-      was performed by Mr. James Morris, Master Carpenter
-      to the Office of Ordnance.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;The Ornaments of this Machine are all in Relief, and
-      it is adorned with Frets, Gilding, Lustres, Artificial Flowers,
-      Inscriptions, Statues, Allegorical Pictures, etc.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>According to a contemporary newspaper report, the construction
-    occupied from November 7th until April 26th. It
-    was composed of timber covered with canvas, whitewashed
-    and sized.</p>
-
-  <p>The display commenced about six o&rsquo;clock, and continued
-    until after twelve; during the display the left wing caught fire,
-    which prevented the firing of some of the devices. Indeed,
-    according to Walpole, the Duke of Richmond&rsquo;s display on
-    the Thames a few weeks later consisted largely of fireworks
-    which had not been fired owing to this occurrence, and which
-    the noble duke had bought up cheap.</p>
-
-  <p>Among the items were included the following:&mdash;Regulated
-    Pieces, Fixed Suns, Stars of six Points, and between
-    each point a Ray, a large vertical Sun moved by double Fires,
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span>Cascades, Pyramids (40 feet high) of Gerbs, etc., etc. The
-    chief piece seems to be one &ldquo;from whence Fire issues out and
-    retires within, twelve times alternately; when without, it
-    forms a Glory; when within, it composes a Star of eight
-    Points, and then changes to a Royal brilliant Wheel, whose
-    Fire is thirty feet in diameter, and is moved by twelve fires.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The remainder of this century in England appears to be
-    rather barren of firework displays on a large scale.</p>
-
-  <p>A writer in the &ldquo;<abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> James&rsquo;s Chronicle,&rdquo; under the date
-    February 18th, 1764, in a letter advocating certain improvements
-    in <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> James&rsquo;s Park, evidently recalling the outcry over
-    the 1749 display, observes: &ldquo;We had no fireworks at the
-    peace last year, that will surely obviate any argument preferred
-    against the expense of the undertaking.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Until nearly the end of the eighteenth century, according
-    to Strutt, writing at that time, it was customary &ldquo;for the
-    Train of Artillery to display a grand fire-work on Tower
-    Hill, on the King&rsquo;s Birthday, but owing to the disturbances
-    that occurred, the inhabitants a few years since petitioned
-    against it.&rdquo; There was, however, a great increase in the number
-    of displays. Fireworks became a feature of the programme of
-    the majority of the then fashionable tea and pleasure gardens.</p>
-
-  <p>Walpole describes a firework display given in 1763 by the
-    notorious Duchess of Kingston, who was thirteen years later
-    tried by her peers on a charge of bigamy.</p>
-
-  <p>The display appears to have taken place in Hyde Park,
-    opposite the residence of the Duchess, then at the height of
-    her popularity. He records that &ldquo;the fireworks were fine
-    and succeeded well.&rdquo; One item seems curious to modern
-    ideas; it took the form of a cenotaph for the Princess Elizabeth,
-    a sister of the king, bearing the inscription: &ldquo;All
-    honours the dead can receive.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The sequel was even more extraordinary, as &ldquo;about one
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span>in the morning this Sarcophagus burst into crackers and
-    guns.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i030" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i030.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="960" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Firework Display given by the Duke of Richmond on the Thames off Whitehall, May 15th, 1749,
-      to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>Lieutenant Jones, who published a book on fireworks in
-    1765, in his preface makes the following remarks:</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;I own I cannot help reflecting with some kind of chagrin
-    that whenever we have had occasion for these sort of diversions
-    to be exhibited in England we have almost always had
-    recourse to foreigners to execute them; if this has been owing
-    to the ignorance of our own people on this subject I shall be
-    very happy if it is in my power to correct it; if it is only owing
-    to that prevailing fondness we entertain for everything foreign
-    I know no remedy for that evil but time and experience.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>To a certain extent his complaint seems justified; as we
-    have seen, the Aix-la-Chapelle celebrations were conducted
-    by foreigners&mdash;Ruggieri and Sarti. Later in the century, Morel
-    Torré, who, as previously mentioned, collaborated with
-    Ruggieri in pyrotechnic displays for Louis <abbr title="the fifteenth">XV</abbr>, and several
-    other pyrotechnists came to this country and conducted displays.
-    At the same time, however, there were undoubtedly
-    many capable pyrotechnists of English nationality, who found
-    scope for their abilities in the exhibitions given in the pleasure
-    gardens of London and the provinces in the eighteenth and
-    early nineteenth centuries.</p>
-
-  <p>A history of pyrotechny would not be complete without
-    a survey of these popular places of amusement, and we propose
-    in the following chapter to give a brief summary of the
-    better known places of resort.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_5">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span>
-    <h3 title="V. THE LONDON PLEASURE GARDENS">CHAPTER <abbr title="5">V</abbr><br /><br />
-      THE LONDON PLEASURE GARDENS</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">During</span> the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth
-    centuries the Pleasure Gardens filled a position
-    in the lives of a large proportion of the public comparable
-    with that of the Cinema to-day.</p>
-
-  <p>To the great mass of the public, the most general form of
-    evening relaxation was a visit to one or other of these places
-    of resort. Apart from meals of a more or less elaborate nature,
-    and liquid refreshments of various kinds, a great variety of
-    entertainments were provided, varying from displays of horsemanship
-    to exhibitions of paintings. Of these diversions none
-    were more general than fireworks and illuminations. At many
-    gardens fireworks formed a regular feature of the programme,
-    at others, generally less ambitious undertakings, displays were
-    confined to occasions, such as the King&rsquo;s Birthday.</p>
-
-  <p>Space will hardly permit of more than a glance at those
-    resorts situated in the provinces, but a description of those
-    in the London area may be taken as typical.</p>
-
-  <p>Captain Marryat, in &ldquo;Peter Simple,&rdquo; gives an account of
-    a visit to Postdown Fair, near Portsmouth, and an adjournment
-    to the local Ranelagh Gardens to &ldquo;see the fireworks.&rdquo;
-    As the pyrotechnist was behind time, Peter Simple and his
-    friends took it upon themselves to fire the display. &ldquo;In about
-    half a minute off they all went in the most beautiful confusion;
-    there were silver stars and golden stars, blue lights
-    and Catherine Wheels, Mines and Bombs, Grecian fires and
-    Roman Candles, Chinese Trees, rockets and illuminated
-    mottoes, all firing away, cracking, popping, and fizzing at
-    the same time. It was unanimously agreed that it was a great
-    improvement on the intended show.&rdquo;</p>
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span></p>
-  <p>Undoubtedly the gardens best remembered at the present
-    day are Vauxhall and Ranelagh, neither of which were early
-    in the field in presenting firework displays to the public.</p>
-
-  <p>The first displays took place at Vauxhall about 1798,
-    more than half a century after their appearance at some of
-    the less famous gardens, and did not become a permanent
-    feature of the programme until 1813. They continued regularly
-    until the final closing of the gardens in 1859, the final
-    item of the programme being &ldquo;Farewell for Ever&rdquo; in letters
-    of fire. In 1813 an item in the firework programme was the
-    performance of Madame Saqui, which was to slide down an
-    inclined rope 350 feet long from the top of a mast 60 feet
-    high, erected on the firework platform, enveloped in fireworks.
-    So popular did this exhibition become that it was
-    repeated here by other performers, by Longueman in 1822,
-    and later by Blackmore.</p>
-
-  <p>The best-known pyrotechnists connected with Vauxhall
-    were Southby, Mortram, and Hengler, the first display being
-    by an Italian named Invetto.</p>
-
-  <p>Pyrotechnic displays at Ranelagh became a prominent
-    feature of the amusements about 1767. The pyrotechnists
-    Angelo, father and son, during that and the following years,
-    helped to establish these displays in popularity, followed by
-    Clithero, Caillot, Brock, Rossi, and Tessier, up to the closing
-    of the gardens in 1805, after which date they appear to have
-    been opened from time to time on special occasions. &ldquo;The
-    Morning Chronicle&rdquo; of June 1st, 1812, announces that &ldquo;By
-    the Authority of the Right Hon. the Lord Chamberlain&rdquo;
-    these gardens would be open &ldquo;in Honour of His Majesty&rsquo;s
-    Birthday, with a grand naval and military Fete, and a superb
-    exhibition of Fireworks.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>An interesting old advertisement, dated 1766: &ldquo;For the
-    Benefit of the General Lying-in Hospital. The most superb
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span>and Magnificent Fireworks ever exhibited at that Place, under
-    the conduct and direction of Mr. Angelo.&rdquo; It would appear
-    from this that fireworks had been fired at Ranelagh earlier than
-    1766, but they could not have been a regular feature before 1767.</p>
-
-  <p>Cupers Gardens, which stood on the south side of the
-    river, approximately on the site of the Waterloo Bridge
-    approach, were for a long period the scene of popular firework
-    displays. Commencing about 1741, these displays were as
-    elaborate as any of this period. The earlier displays appear to
-    have been conducted by &ldquo;the ingenious Mr. Worman,&rdquo; who
-    seems to have relied to a considerable extent on transparencies
-    and scenery; in 1749 and 1750 he reproduced in miniature
-    the firework &ldquo;machine&rdquo; or Temple used in the respective
-    official displays in Green Park, and at The Hague for the Aix-la-Chapelle
-    peace celebrations. Other scenic effects were a
-    view of the city of Rhodes with a model of the Colossus;
-    Neptune, issuing from a grotto below drawn by sea-horses,
-    set fire to a pyramid or an &ldquo;Archimedan worm&rdquo; and returned.</p>
-
-  <p>Clithero was also associated with these displays, producing
-    similar scenic effects, including a naval engagement
-    in 1755, which was the last year of fireworks in these gardens.</p>
-
-  <p>The earlier displays at Marylebone Gardens took place
-    about the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1751 a display
-    is announced to take place at eleven o&rsquo;clock, and &ldquo;a large
-    collection&rdquo; of fireworks was advertised in 1753. Some at
-    least of these earlier displays were fired by Brock, whose son,
-    later on, worked here in conjunction with Torré. In 1769 the
-    displays were under the direction of Rossi and Clanfield.
-    From 1772 to 1774 was the most successful period of the
-    fireworks at these gardens; they were then under the direction
-    of Torré. A popular item, afterwards copied by Marinari
-    at Ranelagh, was the &ldquo;Forge of Vulcan,&rdquo; a scenic display
-    concluding with the eruption of Mount Etna.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span></p>
-
-  <p>On the occasion of Torré&rsquo;s benefit, in 1772, there was a
-    further exhibition of this kind, representing Hercules delivering
-    Theseus from Hell.</p>
-
-  <p>During this period attempts were made by neighbouring
-    residents to stop the displays as a nuisance, but nothing came
-    of it, and the fireworks continued.</p>
-
-  <p>At the annual festival in 1772, the display included a
-    temple of &ldquo;upwards of 10,000 cases of different fires, all
-    lighted at the same time.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Other pyrotechnists firing at the gardens were Clithero
-    and Caillot, both of whom had conducted displays at Ranelagh,
-    the latter being responsible for the fireworks up to the
-    closing of the gardens about 1778.</p>
-
-  <p>It is recorded that Dr. Johnson once visited the gardens
-    on a firework night, but unfortunately a wet one, and notice
-    was given to the handful of visitors that the fireworks were
-    wet and the display would be cancelled. The doctor, however,
-    was of opinion that it was a &ldquo;mere excuse to save their crackers
-    for a more profitable company,&rdquo; and suggested that a threat
-    to break the lamps would result in the show being forthcoming.
-    Some young men standing by endeavoured, under
-    his direction, to ignite the pieces, but unsuccessfully.</p>
-
-  <p>The Mulberry Gardens, Clerkenwell, were among the
-    earliest to make fireworks a feature. Displays took place from
-    the opening in 1742, and ten years later Clanfield gave a display
-    each evening.</p>
-
-  <p>Two neighbouring taverns, &ldquo;Lord Cobham&rsquo;s Head&rdquo;
-    and the &ldquo;Sir John Oldcastle,&rdquo; had displays from 1744, and
-    in 1751 &ldquo;New fireworks in the Chinese manner&rdquo; were
-    announced at the latter establishment.</p>
-
-  <p>The New Wells, in the same neighbourhood as the foregoing,
-    had had a display as early as 1740, but it appears to have
-    been of a scenic nature, representing the Siege of Portobello.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span></p>
-
-  <p>The &ldquo;Star and Garter,&rdquo; Chelsea, advertised displays by
-    Signor Genovini of Rome, in 1762, and &ldquo;Jenny&rsquo;s Whim,&rdquo;
-    in the same neighbourhood, had displays somewhat earlier,
-    the place having been established as a pleasure resort by a
-    pyrotechnist.</p>
-
-  <p>Cromwell Gardens, in the vicinity of the present Cromwell
-    Road, had what appears to have been a small display in 1784.</p>
-
-  <p>Rossi and Tessier, the pyrotechnists of Ranelagh, gave
-    displays at the Bermondsey Spa Gardens in 1792. A representation
-    of the Siege of Gibraltar was given, and on September
-    28th of that year, &ldquo;by special desire the Battle of the Fiery
-    Dragons, and the line comet to come from the Rock of Gibraltar
-    and cause the Dragons to engage.&rdquo; Brock also gave
-    displays here later.</p>
-
-  <p>Finch&rsquo;s Grotto Gardens, whose site is now occupied by
-    the headquarters of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade in Southwark,
-    had occasional displays of fireworks about 1770, as did
-    the Temple of Flora in the Westminster Bridge Road, about
-    the same date. Clithero advertised a display of fireworks at
-    Jamaica House, Rotherhithe, in 1762.</p>
-
-  <p>A Peace Celebration display is announced for February
-    7th, 1749, to &ldquo;be play&rsquo;d off this evening in the Field adjoining
-    to the Tavern called Bob&rsquo;s Hall.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>In 1788 Astley senior advertises, to take place at the
-    Royal Grove and Astley&rsquo;s Amphitheatre, Westminster Bridge,
-    a &ldquo;Double Display of Fire-Works.... Numerous Devices
-    prepared in the usual way from Powder, etc., which will be
-    alternatively played off with the new-invented Philosophical
-    Fire-Works, under the direction of Mons. Henry, the inventor
-    and Professor of Natural Philosophy from Paris.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The same year he announces a display &ldquo;on the Thames
-    immediately after Astley&rsquo;s Exhibition in Honour of His
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span>Majesty&rsquo;s Birth-day,&rdquo; and concludes by saying &ldquo;the Fireworks
-    are made under the Direction of Mr. Astley, by Messrs.
-    Cobonell &amp; Son, who will let them off on the Thames this
-    evening at different signals from Mr. Astley, Sen., who will
-    be mounted on the Gibraltar Charger, placed in a Barge, in
-    the Front of the line of Fireworks.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i036" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i036.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="748" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Firework Temple at Vauxhall, 1845. From a woodcut in &ldquo;The Illustrated London News.&rdquo;</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>The &ldquo;Philosophical fireworks&rdquo; above mentioned were
-    evidently an imitation of those exhibited at the Lyceum by
-    Diller, which he describes as &ldquo;Philosophical Fireworks from
-    Inflammable Air without smell, smoke or Detonation.&rdquo; These
-    appear to have been nothing more than gas jets arranged in
-    patterns and designs, some revolving and some stationary.
-    Air was forced from a bladder through a sponge saturated
-    with ether. Movement and variation were produced by
-    turning on and off the gas from separate sets of holes. Two
-    colours only appear to have been produced&mdash;rose and green;
-    these were by the addition of strontia and baryta or
-    copper.</p>
-
-  <p>A handbill is in existence advertising a similar display at
-    Hull in 1804, by W. Clarke.</p>
-
-  <p>During the early part of the nineteenth century several
-    gardens round London made a feature of pyrotechnic displays.
-    The Mermaid Gardens, Hackney, in &ldquo;The Morning
-    Chronicle&rdquo; of June 1st, 1812, announces &ldquo;the greatest feast
-    for the eye ever exhibited is a superb firework by that unparalleled
-    artist, Mr. Brock, Engineer.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The Yorkshire Stingo and Bayswater Tea Gardens in the
-    west gave displays up to the early forties. White Conduit
-    House, in the Islington district, had firework displays from
-    1824 up to shortly before the closing of these gardens in 1849.</p>
-
-  <p>Rosherville Gardens, opened in 1837, the North Woolwich
-    Gardens, the Eagle, 1825–82, the Globe, Mile End, the
-    Cremorne, 1843–77, all had their firework displays. The best
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span>known, however, for this feature were the Surrey Zoological
-    Gardens, 1831–56, where Southby, of Vauxhall, conducted
-    displays for several years, producing pyrotechnic and scenic
-    displays there. In 1841 he gave a reproduction of the fireworks
-    of <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Angelo, and the Illumination of <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Peter&rsquo;s,
-    Rome, which proved a great attraction to the gardens.</p>
-
-  <p>In the provinces the Belvue Gardens, Manchester, and
-    the Clifton Zoological Gardens, Bristol, have made a feature
-    of firework displays in their list of attractions, those at the
-    latter being carried out in 1835 by Gyngell.</p>
-
-  <p>The famous Cremorne Gardens made a feature of pyrotechnic
-    displays and spectacles of the scenic type with more
-    or less regularity from their opening in 1846 down to the final
-    closing owing to public petition in 1877. The earlier displays
-    were carried out by Mortram and Duffel.</p>
-
-  <p>Firework displays of a somewhat more ambitious nature
-    have been given from time to time at the Alexandra Palace,
-    no doubt in emulation of the historic Crystal Palace displays,
-    which are dealt with in the ensuing chapter.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_6">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span>
-    <h3 title="VI. FIREWORKS IN THE NINETEENTH &amp; TWENTIETH CENTURIES">CHAPTER <abbr title="6">VI</abbr><br /><br />
-      FIREWORKS IN THE NINETEENTH &amp; TWENTIETH CENTURIES</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">As</span> we have seen, the commencement of the eighteenth
-    century was marked by great activity in the
-    pyrotechnic art.</p>
-
-  <p>Firework displays were looked upon as a necessary item
-    in the programme of a place of public entertainment. So
-    ambitious did these displays become, owing to keen rivalry
-    existing between the various resorts, that any official display
-    in celebration of peace or like event must of necessity be on a
-    scale of unexampled lavishness.</p>
-
-  <p>No official display of note appears to have been given in
-    London during the first thirteen years of the nineteenth
-    century, or indeed since the Aix-la-Chapelle peace display.
-    The reason may have been the public outcry on the score of
-    waste on that occasion.</p>
-
-  <p>They were totally prohibited at the coronation of George
-    <abbr title="the third">III</abbr>, and at his jubilee in 1809 there were apparently no
-    firework displays in London, although more than forty towns
-    about the country celebrated the event pyrotechnically, and
-    a fine display was given from the Fleet at the Nore.</p>
-
-  <p>The largest public firework exhibition on this occasion
-    was that given at Bombay, where the celebration took place
-    earlier in the year, the date selected being June 4th, the King&rsquo;s
-    birthday, instead of October 25th, the actual anniversary of
-    his accession.</p>
-
-  <p>The Peace of 1802, although no official display was given,
-    was the occasion of much private pyrotechnic enterprise, the
-    fireworks and illuminations in London lasting nearly a week.</p>
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span></p>
-  <p>The Peace of 1814 was signalised in London by several
-    displays: the 1st of August was chosen for the Peace Celebration,
-    it being the centenary of the accession of the House
-    of Brunswick, and also the anniversary of the Battle of the
-    Nile.</p>
-
-  <p>The display in Hyde Park commenced with a naval engagement
-    on the Serpentine between model warships representing
-    the English and the combined French and American
-    Fleets. This item, which lasted three hours, was followed by
-    a display of water fireworks. The display in Green Park
-    commenced at ten o&rsquo;clock, one of the chief items being the
-    &ldquo;grand metamorphosis of the Castle into the Temple of
-    Concord.&rdquo; This change, says a writer in &ldquo;The Times&rdquo; of the
-    period, &ldquo;was made with somewhat less celerity than those
-    witnessed in our theatrical pantomimes. It resembled rather
-    the cautious removal of a screen than the sudden leap into a
-    new shape. When fully developed, however, it presented a
-    spectacle which excited general approbation.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The Temple of Concord was an elaborate structure
-    illuminated with coloured lamps, and decorated with gilding,
-    festoons, etc., and transparent paintings. It was designed by
-    Smirke, the paintings being by Stodard, Howard, Hilton,
-    and others, and represented such subjects as &ldquo;The Golden
-    Age,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Peace restored to Earth.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Charles Lamb, in a letter to William Wordsworth, dated
-    August 9th, 1814, after describing the havoc wrought in the
-    park by the crowds and booths, remarks that: &ldquo;After all
-    the fireworks were splendent&mdash;the Rockets in clusters, in
-    trees and all shapes, spreading about like young stars in the
-    making floundering about in space (like unbroke horses) till
-    some of Newton&rsquo;s calculations should fix them, but then they
-    went out. Anyone who could see &rsquo;em and the still finer
-    showers of gloomy rain fire that fell sulkily and angrily from
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span>&rsquo;em, and could go to bed without dreaming of the Last Day,
-    must be as hardened an Atheist as ****.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p><abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> James&rsquo;s Park was reserved for those who paid for
-    admission. The trees were illuminated with lamps, and a
-    Chinese bridge, which had been erected over the lake, was
-    similarly treated. The use of gas on this structure must be
-    one of the earliest occasions of its being employed for outdoor
-    illuminations of this nature. Neither can the result be
-    considered altogether successful, as the building caught fire
-    towards the end of the firework display, and a lamplighter,
-    who appears to have been caught by the flames in an attempt
-    to throw himself into the water, was killed. Other men similarly
-    employed were also severely burned. These men, evidently
-    through ignorance, had started lighting the lower lamps first,
-    working upwards on the structure, until they found themselves
-    in a position of intolerable heat with no means of
-    descending.</p>
-
-  <p>The pyrotechnic display consisted chiefly of aerial fireworks
-    with gerbs, roman candles, fountains, and wheels;
-    there do not appear to have been many devices of any size.
-    &ldquo;The Times&rdquo; reporter complains that &ldquo;the repetition of these
-    things, with occasional pauses, for more than two hours became
-    tedious to all.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The coronation of George <abbr title="the fourth">IV</abbr>, in 1821, was celebrated
-    by a display in Hyde Park, including land and water fireworks,
-    superintended by Congreve. The displays on the
-    coronation of William <abbr title="the fourth">IV</abbr>, in 1831, were directed by Congreve&rsquo;s
-    successor, Sir Augustus Frazer, but appear to have
-    been of an insignificant character.</p>
-
-  <p>Queen Victoria&rsquo;s coronation was celebrated by displays
-    in Hyde Park and Green Park, conducted by Southby and
-    D&rsquo;Ernst, which exhibitions included a Temple on similar
-    lines to that of 1814.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span></p>
-
-  <p>In France, during the first few years of the nineteenth
-    century, there were many pyrotechnic displays of importance.
-    Napoleon is credited with being extremely partial to such
-    exhibitions. Displays took place in Paris in the <span lang="fr">Champs
-    Elysées</span>, at the <span lang="fr">barriere Chaillot</span>, before <span lang="fr">Les Invalides</span> in 1801
-    to celebrate the foundation of the Republic, and in the following
-    year in honour of Napoleon&rsquo;s arrival in that city.</p>
-
-  <p>Major-General Lord Blayney, who was captured by
-    Napoleon&rsquo;s troops in the Peninsula in 1810, travelled on
-    parole across Spain and France on his way to Verdun. His
-    somewhat leisurely journey of nearly six months enabled
-    him to witness many celebrations of French victories in the
-    towns through which he passed. He records having seen
-    fireworks and illuminations among other places at Malaga
-    and Orleans.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1804 a display was given by Napoleon before the Hotel
-    de Ville, Paris, on his assumption of the title of Emperor of
-    the French. The scenery provided for this display took the
-    form of a representation of Mount <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Bernard, with a figure
-    symbolising Napoleon mounted on a charger on the summit.</p>
-
-  <p>This display was repeated in 1810 on the occasion of his
-    marriage with Marie Louise; this time, however, the topmost
-    feature was the Temple of Hymen, with figures of
-    Napoleon and his bride.</p>
-
-  <p>Other displays were given on the bridge of Louis <abbr title="the sixteenth">XVI</abbr>,
-    which appears to have been a popular position for such exhibitions,
-    in 1800, 1804, 1806, 1820, and 1821. Another site
-    frequently used for displays was the garden of the Senate,
-    where Ruggieri fired displays in the years 1801, 1806 (twice),
-    and 1807.</p>
-
-  <p>Fireworks continued to be a national institution in France,
-    irrespective of the form of government. Louis Napoleon, like
-    his uncle, being fond of fireworks, or it may be, considering
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span>them a good means of gaining popularity, made any public
-    event an excuse for pyrotechnic displays. Notable occasions
-    were the Military Fetes, 1852, the Fete of the Emperor,
-    1853, the visit of Queen Victoria to the Paris Exhibition of
-    1855, in honour of which a most elaborate display was given
-    at Versailles, the Baptismal Fetes in 1856, the triumphal
-    entry and the Emperor&rsquo;s birthday, 1859, and the visit of the
-    King Consort of Spain in 1864.</p>
-
-  <p>The Entente Cordiale movement in 1868 was responsible
-    for displays in the Fleets on both sides of the Channel, those
-    in France taking place in Cherbourg, those in England at
-    Spithead.</p>
-
-  <p>A previous event which had been celebrated pyrotechnically
-    on a large scale in both countries was the Peace Rejoicing
-    at the conclusion of the Crimean War.</p>
-
-  <p>This occasion was marked in London by four displays of
-    fireworks on a scale hitherto unprecedented. The sites chosen
-    were Hyde Park, Green Park, Primrose Hill, and Victoria
-    Park. They were arranged thus with the very sensible idea
-    of splitting the crowds of sightseers into sections and thus
-    preventing dangerous crowding to one spot. The fireworks
-    were prepared for these displays in Woolwich Arsenal, under
-    the direction of Mr. Southby, the pyrotechnist of the Surrey
-    Gardens, who went there for this event.</p>
-
-  <p>The programmes of these displays were precisely similar,
-    with the exception of that at Primrose Hill, which consisted
-    mainly of aerial fireworks.</p>
-
-  <p>Tyrrell, in his &ldquo;History of the War with Russia,&rdquo; gives
-    the following account of the display in Green Park: &ldquo;At
-    the appointed signal there was a continuous discharge of
-    maroons, accompanied by brilliant illuminations with white,
-    red, green, and yellow fires.... Then for two hours followed
-    every conceivable design of elegant and dazzling pyrotechnic
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span>art. Flights of rockets a hundred at a time; revolving wheels,
-    sun star and golden streamers, and fiery serpents chasing
-    each other through the air. Gerbs, Roman candles, tourbillions,
-    shells, and fixed pieces of the most fantastic designs and
-    brilliant hues. The eyes were dazzled by the intensity of the
-    light.... It was strange to believe that so fierce and ungovernable
-    an element as fire could be rendered so delicately
-    obedient to the will of man.... The triumph, however, of
-    the entertainment was reserved for the close of it. This was
-    a tremendous bombardment, during which the air was constantly
-    filled with flights of rockets, and was intended as a
-    representation of the last grand attack upon Sebastopol&mdash;the
-    blowing up of the magazines and works, and general conflagration.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;As an introduction to this there were five fixed pieces, all
-    of complicated construction, the centre being an enormous
-    one which, amid all its fantastic blazing and revolving, exhibited
-    the words &lsquo;God Save the Queen.&rsquo; Language fails to
-    convey a vivid idea of the deafening, roaring, crashing and
-    grand appearance of the termination, during which the proud
-    fortifications of Sebastopol were supposed to succumb. Then
-    rose up into the blackness, rapidly one after another, six
-    flights of rockets, comprising altogether no less than ten
-    thousand of these beautiful and brilliant instruments.... It
-    was such a spectacle as man could not reasonably expect to
-    witness more than once in a lifetime.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>This account appears to be somewhat highly coloured,
-    as the official programme makes no reference to the fall of
-    Sebastopol, but it is evident from it that the writer was greatly
-    impressed with the display, and contemporary prints indicate
-    that he was voicing popular opinion.</p>
-
-  <p>It is worthy of note that these celebrations were the first
-    occasion of the kind in which the exhibitions consisted of
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span>veritable fireworks without extraneous matter in the form of
-    scenery and buildings. This may account for the fact that
-    there was, on this occasion, considerably less of the usual
-    outcry against the &ldquo;waste&rdquo; involved. It is curious that on
-    occasions of this kind there are always to be found certain
-    damp spirits who begin a clamour against the expenditure of
-    money on fireworks which might be applied to other objects.
-    The Aix-la-Chapelle display excited these gentlemen to a
-    great pitch, probably on account of the elaborate nature of
-    the preparations, which, as we have already seen, occupied
-    over five months, thus providing them with plenty of time to
-    develop their theme, or an object lesson to prove their statements.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i044" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i044.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="835" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Queen Victoria&rsquo;s Visit to France, 1855. The Fireworks at Versailles. From a drawing by Gustav Doré
-      in &ldquo;The Illustrated London News.&rdquo;</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>Where, however, the display consists&mdash;as on the occasion
-    under consideration&mdash;solely of fireworks proper, a few days&rsquo;
-    preparation on the actual site is usually sufficient; the kill-joy
-    has less time to spread himself. It may be mentioned his
-    season is over with the display; generally the British public,
-    having enjoyed itself, turns a deaf ear to those who would
-    convince it that it ought not to have done so.</p>
-
-  <p>Other displays took place in various parts of the kingdom:
-    in Edinburgh on Arthur&rsquo;s Seat, at Portsmouth on the Fleet,
-    to mention two only.</p>
-
-  <p>An interesting event which took place on the 25th August
-    was the entertainment of 2,000 men of the Guards at the
-    Surrey Gardens. This resort was at the time the home of
-    British pyrotechny, the displays being conducted by Southby,
-    who, as we have said, went into Woolwich Arsenal to assist
-    in the production of the fireworks for the official displays.
-    The amusements of the day concluded with an exhibition of
-    fireworks.</p>
-
-  <p>A further event connected with the foregoing celebration
-    was the festivities in Moscow on the occasion of the coronation
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span>of the Emperor Alexander <abbr title="the second">II</abbr>, which concluded with a
-    pyrotechnic display.</p>
-
-  <p>From this time until the end of the century the history of
-    pyrotechny in this country is practically the history of pyrotechny
-    at the Crystal Palace; it has been the Crystal Palace
-    displays which have set the pace, as it were, to pyrotechnists
-    in this country, and has provided the spur which has placed
-    British pyrotechnists not only ahead but markedly ahead of
-    their competitors in other countries.</p>
-
-  <p>The Crystal Palace displays became a national institution,
-    and any public event worthy of such recognition was accorded
-    a pyrotechnic celebration there on a scale hitherto unattempted.</p>
-
-  <p>The credit for the original introduction of fireworks at
-    the Crystal Palace must belong to the late C. T. Brock, who
-    succeeded in inducing the Directors to institute a competition
-    among pyrotechnists in 1865. It may be interesting to give in
-    his own words an account of the matter, taken from an article
-    written by him some few years later:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;It occurred to me that of all the places of public resort
-      suitable for the inauguration of a new era for pyrotechny,
-      none offered such glorious advantages as the Crystal Palace,
-      then at the height of its popularity. Its terraces, fountains
-      and foliage offered unrivalled advantages for the display of
-      grand effects. The Directors of the Crystal Palace Company,
-      who had more than once been applied to for permission
-      to hold displays in the grounds, feared that, inasmuch
-      as fireworks had been recently associated solely with
-      gardens of the Cremorne class, the Palace itself would be
-      degraded to the same rank if consent were granted. I urged
-      that the Exhibition of 1862 had afforded no opportunity for
-      competition among firework makers&mdash;necessarily excluded
-      by the nature of their trade&mdash;although almost every other
-      <span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">47</span>branch of manufactures were embraced, that such a contest
-      might with reason and advantage be held at Sydenham, and
-      that fireworks were really not of an immoral tendency. I
-      further agreed that in the event of the result being unfavourable,
-      either financially or from a social point of view, no
-      second display need take place, but if, as I felt confident,
-      there should be a large attendance of the better classes, then
-      other exhibitions might follow. The Directors, after many
-      months of delay, consented to make the experiment, and
-      the favourable result of the trial on July 12th, 1865, far
-      exceeded my most sanguine expectations.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;The result was an unlooked-for success, 20,000 people
-      being present on the occasion. Three more displays took
-      place that year upon a small scale, but always with successful
-      results.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;The first display was produced jointly by my father and
-      Mr. Southby, the winner of the first prize, and continued
-      to the end of that season by my father alone under my
-      management.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;The success of fireworks at the Crystal Palace having
-      become an accomplished fact, I built extensive works at
-      Nunhead, and commenced manufacturing on a scale never
-      previously dreamt of in the trade&mdash;the vast expanse of the
-      locale of my displays obviously necessitating extraordinary
-      expenditure of material.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;By degrees the set pieces grew from twelve feet in
-      diameter to 300 feet. Shells for which the Crystal Palace
-      has been renowned grew to one hundred times more than
-      the ordinary shells of my early days, and thousands of
-      pounds weight of material was gradually introduced to
-      increase the effectiveness of these displays.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-    <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i046" style="max-width: 75em">
-      <img src="images/i046.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="955" alt="" />
-      <div class="caption">&ldquo;The<span class="gesperrt2"> GRAND WHIM </span>for<span class="smcap gesperrt2"> Posterity </span>to Laugh at:<br />
-        Being the Night View of the <span class="smcap">Royal Fireworks</span>, as Exhibited in the Green Park, St. <i>James&rsquo;s</i>,
-        with the Right Wing on Fire.&rdquo;<br /><br />
-        Firework Display in the Green Park to celebrate the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1749.</div>
-    </div>
-
-  <p>The Crystal Palace displays carried out by C. T. Brock
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">48</span>and his brother, Arthur Brock, who succeeded him in the
-    business on March 25th, 1881, have since become proverbial.
-    They continued up to 1910, when the Crystal Palace was
-    taken over by the promoters of the Pageant of Empire. They
-    have been revived in 1920, when the War Museum was opened,
-    and the attendance has proved that the public taste for fireworks
-    is very far from diminishing.</p>
-
-  <p>During the run of forty-five consecutive years an installation
-    was built up, method and technique were evolved
-    unknown in any other place of pyrotechnic exhibition.</p>
-
-  <p>While the firework terrace, with its magnificent background
-    of park and shrubberies, is unrivalled as a firing
-    ground, it is at the same time the most exacting. The huge
-    building, its imposing position and setting, the wonderful
-    fountains, all demand pyrotechnic effects on a corresponding
-    scale.</p>
-
-  <p>The pictorial set pieces, originally introduced by C. T.
-    Brock in 1875, increased in size until a plant was arrived
-    at capable of exhibiting a picture ninety feet high and two
-    hundred feet long on the main girder, which length could
-    be extended to even six hundred feet of frontage, as on the
-    occasion of the exhibition of a battle piece or similar subject.</p>
-
-  <p>During this period the subjects dealt with in the main set
-    pieces have covered a wide range. A favourite subject, and
-    one lending itself particularly well to pyrotechnic production,
-    is the sea battle. Almost every historic naval engagement of
-    sufficient size to warrant its adoption has been proved the
-    subject for a fire picture.</p>
-
-  <p>Among the battle pictures produced are the following:&mdash;Bombardment
-    of Alexandria in 1882, Siege of Gibraltar in
-    1883, Battle of Trafalgar in 1884; during 1885, two pictures
-    representing the use of the ironclads of the period and based
-    on the Naval man&oelig;uvres, entitled the &ldquo;Attack on Dover,&rdquo;
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">49</span>and the Battle of Bantry Bay; the following year another
-    imaginary picture depicting an attack by torpedo boats on the
-    latest battleship, the &ldquo;Colossus.&rdquo; The Bombardment of
-    Sebastopol was reproduced in 1887, followed by the Jubilee
-    Naval Review at Spithead. In 1888 the defeat of the Spanish
-    Armada was depicted; in 1890 Trafalgar, followed in 1891
-    by the engagement between the &ldquo;Chesapeake&rdquo; and the
-    &ldquo;Shannon,&rdquo; together with a portrait of Admiral Sir Provo
-    Wallis, then aged one hundred, and another from an early
-    painting showing him at the time of the engagement when
-    the command of the English vessel devolved upon him owing
-    to the casualties among the senior officers. Later in that year
-    the Battle of the Nile was reproduced; 1893 saw the Bombardment
-    of Canton; 1894 the Battle of the First of June,
-    and the Battle of the Yalu. The Battle of Manilla Bay was
-    produced in 1898, and on the centenary date the Battle of the
-    Nile. In 1889, H.M.S. &ldquo;Implacable&rdquo; was shown in action
-    on the day on which she was commissioned, followed in 1900
-    by the Bombardment of the Taku Forts, and in 1901 by the
-    immortal sea fight between the &ldquo;Revenge&rdquo; and the &ldquo;Fifty-three.&rdquo;
-    In 1904 the Russo-Japanese War gave subjects in the
-    various attacks on Port Arthur and the Battle of Tsu-Shima,
-    and the Battle of the Sea of Japan in the year following. The
-    Battle of Trafalgar was renewed that season, and in 1908
-    another imaginary picture portraying modern naval warfare
-    was produced, followed in 1909 by an imaginary encounter
-    between the first Dreadnought and other craft.</p>
-
-  <p>The revival of the Crystal Palace displays in 1920 saw the
-    reproduction of the Battle of Jutland, of which the following
-    appreciation appeared in the Press:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;The chief set piece in the programme is a Fire Picture
-      of the Battle of Jutland, the most realistic spectacle ever
-      <span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">50</span>produced in fire; by ingenious devices the guns fire, shells
-      burst in all directions, gaping holes appear in the sides and
-      upper works of the ships engaged, until&mdash;when the din of
-      battle has reached its height&mdash;the German cruiser &lsquo;Lutzow&rsquo;
-      blows up and sinks. One realises that here at least is
-      one pictorial subject in which the Cinematograph is hopelessly
-      outdone; the variety of noises, varying from the sharp
-      bark of quick-firers to the boom of the heavy guns, which
-      are here so wonderfully reproduced, are quite inadequately
-      rendered by the conventional thumps on the big drum in
-      the orchestra.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>Before the resources of lance-work were fully understood,
-    the reproduction of famous buildings was a fruitful source of
-    subjects; those reproduced vary from the Crystal Palace itself
-    to Worcester and Salisbury Cathedrals, and from the Arc de
-    Triomphe to the Mosque at Delhi.</p>
-
-  <p>Natural catastrophes such as the Avalanche, the Eruption
-    of Vesuvius, and the Destruction of Pompeii have been
-    portrayed. The Wreck of the Eider in 1892, with the rescue
-    of the passengers by the lifeboats, formed the subject of a
-    popular set piece; another successful scenic showed a wreck
-    with line-throwing rockets and transport of passengers by
-    the breeches buoy.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1879 portraits in fire were reproduced for the first
-    time, and since that date those executed have included almost
-    all the Royal Personages of the day, many of which have been
-    fired electrically from the Royal Box by the originals. Other
-    eminent people reproduced range from King Cetewayo in
-    1882, the Maori King in 1884, Li-Hung-Chang in 1896, to
-    Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford in 1920.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1887 what is known as the transformation set piece was
-    introduced. Upon lighting, the piece exhibits a floral design in
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">51</span>colours, which, after burning some time, becomes transformed
-    into a portrait, the lines of which are worked inconspicuously
-    with those of the floral design, and, to use a modern term, camouflaged
-    by its colours, the colour of the portrait being white.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i050a" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i050a.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="521" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">A full-size picture of the Jumma Musjid in Fireworks at the Crystal Palace, 1892.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i050b" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i050b.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="469" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Firework Display for the Coronation Durbar at Delhi, January 3rd, 1903. In the background is the Jumma Musjid.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>The first portrait to be so shown was Lord Beaconsfield,
-    the floral design being of primroses, and the occasion Primrose
-    Day. This, for the first example of its kind, was very
-    successful, and later in the year an enormous transformation
-    picture, 200 feet long and 100 feet high, was fired at the
-    Jubilee display, changing to portraits of Queen Victoria and
-    members of the Royal Family.</p>
-
-  <p>A popular picture of this kind is the puzzle picture which
-    transforms from a jungle scene to animals.</p>
-
-  <p>Another most successful changing picture was entitled
-    &ldquo;The Seasons,&rdquo; first produced in 1889, and revived from
-    time to time. A rural scene changes from Spring to Summer,
-    from Summer to Autumn, and finally to Winter. The effect
-    is produced by varying compositions in the lances, and by
-    employing lances of varying length, and requires very exact
-    manipulation and supervision.</p>
-
-  <p>Patriotic, congratulatory, and political cartoons and devices
-    have been exhibited in wonderful variety of design, sentiment,
-    and language: Chinese, Persian, and Maori, to mention
-    only three of the latter.</p>
-
-  <p>Living Fireworks, invented and patented by C. T. Brock
-    and Co., in 1888, have always been a favourite feature of the
-    Crystal Palace displays. The performer is clad in overalls of
-    asbestos cloth, and on the side nearest to the spectators wears
-    a light wood framework, of which the outline is &ldquo;lanced&rdquo;
-    to depict the particular character to be portrayed.</p>
-
-  <p>The first subject dealt with was the boxing match, which
-    has enjoyed continuous popularity up to the present day, and
-    is possibly the most successful.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">52</span></p>
-
-  <p>Other favourites have been Blondin on the tight rope,
-    inspired by the appearance of the real Blondin on the firework
-    terrace, surrounded by firework effects, in 1871;
-    dancers of various kinds, from the Sailor&rsquo;s Hornpipe to
-    Salome; Cat fights; Cock fights; the Boxing Kangaroo
-    in 1893, when that performance was attracting crowds to the
-    old Aquarium; an Indian Snake Charmer; a Fisherman;
-    a Trapeze Artist, have all been produced by living actors in fire.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1895 &ldquo;The Village Blacksmith&rdquo; was enacted, with
-    horse, blacksmith, assistant, and horse&rsquo;s owner, with forge,
-    bellows, anvil, and all necessary &ldquo;properties.&rdquo; The following
-    year a piece was exhibited showing various members of the
-    building trades at work. Then followed the Fire Scene, in
-    which a house is seen on fire, the motor fire engine arrives,
-    the men jump down, unroll the hose, and proceed to extinguish
-    the outbreak with a jet of fire. Another ambitious
-    effort showed a City policeman regulating the traffic. The
-    most elaborate scene of the kind yet attempted was to work
-    living figures in connection with the main set piece. The
-    subject chosen was life in the Arctic Regions, and opened
-    with the open Polar Sea, with whaling vessels, spouting
-    whale, and launch of the whaling boat, which follows the
-    whale and fires a harpoon. The picture then changed to Arctic
-    winter, ice forms, and the vessel is frozen with the ice, sledging
-    parties travel over the ice, and the picture concluded with
-    a man and bear fight in living fireworks. The same year&mdash;1890&mdash;there
-    was introduced into the Children&rsquo;s Fireworks,
-    which form an annual feature of the Crystal Palace displays,
-    a living Jack and the Beanstalk picture.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1906 the then popular song, &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t leave my
-    little Wooden Hut for You,&rdquo; was the basis of what was
-    described in the programme as a Living Firework Drama.
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">53</span>The popular songs of the day have provided the subject for
-    many successful set pieces, and form a class of picture which
-    derives much of its success from the band accompaniment
-    and the opportunity for vocal effort on the part of the crowd.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i052" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i052.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="951" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">A Crystal Palace Set Piece at the time of the South African War. (200 ft. long by 70 ft. high.)</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>The origin of this type of picture is worth recording. In
-    1889 the Shah of Persia visited the Crystal Palace, and fired
-    a portrait of himself, electrically, from the Royal Box. A
-    popular song of the day, &ldquo;Have you seen the Shah?&rdquo; was
-    suggested to some musically inclined members of the audience,
-    who commenced to sing it, and were soon joined by the whole
-    of the spectators, numbering about 50,000.</p>
-
-  <p>The effect of this impromptu concert was so striking as
-    to lead to the production of the popular song whenever there
-    happened to be one suitable for pictorial rendering in fireworks.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1892 a mechanical Lottie Collins, 60 feet high, dancing
-    to the then popular strain of &ldquo;Ta-ra-ra-bom-de-ay,&rdquo; was
-    enthusiastically received. A series of patriotic and sentimental
-    songs at the time of the South African War, as &ldquo;The Absent-minded
-    Beggar&rdquo; and &ldquo;Good-bye, Dolly Grey,&rdquo; etc., were
-    very successful. The &ldquo;Honeysuckle and the Bee&rdquo; provided
-    the subject for a transformation picture, a design of honeysuckle
-    changing to a girl&rsquo;s head with a mechanical bee twelve
-    feet long.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1908 three songs were included in one piece&mdash;&ldquo;Bill
-    Bailey,&rdquo; &ldquo;Farewell, my Bluebell,&rdquo; and &ldquo;The Old Bull and
-    Bush.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The smaller mechanical pieces form a history of locomotion
-    during the half-century covered by the displays.
-    Bicycles, motor cars, looping the loop, aeroplanes, costers&rsquo;
-    barrows, hansom cabs, fire engines, scooters have all been
-    represented, and in 1895, on the occasion of the visit of the
-    Railway Conference, two of the best mechanical pieces ever
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">54</span>carried out&mdash;full-sized representations of the &ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; and
-    the latest type of express engine with exact details and working parts.</p>
-
-  <p>An effective working device introduced as early as 1870
-    was a comet travelling down a wire from one of the famous
-    towers to the ground. Later the comet was replaced by a
-    dragon, Mother Goose, and in 1872 by a &ldquo;Fiery Bicycle,&rdquo;
-    a subject which seems somewhat out of place in such a position.
-    The next development of this feature was to introduce a living
-    man who, clad in shining armour and surrounded and illuminated
-    by a frame of fireworks, striking an impressive attitude,
-    slid from the summit of the tower to the terrace.</p>
-
-  <p>The name of this performer, no doubt in imitation of the
-    Italian artists who on a smaller scale carried out a similar feat
-    at Vauxhall, was given in the programme as Signor Gregorini.
-    In private life or in the works, however, he went by the name
-    of Bill Gregory, and it is recorded that, when on the first
-    night he stuck half-way down and had to remain in his airy
-    position for the remainder of the display, his remarks left no
-    doubt as to the country of his origin.</p>
-
-  <p>It is characteristic of Mr. C. T. Brock that he who originated
-    the idea was the first to try the descent. The weight of
-    the cable was very considerable and the strain very heavy in
-    order to keep it sufficiently taut, and doubts were expressed
-    as to the advisability of putting such a stress on the structure,
-    which led to the abandonment of the performance.</p>
-
-  <p>It would be tedious to attempt to give anything like a
-    description of the many and varied moving and stationary
-    devices used in the Crystal Palace displays. The descriptions
-    in the traditional somewhat flowery language of the firework
-    programmes would convey little without illustration. One
-    feature generally to be found in the programme is that of the
-    wheels. These are generally fired in a group of three in the
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">55</span>centre of the Terrace, the designs varying in form, movement
-    and colour from time to time, the fire of the centre or
-    largest wheel forming a circle one hundred feet in diameter.</p>
-
-  <p>The historical displays during this period include the
-    displays given in India in 1875–6, during the tour of King
-    Edward, then Prince of Wales, at Bombay, Madura, Colombo,
-    Madras, and Jaipur, and a series of enormous displays carried
-    out at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, at one
-    of which 250,000 people paid half-a-dollar admission, and
-    in 1877, the displays given at Calcutta and Delhi on the
-    occasion of the assumption by Queen Victoria of the title
-    Empress of India.</p>
-
-  <p>The Jubilee and Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria produced
-    enormous activity in the manufacture of fireworks.
-    Displays great and small took place all over the United Kingdom,
-    or rather, the Empire.</p>
-
-  <p>Among the displays fired on the occasion of the Diamond
-    Jubilee, certainly not the least interesting, although comparatively
-    small in extent, was that given at Blantyre in the
-    heart of the African continent. This display, which included
-    a portrait of Her late Majesty, was carried up three hundred
-    and sixty miles of the Zambesi, thence by canoe over eighty
-    miles of sandbanks and mud, and finally thirty miles overland
-    with a rise of 3,500 feet.</p>
-
-  <p>Other displays were the display on the Tagus in 1886 on
-    the occasion of the marriage of the late King of Portugal;
-    the display fired from Brooklyn Bridge for the Columbus
-    Tercentenary in 1892; the Imperial Fete on the Danube in
-    1903; the display fired from thirteen battleships moored at
-    a distance of a quarter of a mile from each other on the occasion
-    of the &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Entente Cordiale</span>&rdquo; visit of the French Fleet in
-    1905; the display celebrating the Tercentenary of the founding
-    of Quebec in 1908; and the greatest display of fireworks
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">56</span>ever fired&mdash;the official Peace display in Hyde Park in 1919,
-    in which some of the ground works suffered from the rain
-    which, unfortunately, started about five o&rsquo;clock, but the aerial
-    work was on an unprecedented scale, shells varying from
-    sixteen inches down to 5&frac12; inches in diameter being fired in
-    salvoes of twenty-five to one hundred.</p>
-
-  <p>Rockets of 1 lb. were fired in flights of one hundred, and
-    a final flight of three thousand; sets of Roman candles, each
-    containing two hundred; one hundred fiery jets, etc., etc.
-    The &ldquo;Fourth of June&rdquo; celebration at Eton has always been
-    the occasion of a firework display, and displays have taken
-    place annually, with the exception of the years of the Great
-    War, from at least as early as the beginning of the nineteenth
-    century. Hone, in his &ldquo;Everyday Book&rdquo; (1831), speaks of
-    the fireworks as a well-established feature of the festival.</p>
-
-  <p>It is possible, and even probable, that they date from the
-    reign of George <abbr title="the third">III</abbr>, on whose birthday the event takes place.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i056" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i056.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="510" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">PANORAMA OF SOME OF THE AERIAL EFFECTS IN THE NATIONAL
-      FIREWORK DISPLAY AT HYDE PARK, 19th JULY, 1919.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_7">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">57</span>
-    <h3 title="VII. FIREWORK MANUFACTURE">CHAPTER <abbr title="7">VII</abbr><br /><br />
-      FIREWORK MANUFACTURE</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">The</span> manufacture of fireworks in this country, as an
-    industry distinct from mere firework making, dates
-    from the early part of the eighteenth century. Before
-    that period displays appear to have been generally carried
-    out by the military, or at any rate under the control of artillery
-    or engineer officers. At that time the art was considered to
-    have two distinct branches, civil and military pyrotechny,
-    the latter class naturally attracting most attention during a
-    period when Europe was almost continuously at war, and when
-    firearms had made little progress from the early types.</p>
-
-  <p>As has been previously mentioned, Jones complains that
-    when it was required to carry out a display of fireworks on a
-    large scale, recourse was always had to foreigners to conduct
-    it. One reason was that, apart from the actual making of the
-    firework units, a display depends far more for its success on
-    the experience and skill of the pyrotechnist in arranging and
-    composing both the form and sequence of the pieces. The
-    firework makers capable of carrying out a display on a large
-    scale were very few; there were fewer, if any, in this country.
-    The whole of the trade was illegal; under the statute of the
-    9th and 10th of William <abbr title="the third">III</abbr> it was illegal to make, sell, or let
-    off fireworks:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;By the 9th and 10th of William, Chap. 7, it is enacted:
-      That if any Person shall make or cause to be made, or
-      sell, give, or utter, or offer, or expose to sale any Squibs,
-      Rockets, Serpents, or other Fire-works, he shall forfeit
-      Five Pounds. And that if any Person shall permit the
-      <span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">58</span>same to be fired from his House or Premises, or shall cast
-      or fire, or be aiding and assisting in casting or firing the
-      same in any public Street, House, Shop, River, or Highway,
-      he shall forfeit Twenty Shillings, or be committed to
-      the House of Correction to hard Labour for one Month.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>This Act continued in force up to the passing of the Gunpowder
-    Act in 1860. There were periods during which it was
-    practically a dead letter, and again periods of sporadic activity.</p>
-
-  <p>The first restriction of the public use of fireworks appears
-    to have been an order in council dated November 6th, 1685,
-    which &ldquo;For the preventing of Tumultuas Disorders&rdquo; and
-    with the object of &ldquo;Disappointing the Evil Designs of Persons
-    Disaffected to the Government, who commonly make
-    use of such occasions to turn those Meetings into Riots and
-    Tumults,&rdquo; enacted that &ldquo;No Person or Persons whatsoever,
-    do presume to make or encourage the making of any Bonfires,
-    or other Publick Fire Works&mdash;without particular permission
-    Leave in Order&mdash;upon Pain of His Majesty&rsquo;s Displeasure;
-    and being Prosecuted with the utmost severity of
-    the Law.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>A notice appeared in the press of November 1st, 1788,
-    dated from the &ldquo;Public Office, Bow Street,&rdquo; warning the
-    public against firing crackers in the street, and quoting the
-    Act &ldquo;that no Person may claim Ignorance thereof.&rdquo; Again,
-    in 1814, &ldquo;The Times&rdquo; has an account of a summons under the
-    Act of a William Swift, &ldquo;for exposing for sale, Squibs, Serpents,
-    Crackers and Fireworks of other descriptions to the
-    great danger and annoyance of the public and contrary to
-    the Statute.&rdquo; The report continues:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;Mr. Laws in opening the case observed, that this was
-      a prosecution brought forward at the recommendation of
-      <span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">59</span>the Magistrates of Union-Hall, who, however, did not by
-      it seek to punish the defendant with severity but only to
-      inform him and others acting like him, that the Act upon
-      which the present indictment was founded and which so
-      far back as the reign of William <abbr title="the third">III</abbr>, was passed for the
-      protection of the public, though it had not lately been acted
-      upon, was still in force. The defendant, it appeared, was a
-      man of property and a respectable holder residing in Falcon-Court,
-      where he had for some time past carried on the
-      profession of a firework-maker. The officers of Union-Hall
-      having heard, however, that he was in the habit of supplying
-      boys or any person who applied indiscriminately with
-      these dangerous commodities, they determined, if possible,
-      to put a stop to this traffic, so dangerous to the public
-      safety. For this purpose they sent a person, properly instructed,
-      to purchase some; Goff, Bruce, and some other
-      of the officers remaining near the door to detect him coming
-      out; the purchase was made, and as the purchaser was
-      quitting the house, the officers stopt him and forced their
-      way in. They proceeded to search the premises, and concealed
-      in closets and other parts, they discovered a vast
-      quantity of fireworks of various sizes and descriptions,
-      amounting to 19,600 and weighing upwards of 6 <abbr title="hundredweight">cwt.</abbr>,
-      several of these, singly, were large enough to have spread
-      ruin through the neighbourhood, had they by accident
-      exploded. These the officers took away and deposited at
-      the Office, where they still remained to the great annoyance
-      of the Magistrates waiting the decision of this question.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>Hone, in his &ldquo;Everyday Book,&rdquo; records that at that
-    time, 1825, &ldquo;A Corporation notice was annually left at the
-    house of every inhabitant in the City of London, previous
-    to lord mayor&rsquo;s day.&rdquo; The following (delivered in <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Bride&rsquo;s)
-    is its form:</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">60</span></p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p class="right">&ldquo;<i>October the 11th, 1825.</i></p>
-
-    <p class="noindent">Sir:</p>
-
-    <p>By Virtue of a Precept from my Lord Mayor, in
-      order to prevent any Tumults and Riots that may happen
-      on the Fifth of November, and the next ensuing Lord
-      Mayor&rsquo;s Day, you are required to charge all your
-      Servants and Lodgers, that they neither make, nor cause
-      to be made, any Squibs, Serpents, Fire Balloons, or other
-      Fireworks, nor fire, fling, nor throw them out of your
-      House, Shop or Warehouse, or in the Streets of this City,
-      on the Penalties contained in an Act of Parliament made
-      in the Tenth year of the late King William.</p>
-
-    <p>Note. The Act was made perpetual, and is not expired,
-      as some ignorantly suppose.</p>
-
-    <p class="right">C. Puckeridge, <i>Beadle</i>.</p>
-
-    <p class="center">Taylor, Printer, Basinghall Street.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>During the period of the operation of the Act, that is from
-    the end of the seventeenth to the middle of the nineteenth
-    centuries, on the occasion of public rejoicing, the authorities
-    were in the anomalous position of employing persons to
-    break the law, both by manufacturing and displaying fireworks.</p>
-
-  <p>Although, as we have seen, this Act had very little effect
-    on the quantity of fireworks manufactured, it had considerable
-    adverse effect on the industry. As the whole thing was
-    illegal, no regulations were framed to control the making,
-    storage, or distribution of fireworks, or the safety of either
-    workers or public. The manufacture was conducted on lines
-    which, at the present time, appear inconceivably reckless.
-    Several people working in one room in a crowded building,
-    with loose composition and gunpowder, and a fire in an open
-    grate round which finished or partially finished goods were
-    put to dry, and this in a thickly populated area of London.</p>
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">61</span></p>
-  <p>The result of this state of affairs, as might have been expected,
-    was a continuous series of explosions of a more or less
-    serious nature.</p>
-
-  <p>An early press account, dated 1722, relates to &ldquo;Mr.
-    Goodship of White Alley in Chancery Lane,&rdquo; and continues,
-    &ldquo;as he was making some fireworks, the Gunpowder took
-    fire and blew him up, by which means the House was fired,
-    and that adjoining somewhat damaged. More Mischief had
-    been done, but that there was timely help. The Man is so
-    hurt that his life is despaired of.&rdquo; Another account gives the
-    man&rsquo;s name as Goodsheaf.</p>
-
-  <p>The early part of the nineteenth century provided an
-    extraordinary list of accidents.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1810 we find the following account of an accident at Bath:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;On Monday a dreadful accident happened at Bath to
-      Mrs. Invetto, a firework-maker, and a young man her
-      assistant. They were preparing sky-rockets, etc., for the
-      Jubilee, when, by some means, an explosion took place of
-      a considerable quantity of powder, some say upwards of
-      two hundred barrels, which blew the house, and another
-      adjoining, to atoms. The unfortunate woman was miserably
-      burnt and bruised; and no hopes are entertained of
-      her recovery. The poor fellow also lies in a shocking state
-      at the Casualty Hospital at Bath.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>In 1814 two accidents are recorded to Mortram and
-    Clithero. The former took place in the &ldquo;Westminster Roade,
-    near the Asylum&rdquo;; a man and two boys were very badly
-    burned, two succumbing to their injuries the same day.
-    Clithero&rsquo;s establishment was situated in Fleet Street Hill,
-    Bethnal Green. The accident here was caused by fire from
-    the steam engine reaching some fireworks. Three people
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</span>were badly injured, and much glass was destroyed in the
-    neighbourhood. Clithero appears to have had his works
-    separate from the dwelling-house, an arrangement which
-    appears to be the exception rather than the rule. Mortram&rsquo;s
-    premises were again destroyed in 1818, fortunately without
-    loss of life.</p>
-
-  <p>A serious accident took place in 1815, in which five people
-    lost their lives, the premises, and those on either side, being
-    demolished, and nearly all windows destroyed within two
-    hundred yards. The proprietor of the premises, which were
-    situated at Wilkes Street, Spitalfields, was Lushalan.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1821 a third accident occurred at Mortram&rsquo;s works,
-    the newspaper account of which gives an illuminating glimpse
-    of the extraordinary methods of the period:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;Tuesday morning an accident, which occasioned considerable
-      alarm, and might have been attended with
-      dangerous consequences, took place in the house of M.
-      Mortram, firework-maker, in Westminster Road. It appears
-      that one of the boys employed in making composition stars
-      for rockets had placed a number of them on the fender
-      before the fire to dry, and had set fire to one on the hob,
-      which falling in amongst the others, the whole exploded,
-      by which a little girl was much hurt in the back, and so
-      frightened that she ran to the window of the first floor, but
-      was prevented jumping out. The boy escaped up the area
-      with his jacket on fire. The neighbours were now much
-      alarmed, fearing that the fire might spread to more combustible
-      matter in the house, and so on to the extensive
-      workshops of Madame Hengler, the celebrated pyrotechnic
-      to his Majesty; but, through the activity of the
-      workmen, who ran into the adjoining house with buckets
-      of water, further damage was happily prevented, or the
-      <span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">63</span>consequences might have been dreadful. An accident of a
-      shocking nature, it will be recollected, occurred about three
-      years since in the same person&rsquo;s repository, when two men
-      were killed by the explosion.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>In 1825, in Bell&rsquo;s &ldquo;Weekly Messenger&rdquo; of September 4th,
-    appears the following account:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p class="center">&ldquo;DREADFUL EXPLOSION IN WHITECHAPEL.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;Yesterday morning, about half-past eight o&rsquo;clock,
-      Whitechapel Road, and the numerous streets that abound
-      there, were thrown into the greatest state of agitation, by
-      the inhabitants experiencing a most tremendous shock, as
-      if caused by a volcano or an earthquake. The houses for a
-      considerable distance were deserted by their inhabitants,
-      and men, women, and children were seen running about in
-      all directions, under the impression that the world was at
-      an end. It was soon ascertained that their alarm was produced
-      by the explosion of the factory of Mr. Brock, the
-      artist in fireworks, at <abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 11, Baker&rsquo;s Row, Whitechapel
-      Road, nearly opposite the London Hospital.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;The following particulars relative to this direful disaster
-      have reached us:&mdash;Mr. Brock has resided for the last
-      five years in Baker&rsquo;s Row, and at the back of his dwelling-house
-      is his repository for fireworks, where they are manufactured.
-      This building is about 50 feet by 20 feet, and
-      contains three magazines, which are lined with lead, and
-      would be perfectly secure from fire, should it occur, on any
-      of the adjoining premises. In these receptacles were deposited
-      all the powder, composition, and, in fact, all the
-      combustible matter, and Mr. B. was remarkable for the
-      method he had taken to prevent any accident occurring on
-      his premises. A few weeks since he had taken two boys out
-      <span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">64</span>of the poor-house to instruct in the art of firework making
-      and he kept them chiefly employed in filling and ramming
-      the cases of the sky-rockets, serpents, squibs, etc. The
-      latter part of this stage of the work is done by a funnel, or
-      piece of tin made in the shape of an extinguisher, and a
-      small piece of iron wire, about a foot long, which is used
-      as a ramrod. The small end, or nipple, as it is called, of
-      the extinguisher is introduced into one end of the rocket
-      or squib, and the boys ram the powder and wadding down
-      with the ramrod. Yesterday morning, at the time above
-      stated, Mr. Brock and his men left the factory to go to
-      breakfast, leaving the two boys engaged at the work-board,
-      ramming the sky-rockets. They had scarcely sat down to
-      their meal when they, as well as the inhabitants around
-      them for some distance, heard a sort of rumbling noise as
-      if of some distant thunder, and the next moment a tremendous
-      and deafening explosion followed, and the air
-      was illumined with lights of various descriptions, and
-      accompanied by continued reports. The concussion thus
-      occasioned was so great that the inmates in the different
-      houses were shaken from their seats, many of whom were
-      sitting at their breakfast, and the tables and tea-things
-      were upset and broken to pieces. The window frames were
-      all forced out, and the brickbats and materials were flying
-      about in every direction. The roofs of Mr. Brock&rsquo;s manufactory,
-      and the factory of Mr. M&rsquo;Devitt adjoining, were
-      blown to a considerable height, and the falling materials
-      did considerable mischief. After the agitation was somewhat
-      subsided, an inquiry into the cause of the accident
-      took place, when it appeared from the statement of the two
-      boys (who were blown a considerable height and were
-      much injured) that they were at work, ramming the rockets,
-      when the ramrod struck against the funnel, and the friction
-      <span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">65</span>caused a spark, which flew into the bowl of gunpowder
-      that stood near them; this soon exploded, and ran like a
-      train to all the other fireworks in the factory, and at length
-      communicated to the magazines, which caused the disaster.
-      Mr. Brock, however, declares that it could not have arisen
-      in that way, as the nipple of the funnel was copper, therefore
-      a friction would not cause a spark. One poor woman,
-      sister to the beadle, who lives next door to Mr. Brock, was
-      so dreadfully injured by the broken glass that she lies in
-      the London Hospital without hopes of recovery. Ten
-      houses were seriously damaged, and over sixty had their
-      windows broken from top to bottom.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>It will be seen from the foregoing that Brock was in advance
-    of his time as regards precautions against explosions, which,
-    however, in this case proved to some extent ineffective.</p>
-
-  <p>An accident took place in 1838 at the premises of Cockerill,
-    in Paradise Row, Lower Road, Islington. Three persons were
-    killed, and the proprietor was so severely hurt in an attempt
-    to rescue his family that he died later.</p>
-
-  <p>The following year an accident took place at 6 Edward
-    Street, Bethnal Green, in which three persons were injured.
-    The explosion was caused by a spark from the fire falling on
-    a quantity of loose powder lying on the table, the flash from
-    which was communicated to a barrel of powder near. The
-    report continues: &ldquo;The most miserable negligence was
-    displayed by the persons engaged in the fabrication of the
-    fireworks, as just previous to the accident one of the individuals
-    was making a squib by the fire with a lighted pipe in his
-    mouth.&rdquo; The pyrotechnist&rsquo;s name is not recorded.</p>
-
-  <p>An explosion took place in 1841 at 6 Hatfield Place, Westminster
-    Road, Lambeth, at the works of Drewett. Considerable
-    damage was done, but fortunately no one was injured.</p>
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">66</span></p>
-  <p>In 1857 Darby&rsquo;s factory at 98 Regent Street, Lambeth
-    Walk, was destroyed. The upper part of the house was used
-    as bedrooms, with the stock below; the whole of the premises
-    and stock were destroyed, the occupants of the bedrooms,
-    who were cut off, being rescued by the aid of ladders. On this
-    occasion the gunpowder appears to have been stored in a
-    magazine away from the house. The report adds that the same
-    premises had suffered in a similar manner on one or two
-    previous occasions, and subsequently, in November, 1873, a
-    disastrous explosion at the same premises resulted in the loss
-    of no fewer than eight lives. In 1858 a serious explosion took
-    place at Madame Cotton&rsquo;s factory in the Westminster Bridge
-    Road.</p>
-
-  <p>The above-mentioned accidents do not comprise anything
-    like a complete list, but tend to show the lines on which the
-    manufacture of fireworks was conducted during the period
-    covered.</p>
-
-  <p>The frequency of such occurrences and the danger entailed
-    to third parties pointed to the necessity of action of
-    some kind. The old Act might have been put into force, but
-    by so doing the industry would be stamped out, an industry
-    which found employment for a large number of workpeople,
-    and besides giving amusement and entertainment to many,
-    provided signal lights and rockets, the demand for which was
-    steadily increasing.</p>
-
-  <p>There were at this time a considerable number of firework
-    makers in London, particularly in the east and south of the
-    Thames. Much of the work was given out to the workpeople&rsquo;s
-    families to make up in their own homes. Workmen now living
-    can remember, as children, seeing crackers, squibs, and other
-    small goods being manufactured in bed and living-rooms of
-    tenement houses in crowded districts, with open fires in the
-    grates and several pounds of powder in a corner of the room.
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">67</span>The materials were either given out at the factory and a piecework
-    rate paid for making up, or the workers bought their
-    own materials at the local shops, which in these districts kept
-    what was required, and sold them to the factory on completion.
-    It was then a common practice for a maker who had
-    completed a &ldquo;frame&rdquo; of quickmatch to take it round to the
-    local bakehouse to be dried and called for in the morning.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i066" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i066.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="886" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">THE EXPLOSION AT MADAME COTON&rsquo;S FIREWORK FACTORY, WESTMINSTER ROAD.<br />
-      From &ldquo;The Illustrated London News,&rdquo; 1858.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>Considered from the point of view of modern practice,
-    the wonder is that there were not more accidents than actually
-    took place.</p>
-
-  <p>The Gunpowder Act of 1860 was an attempt to place the
-    manufacture and storage of explosives generally on a more
-    satisfactory footing. It laid down regulations to be &ldquo;observed
-    with regard to the manufacture of loaded percussion caps,
-    and the manufacture and keeping of ammunition, fireworks,
-    fulminate of mercury, and any other preparation or composition
-    of an explosive nature&rdquo;; and makes it lawful for
-    Justices of the Peace in Quarter Sessions to license places for
-    the manufacture and storage of such articles, and to grant
-    licenses to persons to sell fireworks.</p>
-
-  <p>It also provided for the installation of lightning conductors
-    in explosive magazines.</p>
-
-  <p>This Act, although far from perfect, was a step in the
-    right direction; it had the effect of bringing some makers out
-    from the back streets of crowded districts, to construct properly
-    arranged factories, or at any rate, factories planned with some
-    regard to their use.</p>
-
-  <p>Four years after the passing of the Act, public attention
-    was sharply drawn to the matter by an explosion on an unprecedented
-    scale at Erith, where several of the gunpowder
-    manufacturers had magazines. Enormous damage was done,
-    and many lives lost, over an area ten miles in radius. Lieutenant-Colonel
-    Boxer, R.A., Superintendent of the Royal
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">68</span>Laboratory, Woolwich, in his report on this explosion, draws
-    attention to the need for a system of inspection of explosive
-    establishments, with the result that he was himself authorised
-    to make such inspection.</p>
-
-  <p>Lieutenant-Colonel Boxer was succeeded in 1870 by
-    Captain (afterwards Colonel) Sir V. D. Majendie, K.C.B.,
-    who recommended the appointment of permanent Explosives
-    Inspectors.</p>
-
-  <p>The late C. T. Brock, who commenced the long run of
-    Crystal Palace displays in 1866, found his works insufficient
-    for the large supply of material required for such displays,
-    and commenced the construction of a factory on new lines
-    at Nunhead. It was here in 1872 that the Royal Commission
-    witnessed a series of experiments, the programme of which is
-    here reproduced.</p>
-
-  <p>It was upon the results of these experiments that the provisions
-    of the Explosives Act of 1875, in so far as they relate to
-    fireworks, are based.</p>
-
-  <p>This Act is still in force, and is unlikely to be superseded
-    for many years to come. There can have been few Acts which
-    have, since their inception, proved so satisfactory to the industry
-    controlled by them, either in the results achieved, or
-    in the manner of their administration.</p>
-
-  <p>The Explosives Acts of 1860 and 1875 took the then proscribed
-    art of pyrotechny from back streets and crowded districts,
-    rehoused it in properly designed and conducted factories
-    in rural or suburban districts, making it as healthy and safe
-    an occupation as almost any in the country.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="center big" id="i068">EXPERIMENTS WITH FIREWORKS AT NUNHEAD,</div>
-
-  <div class="center">(<i>In a Field near Messrs. C. T. Brock &amp; Co.&rsquo;s Firework Manufactory</i>,)</div>
-
-  <div class="center">On <span class="smcap">Thursday</span>, April 4th, 1872.</div>
-
-  <hr class="double" />
-
-  <div class="center">THE OBJECTS OF THE EXPERIMENTS ARE&mdash;</div>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>1. To determine if the distance between Firework Sheds, as at present laid
-      down by law, viz. 20 yards, is amply sufficient to prevent an explosion in one shed
-      communicating to other sheds situated at the statutory distance.</p>
-
-    <p>2. To determine the liability of Fireworks to ignite by concussion or friction.</p>
-
-    <p>3. To determine the liability of Fireworks to explode en masse if from any
-      cause they should be accidentally ignited.</p>
-
-    <p>4. In the event of Fireworks exhibiting a liability to explode, to determine the
-      area of destructive effect of such explosion.</p>
-
-    <p>5. To determine, with reference to the conclusions which may be arrived at as
-      to points 3 and 4, the degree of danger which attends the transport of Fireworks
-      by rail, barge or other public conveyance.</p>
-
-    <p>6. To determine at what distance from dwelling houses stores of Fireworks
-      may be safely established.</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <hr class="tb" />
-
-  <div class="center">PROGRAMME OF EXPERIMENTS.</div>
-
-  <ul class="experiments">
-    <li>1. Explode 30 lbs. of loose Firework Composition in a Shed, another Shed being 10 yards distant. Screen
-      between.</li>
-
-    <li>2. Explode 30 lbs. <i>of Composition in Fireworks</i> in a Shed, another Shed being 10 yards distant. Screen
-      between.</li>
-
-    <li>3. Ignite a Box of &frac14; <abbr title="hundredweight">cwt.</abbr> of mixed Ordinary Fireworks in open air.</li>
-
-    <li>4.&nbsp; &nbsp; Ditto&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ditto
-      &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ditto
-      &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; in contact with another Box of ditto.</li>
-
-    <li>5. Place a Box of &frac14; <abbr title="hundredweight">cwt.</abbr> of ditto in a bonfire.</li>
-
-    <li>6. <abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 3 repeated, with mixed Fireworks bought over the Counter.</li>
-
-    <li>7. <abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 4&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ditto&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ditto.</li>
-
-    <li>8. <abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 5&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ditto&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ditto.</li>
-
-    <li>9. Hammer various sorts of Fireworks&mdash;Wood on Wood.</li>
-
-    <li>10.&nbsp; &nbsp; Ditto&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ditto&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Wood on Iron.</li>
-
-    <li>11.&nbsp; &nbsp; Ditto&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; ditto&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Iron on Iron.</li>
-
-    <li>12. Run a Railway Truck over some of the different sorts.</li>
-
-    <li>13. Repeat such of above as may seem necessary with &ldquo;Parlour Fireworks.&rdquo;</li>
-  </ul>
-
-  <p class="quotsig">V. D. MAJENDIE, <span class="smcap">Captain</span> R. A.,<br />
-    <i>H.M.&rsquo;s Inspector of Gunpowder Works, &amp;c.</i></p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_8">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">69</span>
-    <h3 title="VIII. MODERN FIREWORK MANUFACTURE">CHAPTER <abbr title="8">VIII</abbr><br /><br />
-      MODERN FIREWORK MANUFACTURE</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Fireworks</span> are now manufactured under the Explosives
-    Act of 1875 and Orders in Council <abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 2 and <abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 4 under that Act.</p>
-
-  <p>Order in Council <abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 4 deals with small Firework Factories,
-    the total contents of which, either finished or in course of construction,
-    do not exceed 500 lbs. This class of factory presents
-    little of interest for consideration; and is governed by practically
-    the same rules as are the larger establishments of the
-    kind, with such modifications as are justified by the small
-    quantity of explosive material involved.</p>
-
-  <p>Order in Council <abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 2 sets out the general rules to be
-    observed in factories licensed under the Act, the leading
-    points of which are as follows:</p>
-
-  <p>The absence of iron or steel in any workshop, carriage, or
-    boat; cleanliness and absence of grit; care as to material
-    liable to spontaneous ignition; provision of lightning conductors
-    on magazines; tools and implements to be of soft
-    metal; working clothes without pockets; shoes without
-    nails; searching or means to prevent the introduction of
-    matches or dangerous substances into the works; materials
-    and finished work to be removed from working buildings and
-    not allowed to accumulate when any particular process is
-    completed; no person under sixteen years to be employed or
-    enter any danger building. Every building to be provided
-    with a set of these rules, and a statement of the quantities of
-    explosives and ingredients, and the work to be carried on in
-    it as allowed by the license.</p>
-
-  <p>The modern factory is generally situated in a rural district
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">70</span>on account of the fact that it is more easy to observe the
-    statutary distances from protected works. Protected works
-    referred to in the Act include other workshops and magazines
-    in the factory, and also dwelling-houses, factories, institutions,
-    railways, highways, and various undertakings and
-    buildings, the distances to be observed varying with the
-    nature of the protected work from public highways to palaces
-    or houses of residence of the King, his heirs and successors.
-    In some cases, as with private dwelling-houses, the distance
-    to be observed is about half, if the consent of the occupier to
-    the erection of the factory building or magazine is obtained.</p>
-
-  <p>Firework factories, in fact all explosive factories, are constructed
-    on the principle of limiting the scope and effect of
-    any explosion that may take place to the smallest possible
-    quantity of material and to the smallest possible risk to human
-    life.</p>
-
-  <p>The working buildings are constructed with a door at
-    either end to facilitate escape in case of danger; the quantity
-    of chemicals and of partially or wholly finished fireworks is
-    strictly limited, as is the number of persons employed in the
-    building. This number varies with the nature of the operation
-    being carried out, from one in the case of the most hazardous
-    to six in some cases.</p>
-
-  <p>The working buildings are of light construction; the
-    form most in use is a timber framing lined with matched
-    boarding and covered externally with corrugated iron. No
-    iron fittings are used, or iron nails left exposed in the interior.
-    The floor is covered with linoleum, which is secured by copper
-    tacks.</p>
-
-  <p>The distance separating working buildings is, generally
-    speaking, twenty-five yards, or if a suitable screen is placed
-    between two such buildings, this distance may be reduced to
-    twelve yards.</p>
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">71</span></p>
-  <p>The workpeople are provided with non-inflammable outer
-    garments, no pockets are allowed, and suitable overshoes of
-    sewn leather or indiarubber are provided.</p>
-
-  <p>All tools are of soft metal, such as brass or copper, or of
-    wood.</p>
-
-  <p>The regulations refer, of course, only to those buildings
-    in which explosive work is carried on, that is to say, buildings
-    in the danger area as distinct from the non-danger area.</p>
-
-  <p>The buildings in the danger area are working buildings,
-    drying-rooms, expense and factory magazines. Expense
-    magazines are those which are licensed for a comparatively
-    small quantity of explosives, and from which explosive material
-    is drawn as the work of the factory demands, or into which is
-    put partially or wholly finished work either awaiting completion
-    or transference to the main or factory magazines.</p>
-
-  <p>The non-danger area includes stores for chemicals, paper,
-    and other material, also case rolling and drying sheds, sawmill,
-    wood-working and paper-cutting shops, offices, and
-    similar buildings.</p>
-
-  <p>The manufacture of fireworks begins with the making of
-    the case or container, which, with the exception of shells
-    and Jacks-in-the-box, are cylindrical in form.</p>
-
-  <p>What are known as &ldquo;small goods&rdquo; are &ldquo;dry-rolled,&rdquo;
-    that is, the outer edge of the paper only is pasted. They are
-    then rolled up on a metal former on a slate slab.</p>
-
-  <p>The larger cases, such as rockets, gerbs, and Roman
-    candles, have the paper pasted all over, which is rolled up
-    on the former and consolidated by repeated rolling between
-    the slate slab and a board provided with a handle.</p>
-
-  <p>There are two methods of introducing the composition
-    into the cases&mdash;filling and charging.</p>
-
-  <p>Filling is used where the composition does not have to be
-    consolidated, and is done with a wire and funnel, or as it was
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">72</span>formerly called, a &ldquo;tun dish.&rdquo; The funnel has its outlet of
-    such a size as to fit the case to be filled, the wire or rod is
-    somewhat smaller than this outlet, and is provided at the
-    upper end with a knob for the hand. The end of the funnel,
-    which is filled with composition, is inserted in the upright
-    case. The wire is then drawn up, thus freeing a small quantity
-    of the composition which runs down into the case, the lowering
-    of the wire pushing it into position. In order to render
-    the downward movement more effective, the wire is often
-    notched, but it is doubtful if this actually increases the
-    efficiency. This action is rapidly repeated until the case is filled.</p>
-
-  <p>This method, although simple, is very effective, and in
-    the hands of a practised worker is exceedingly quick.</p>
-
-  <p>Charging is adopted where the contents have to be solidified
-    in the case. The composition is introduced in small
-    quantities with a scoop of suitable size and consolidated by
-    repeated blows with a wooden mallet on a &ldquo;drift.&rdquo; The drift
-    is a cylindrical wooden tool of a size to fit the case, and an
-    enlargement at the upper end to receive the blow of the mallet.</p>
-
-  <p>The methods of charging the various forms of fireworks
-    will be dealt with later under their separate headings.</p>
-
-  <p>The method of charging rockets in use in the sixteenth
-    century are those of to-day, and it is remarkable that no satisfactory
-    alternative to hand charging has yet been devised.
-    Mechanical hammering and hydraulic pressure have both
-    been tried, but so far with limited success.</p>
-
-  <p>Stars which are used in Roman candles and as garniture
-    for rockets and shells, are of many kinds and combinations,
-    but with the exception of some which are in effect complete
-    miniature fireworks, they are constructed on one of
-    three methods&mdash;they are either &ldquo;pumped,&rdquo; &ldquo;pinched&rdquo; or
-    &ldquo;charged.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The pump used in the first of these operations consists of
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">73</span>a short metal tube, which fits exactly a short metal plunger
-    provided with a knob for the hand, and a small metal stud
-    at the side. The tube has a slot cut partially down the side to
-    receive this stud.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i072" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i072.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="903" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Modern Firework Tools.</div>
-
-    <ul class="small block-contents mt0">
-      <li class="head"><span class="smcap">Gerb Tools</span></li>
-      <li>A1 Case.</li>
-      <li>A3 Drift.</li>
-      <li>A3 Nipple.</li>
-      <li>A4 Scoop.</li>
-      <li>B4 Mallet.</li>
-      <li class="head"><span class="smcap">Rocket Tools</span></li>
-      <li>D1 Mould.</li>
-      <li>D2 Spindle.</li>
-      <li>D3 Mallet.</li>
-      <li>D4 Choking Tools.</li>
-      <li>D5 Choked Case.</li>
-      <li>D6 Scoop.</li>
-      <li>D7 Setting down Tool.</li>
-      <li>D8 Graduated Drifts.</li>
-      <li class="head"><span class="smcap">Roman Candle Tools</span></li>
-      <li>B1 Bundle of Cases ready for filling.</li>
-      <li>B2 Drift.</li>
-      <li>B3 Topping Funnel and Drift.</li>
-      <li>B5 Powder Bowl and graduated Scoops.</li>
-      <li>&nbsp;</li>
-      <li>C1 Shell Mould.</li>
-      <li>C2 Half Shell Case as taken from mould.</li>
-      <li>E Star Pump.</li>
-      <li>F Funnel and Wire.</li>
-    </ul>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>The method of using the pump is as follows:&mdash;The plunger
-    is drawn up so that the stud rests on the top of the tube. The
-    pump is pressed into a heap of prepared composition, which
-    action has the effect of compressing the composition in the
-    tube. The plunger is then turned so that the stud engages
-    with the slot, and pushed down, forcing the star out of the
-    tube. The composition is prepared for pumping by being
-    damped with methylated spirit or some other suitable solvent,
-    and after making, the stars are dried in specially constructed
-    buildings.</p>
-
-  <p>Pinched stars are made by pinching the damped composition
-    into a short paper case, through which a short length
-    of match is first passed.</p>
-
-  <p>Charged stars have generally a clay or cardboard bottom
-    to the case, and are usually matched. This form is generally
-    used for Government signal rockets, as the composition being
-    only at one end of the case, the time of burning is extended.</p>
-
-  <p>The mixing of compositions requires great care and
-    thoroughness. Care both on account of the necessity of exact
-    adherence to the formula, and to preclude the presence of
-    any foreign body or chemical which, apart from any effect it
-    might have on the successful functioning of the fireworks for
-    which it happens to be used, might render it most dangerous
-    in manipulation.</p>
-
-  <p>Generally working buildings are licensed for mixing compositions,
-    but it is usual to set certain sheds apart for this
-    purpose, especially if the chemicals used are of a dusty nature,
-    that is, very finely divided, in which case the atmosphere
-    becomes highly charged and dangerous.</p>
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">74</span></p>
-  <p>Chlorate of potash, from the introduction of which into
-    pyrotechny modern effects and colours may be said to date,
-    has at the same time been responsible for many accidents. As
-    will be seen in the later chapters on firework compositions, for
-    many years chlorate of potash and sulphur were used freely
-    in the same mixtures, and many as were the accidents caused
-    by so doing, yet it is incredible that they were not far more
-    numerous.</p>
-
-  <p>Most makers were well aware of the dangerous nature of
-    this admixture, but persisted in using it, as the colours so
-    obtained were at that time unapproached by other means;
-    naturally no manufacturer wished to be alone in the discontinuance
-    of some of the most striking effects at the time available,
-    or to give competition the consequent advantage.</p>
-
-  <p>In August, 1893, a man was fatally burned whilst simply
-    emptying a small quantity of crimson stars from one tray to
-    another; the slight friction so caused was sufficient to ignite
-    the stars and thus fire the whole contents of the building.
-    This unfortunate accident took place at the works of C. T.
-    Brock and Co., then at South Norwood, and seems even more
-    unfortunate when one learns that with the exception of this
-    particular crimson, they had practically eliminated chlorate
-    and sulphur colours.</p>
-
-  <p>The following year, by Order in Council <abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 15, the
-    admixture of chlorate of potash and sulphur was made illegal.</p>
-
-  <p>Previous to this accident, during the same year and in the
-    same works, a serious accident involving the death of one
-    workman and the injury of another, was caused by a barrel of
-    chlorate of potash being delivered and marked nitrate of
-    potash (saltpetre). Its use in a composition containing sulphide
-    of arsenic (orpiment) produced a mixture approximately to that
-    used in some fog signals and designed to fire by percussion.
-    The natural effect was the serious explosion that followed.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">75</span></p>
-
-  <p>The late Sir Vivian D. Majendie, K.C.B., the then Chief
-    Inspector of Explosives, records in his report that &ldquo;Messrs.
-    Brock are extremely careful to keep chlorate and non-chlorate
-    mixing departments, and even ingredients in separate buildings
-    and under separate control,&rdquo; and while he considered
-    that &ldquo;some measure of blame is attributable to them in respect
-    of the defects of their system which rendered possible
-    the presence of a cask of chlorate of potash as &ldquo;saltpetre&rdquo;
-    in the saltpetre shed,&rdquo; he adds: &ldquo;It is only fair and proper
-    that I should say that our experience of the manner in which
-    Messrs. Brock conduct their large business generally is
-    extremely satisfactory. This factory is in many respects a
-    model; they have always shown themselves ready to discuss
-    with us and adopt any suggestion tending to increase the
-    safety of the workpeople.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>These indications, if such were needed apart from the
-    official prohibition of the use of these two ingredients together,
-    convinced Mr. Arthur Brock that even greater care
-    was necessary in dealing with them. With this object in view,
-    when the works were removed to Sutton, Surrey, the two
-    factories at South Norwood and Harold Wood, Essex, being
-    inadequate to deal with the business, the plan of the new
-    factory was arranged so as entirely to separate that portion
-    of the factory using chlorate of potash from the portion using
-    sulphur. A road running up the factory from the entrance
-    gate divides it into what are virtually two factories, known as
-    the Colour and Bright Sides.</p>
-
-  <p>These works, which are easily the largest of the kind in the
-    world, cover an area of nearly 200 acres. They include about
-    60 magazines, expense magazines, and drying rooms, with a
-    total storage capacity of 1,300,000 lbs. of fireworks and 5 tons
-    of gunpowder; 120 explosive working buildings (mostly
-    double), besides numerous stores, non-explosive working
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">76</span>buildings, saw-mills, and wood-working shops. The buildings
-    are connected by over four miles of tram-lines. The
-    average number of employees is 150 men and 200 women.
-    During the late war this number was increased to over 2,000
-    on the manufacture of munitions.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_9">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">77</span>
-    <h3 title="IX. FIREWORK ACCIDENTS">CHAPTER <abbr title="9">IX</abbr><br /><br />
-      FIREWORK ACCIDENTS</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">The</span> record of firework accidents until the date of
-    the Explosives Act, 1875, is very meagre, not in subject
-    matter, as reference to Chapter <abbr title="6">VI</abbr> will show,
-    for the history of the industry up to that time appears to have
-    been one catalogue of accidents; the only cause for wonder
-    when one considers the conditions then prevailing is that
-    there were not more. But in detail, the only records are more
-    or less sensational reports of the event, and such explanation of
-    the cause as the reporter could pick up from some bystander.</p>
-
-  <p>In some cases where the workers were not killed the explanation
-    was found to be simple; as for instance, the accident
-    at Mortram&rsquo;s works in 1821. Here a boy who was making stars
-    in a room with several other workers and other composition
-    present, put some of his work to dry before the open fire,
-    and as if this was not a sufficiently reckless proceeding, lit
-    one on the hob, with the consequences that were to be expected.</p>
-
-  <p>In most cases, however, the cause seems to have been
-    obscure, and little or no trouble appears to have been taken
-    to discover the cause with a view to prevention of a repetition.</p>
-
-  <p>Since the Explosives Act careful record is kept of all
-    accidents; the scene of the accident is inspected, and a report
-    printed, setting out the cause, so far as can be ascertained.</p>
-
-  <p>Until the introduction of chlorate of potash about 1830,
-    if even reasonable care had been used the chances of spontaneous
-    ignition were very small, and it is reasonable to suppose
-    that such accidents as did take place were in the majority
-    due to such incidents as the above.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">78</span></p>
-
-  <p>After that date, however, it is not too much to say that
-    quite as large a proportion of accidents were due to the
-    admixture of chlorate of potash and sulphur.</p>
-
-  <p>We are, of course, now speaking of accidents during manufacture,
-    although to the same cause may be attributed many
-    of the numerous cases of bursting mortars during displays
-    which were so frequent until the prohibition of this mixture
-    in 1894 by Order in Council 15.</p>
-
-  <p>Dr. Browne, of Hull, a consulting chemist, published in
-    1884 a book entitled, &ldquo;Firework Accidents, their cause and
-    prevention,&rdquo; in which he divides accidents into three classes:
-    mechanical, chemical (spontaneous combustion), and mechano-chemical.</p>
-
-  <p>Such a classification seems to the writer misleading, as all
-    accidents must of necessity be chemical; that is to say, for
-    combustion chemical action must take place; and with the
-    exception of cases where ignition has taken place quite
-    spontaneously, that is where the composition has ignited
-    when lying perfectly undisturbed, all must be considered
-    mechanical.</p>
-
-  <p>Almost any composition used in pyrotechny, however
-    stable, can be ignited by a violent blow between two hard
-    surfaces, but some compositions are so unstable as to be
-    ignited by very slight friction.</p>
-
-  <p>It is therefore a question of degree, or whether the mechanical
-    factor is most to blame or the chemical. A better classification
-    would be:</p>
-
-  <div class="center-container">
-    <ol class="inline" style="list-style-type:upper-roman">
-      <li>Ignition caused by violence, friction or heat.</li>
-      <li>Accidents caused by the state, condition or quality of
-        the composition or ingredients.</li>
-    </ol>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>If the accident be included in the class which gives the
-    fundamental cause of the accident, it will be found that the
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">79</span>greatest number fall in Class <abbr title="2">II</abbr>, even though they may at first
-    glance appear to belong to the first class.</p>
-
-  <p>Class <abbr title="1">I</abbr> includes accidents caused by the accidental presence
-    of fire and accidents caused by necessarily more or less violent
-    action in manufacture, that is to say, in charging.</p>
-
-  <p>Ignition during charging may be caused in two ways,
-    either by a blow on composition between the charging tool
-    or drift and the spindle or other hard surface, or by heat
-    generated by repeated blows on the consolidated composition.</p>
-
-  <p>In this class also should be put accidents, of which there
-    are many, caused by playing or scuffing by the workpeople,
-    the absence of safety overshoes, the presence of grit or iron
-    or steel implements, in fact those caused by misconduct or
-    negligence on the part of the workers, also the rare occasions
-    where lightning has been the cause.</p>
-
-  <p>Accidents caused by slight friction have to a great extent
-    ceased to exist owing to the elimination of chlorate and sulphur
-    compositions. Where accidents arise owing to instability of the
-    composition, they most frequently at the present time fall
-    within Class <abbr title="2">II</abbr>, as the instability of the composition is generally
-    due to the presence of some impurity in one or more of
-    the ingredients.</p>
-
-  <p>Another source of accident of this class is the use of violence
-    in emergency with a composition which, although not sufficiently
-    stable for heavy charging, is quite safe for careful
-    manipulation; as for instance, where force is exerted to clear
-    a funnel which has become blocked with composition, or some
-    similar action.</p>
-
-  <p>As regards the part played by heat in accidents of this
-    class, a study of the records clearly indicates how great is the
-    influence of weather. By far the greatest number of accidents
-    take place in the summer months; hot weather and a heavy
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">80</span>atmosphere are the most likely conditions to produce trouble
-    for the pyrotechnist, although whether the primary cause is
-    heat or owing to an electrical condition of the atmosphere it
-    is difficult to say, probably it is the two conditions in conjunction.
-    Sulphur and shellac, two very important ingredients
-    in the art, are both capable of holding an electric charge,
-    and it seems not unlikely that they may be so charged in an
-    electric atmosphere during the process of mixing.</p>
-
-  <p>Accidents in Class <abbr title="2">II</abbr> are generally less easily explained
-    than those in the former class and have occurred in many
-    forms. As has been said, during the period (about sixty-five
-    years) from the introduction of chlorate of potash to the Order
-    in Council forbidding its use with sulphur, numerous accidents
-    occurred; spontaneous ignition, both whilst drying during
-    manufacture and even during mixing, ignition from very
-    slight friction, and for a time a frequent occurrence the detonation
-    of the contents of shell by the lifting charge. During
-    the period of seventeen years between the date of the
-    Explosives Act and the prohibition of chlorate sulphur
-    mixture, twenty-eight accidents are recorded, resulting in
-    eleven deaths attributable to the use of such mixtures.</p>
-
-  <p>The instability of chlorate sulphur compositions, however,
-    does not appear to be so much due to the presence of these
-    two chemicals themselves, but rather to the presence of impurity
-    in conjunction with them.</p>
-
-  <p>Commercial sulphur often contains free sulphurous acid,
-    which acting upon the chlorate produces chlorine tetroxide,
-    which rapidly decomposes and ignites the mass of the composition.</p>
-
-  <p>Other acids which produce decomposition of the chlorate
-    are equally likely to produce ignition. Of such cases, examples
-    may be mentioned of acid being present in the paste used for
-    case and box-making, also in gumwater which has been kept
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">81</span>some time before using, and in starch paste similarly treated.
-    Spontaneous ignition has also been caused by the contact of
-    oil with finely divided carbon such as lampblack or finely
-    divided metals, such as magnesium and aluminium, which
-    are so largely used at the present time.</p>
-
-  <p>Another case of this nature is the heating up of cases after
-    charging with gerb composition, two of the ingredients of
-    which are sulphur and iron borings, this heating sometimes
-    being sufficient to cause combustion. The cause of this phenomenon
-    is the combination of the iron with sulphur to form
-    sulphide of iron, this action being accompanied by heat. In
-    fact, it is the same as that producing the experiment known
-    as Lemery&rsquo;s volcano. As far as the knowledge of the writer
-    extends, however, no occurrence of ignition has been definitely
-    traced to this phenomenon, although it seems highly probable
-    that even if ignition of the actual composition has not taken
-    place, cases have occurred where more sensitive compositions
-    have been fired by heat so generated where fireworks have
-    been stored together.</p>
-
-  <p>The annual reports of H.M. Inspectors of Explosives
-    published since 1876 form an interesting and instructive
-    summary of accidents in explosive trades, an examination of
-    which throws considerable light on our subject.</p>
-
-  <p>One is struck by the frequency with which explosions
-    occur as a result of ignorance, generally on the part of amateur
-    firework makers. In many cases, as where children are concerned,
-    this ignorance is natural, but the want of knowledge
-    and even reasonable care displayed by individuals whose
-    occupation suggests at least some knowledge of the risk is
-    indeed often extraordinary.</p>
-
-  <p>Such a case occurred in 1884 in Devonshire, when a local
-    chemist who was illegally manufacturing coloured fire, instructed
-    an assistant to grind in an iron mortar a mixture
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">82</span>containing chlorate of potash and sulphur. The lad was killed
-    in the resulting explosion.</p>
-
-  <p>Even more remarkable was an explosion which took place
-    in a railway carriage in 1893. This was due to the spontaneous
-    ignition of a quantity of chlorate and sulphur coloured fire,
-    which was being carried in an ordinary handbag by a gentleman
-    whose occupation in life was that of professor of
-    chemistry.</p>
-
-  <p>An accident presenting considerable interest took place in
-    1885 at Mitcham. The cause of this occurrence was quite
-    simple. A man was fixing the curved stick which forms the
-    pivot upon which a tourbillion rotates to one of those fireworks.
-    The wire nail used for the purpose penetrated the
-    composition and fired it. The remaining goods in the shed
-    were ignited, and communicated to the neighbouring buildings,
-    one of which was a magazine containing 3,000 lbs. of
-    partially manufactured fireworks, including a number of
-    rockets. These being without sticks and becoming ignited
-    flew in all directions, setting fire to other buildings. The
-    result was that ten buildings and an air drying rack
-    were totally destroyed, and three buildings and three racks
-    partially so.</p>
-
-  <p>This would seem a very serious matter as far as monetary
-    damage is concerned, but as regards the chief consideration
-    in accidents of this kind, that is to say damage to human life
-    and limb, the result was almost negligible; two persons were
-    slightly injured.</p>
-
-  <p>This accident, which was the most extensive in any firework
-    factory since the Explosives Act came into operation,
-    afforded striking proof of the efficiency of the precautions
-    instituted under that Act.</p>
-
-  <p>It is indeed extraordinary that in an explosive factory of
-    considerable size, employing many workpeople, during working
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">83</span>hours it should be possible to destroy more or less completely
-    seventeen buildings and only slightly injure two persons.</p>
-
-  <p>It may be contended that the number of buildings damaged
-    was very high, but it must be remembered that rockets without
-    sticks take a most erratic course in their flight, rendering
-    the effective screening of other buildings most difficult, if not
-    impossible.</p>
-
-  <p>However, there is evidence that many rockets were stopped
-    by the screens, and that without their interposition the number
-    of buildings destroyed might have been many times greater.</p>
-
-  <p>The other Explosives Act requirements of which the efficiency
-    was demonstrated by this accident, are the dividing
-    of sheds into compartments with a limited number of workpeople
-    in each, easy means of escape from working buildings,
-    and the value of uninflammable clothing.</p>
-
-  <p>It was also shown that a large quantity of fireworks might
-    be burnt in mass without causing a veritable explosion; as
-    in the case of the magazine containing 3,000 lbs.</p>
-
-  <p>Contrasting with this occurrence are the reports of accidents
-    in firework factories both on the Continent and in America.</p>
-
-  <p>The same year, at Civita Vecchia, ten persons were killed
-    and twice that number injured in one accident at a firework
-    factory.</p>
-
-  <p>Four years later, in Paris, seven girls were killed out of
-    the eighteen employed in one compartment. The material
-    being used was red phosphorus and chlorate. In 1882 fourteen
-    persons were killed and no fewer than seventy injured at
-    Chester, Pennsylvania.</p>
-
-  <p>From 1891 to 1894 eight accidents in the United States
-    are reported, resulting in a total of twenty-three deaths and
-    injury to more than fifty persons. In 1894, at New Haven,
-    Con., damage to the extent of 125,000 dollars was done, and
-    at Dallas a considerable part of the city was destroyed.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">84</span></p>
-
-  <p>These are, of course, not a complete list, but only such
-    cases as are brought to the notice of the English Home Office,
-    but the extent of these clearly illustrates the value of the restrictions
-    in force in this country.</p>
-
-  <p>During the same years the total of firework factory
-    accidents in this country was thirteen, in which three persons
-    lost their lives, and in no case was more than one person killed
-    in any one accident. Indeed, in one instance only since 1875
-    has the number of deaths resulting from any accident exceeded
-    two&mdash;on that occasion four deaths resulted.</p>
-
-  <p>An interesting type of accident, examples of which have
-    taken place on several occasions, is that in which two compositions,
-    one containing sulphur and the other chlorate of
-    potash, are placed in contact in the paper case of a firework,
-    and produce spontaneous combustion.</p>
-
-  <p>In one case a lance containing white and green composition
-    burst into flame on the work bench. This provided an explanation
-    to an explosion at the same factory which had taken
-    place ten days before in a magazine containing between 6,000
-    and 7,000 lbs. of display fireworks.</p>
-
-  <p>An occurrence of a similar nature was observed at Brighton
-    in 1903, when some changing coloured lights which had been
-    removed from a building where a fire had taken place (the
-    fireworks not being involved in any way) ignited some days
-    afterwards.</p>
-
-  <p>It is thought that the lights may have been wetted during
-    the fire, and upon drying out some days later the different
-    compositions in contact in the case or cases set up chemical
-    action, which resulted in spontaneous ignition. It was found
-    on examination that a blue containing sulphur was in contact
-    with a green containing chlorate. It may be noted here that
-    mixtures which are damped during manufacture are more liable
-    to spontaneous ignition than those manipulated in a dry state.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">85</span></p>
-
-  <p>Many accidents and explosions are left unexplained, either
-    because the evidence is destroyed by the resulting fire or by
-    the death of the witness or witnesses, or because of the difficulty
-    often experienced in getting the workpeople to give a
-    full and faithful account of what occurred, fearing to cause
-    trouble for themselves or others concerned.</p>
-
-  <p>There can be no doubt that the cause is frequently carelessness
-    or mistakes on the part of workers. In a large number
-    of cases, however, this explanation gives no help and the
-    cause remains obscure. One such may be mentioned:</p>
-
-  <p>In 1902 an explosion occurred in a store for non-explosive
-    ingredients, in which were kept the chemicals used in a firework
-    factory. In the building at the time was a workman who
-    appears to have been engaged in sifting chlorate of potash,
-    and the technical manager of the factory who seems to have
-    been weighing out ingredients. There is no doubt that he
-    was a man of very considerable experience, and from his
-    responsible position unlikely either to take risks or be guilty
-    of carelessness.</p>
-
-  <p>An explosion occurred in the building, killing both occupants,
-    and of so violent a nature as to sever the foot of the
-    manager and to project one of the sheets of corrugated iron
-    with which the roof was covered a distance of thirty yards.</p>
-
-  <p>No explanation of this occurrence was arrived at other
-    than that in some way some of the chemicals must have
-    become mixed to form a sensitive and violent explosive; so
-    much is obvious, but how the chemicals became so mixed
-    remains a mystery, as no mixing was actually done in the
-    building. The ignition of such a mixture is less obscure as
-    magazine boots were not necessary in the building owing to
-    the non-hazardous nature of the work carried on there, and
-    sufficient friction would be produced to fire even a fairly
-    sensitive mixture between a nailed boot sole and a wood floor.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">86</span></p>
-
-  <p>An occurrence of considerable interest in this direction
-    took place in a warehouse at Manchester in 1908. In the building
-    were stored several tons of chemicals, among which were
-    twelve tons of chlorate of potash and thirty-two of chlorate
-    of soda.</p>
-
-  <p>A workman stepping down from a barrel struck fire, and
-    saw a flame, which he tried to extinguish by rubbing with his
-    foot. This, however, had the opposite effect. He then tried
-    a bucket of water, which failed to put it out; he left the building
-    and heard an explosion, followed by a second and a third,
-    all apparently of a violent nature, all three being heard nearly
-    ten miles away, and glass broken throughout a considerable
-    area round the warehouse.</p>
-
-  <p>The cause appears to have been as follows: During the
-    conveyance of the chlorate into the building leakings took
-    place, and a certain quantity remained on the floor, this mixing
-    with dust and other organic matter would prove a highly
-    sensitive composition. This was ignited by the man&rsquo;s foot
-    and rapidly spread, probably a deposit which had accumulated
-    under the floor became involved. The woodwork of the building
-    and the wooden barrels then became ignited. The rapid
-    decomposition of the chlorate caused by the heat liberated
-    large quantities of free oxygen, which united with carbon in
-    the smoke to form gas, which exploded upon reaching the
-    correct proportion for so doing.</p>
-
-  <p>The writer has chiefly confined himself to accidents in
-    firework factories; those occurring during the illegal manufacture
-    of fireworks in premises unlicensed for the purpose
-    present no further interest, and are generally caused by
-    ignorance on the part of the participant of the often extremely
-    dangerous nature of the material he is handling. To take an
-    example:</p>
-
-  <p>Two boys were engaged in grinding in a mortar a &ldquo;small
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">87</span>quantity&rdquo; of chlorate of potash and sugar. An explosion
-    resulted which blew out the entire window frames of the
-    room, destroyed the partition between the room and the
-    passage, considerably damaged the other wall, and projected
-    the pestle into the ceiling, where it remained embedded.</p>
-
-  <p>Accidents at displays are now happily rare; the most fruitful
-    cause of such happenings was the detonation of shell in the
-    mortar, that is, the detonation of the contents or &ldquo;garniture&rdquo;
-    by the explosion of the propellant charge.</p>
-
-  <p>The elimination of chlorate-sulphur composition has
-    reduced the chances of this to a minimum, and the compulsory
-    burying of mortars up to the muzzle has practically
-    eliminated the danger to either firers or spectators.</p>
-
-  <p>Apart from slight injuries caused by falling rocket sticks
-    and mishaps of a similar nature, accidents to the public at
-    firework displays are things of the past.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="PART_II">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">89</span>
-    <h2 class="fs300 gesperrt1">PART <abbr title="2">II</abbr></h2>
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="figcenter illow66" id="i090" style="max-width: 50em">
-    <img src="images/i090.jpg" class="w100" width="796" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Types of Modern Fireworks.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_1a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">91</span>
-    <h3 title="I. SIMPLE FIREWORKS&mdash;ROCKET CLASS">CHAPTER <abbr title="1">I</abbr><br /><br />
-      SIMPLE FIREWORKS&mdash;ROCKET CLASS</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">In</span> the preceding chapters we have been dealing with
-    displays of fireworks, that is to say; fireworks in the mass.
-    We will now turn our attention to the firework units composing
-    those displays, and endeavour to trace their gradual
-    evolution from the crude originals.</p>
-
-  <p>Fireworks may be divided into two classes, simple and
-    compound. The first of these include fireworks which are a
-    complete item in themselves, as the rocket, shell, or Roman
-    candle; also the units which, fitted on a framework, go to
-    compose the set pieces and devices of a display, and the small
-    shop goods not used in displays. We will consider this class
-    first.</p>
-
-  <p>The two oldest forms of fireworks known are undoubtedly
-    the cracker and the rocket. As we have already noted, both of
-    these&mdash;or at least primitive forms&mdash;are mentioned by Marcus
-    Graecus, Albertus, and Roger Bacon. The description by
-    the former is sufficiently clear to leave no doubt in our minds
-    that he is describing a rocket; although the description of a
-    cracker is not so explicit as to enable us to say that he is actually
-    describing a jumping cracker, yet his mention of folding and
-    tying would certainly give colour to that belief. In fact, some
-    writers have endeavoured to find a connection between the
-    words &ldquo;Graecus&rdquo; and &ldquo;Cracker.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Greene, in &ldquo;Orlando Furioso&rdquo; (1599), uses the words,
-    &ldquo;Yes, yes, with squibs and crackers brauly.&rdquo; John Bate, in
-    his book previously mentioned, under the somewhat misleading
-    heading, &ldquo;How to make Crackers,&rdquo; says: &ldquo;It is well
-    knowne that every boy can make these, therefore I think it
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">92</span>will be but labor lost, to bestow time to describe their
-    making.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>He also describes a kind of kite which he designates a
-    &ldquo;Fire Drake,&rdquo; to the tail of which he fastens &ldquo;divers crackers&rdquo;
-    which are shown in the illustration to be exactly like the
-    jumping crackers of the present day. Babington illustrates a
-    cracker fixed to the top of a rocket.</p>
-
-  <p>Pepys makes the following entry in his diary for November
-    5th, 1661: &ldquo;Seeing the boys in the streets flying their
-    crackers.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The only practical difference between the cracker of 1635
-    and that of to-day is in the difference of methods of manufacture,
-    the early practice being to fold the gunpowder in the
-    paper, the modern, to roll a paper case and fill the powder in
-    through a funnel, afterwards flattening it through a roller mill.</p>
-
-  <div class="center col">
-    <div class="figcenter col50" id="i092a" style="max-width: 37.5em">
-      <img src="images/i092a.jpg" class="w100" width="853" height="1200" alt="" />
-    </div>
-    <div class="figcenter col50" id="i092b" style="max-width: 37.5em">
-      <img src="images/i092b.jpg" class="w100" width="1009" height="1200" alt="" />
-    </div>
-    <div class="caption">Cracker Making</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>Curiously enough, although the cracker has been in use
-    for centuries in England, there appears to be no early reference
-    to it on the Continent, the word &ldquo;petard&rdquo; meaning a
-    cracker in French, but more often being applied to a firework
-    with a single report, such as a maroon or cannon. The
-    <cite lang="fr">Dictionnaire National</cite> of 1852, however, describes the true
-    cracker as one of the meanings of &ldquo;petard.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The rocket is equal to the cracker in its claim to antiquity,
-    and it is extraordinary that these two fireworks should have
-    changed so little in form and composition.</p>
-
-  <p>John Babington gives illustrations of rocket-charging tools
-    and describes the manufacture of rockets, which are approximately
-    those of the present day. It is only in the proportion
-    of the ingredients that there is any considerable alteration.</p>
-
-  <p>The word &ldquo;rocket&rdquo; appears to be Italian in origin, and
-    to be based on the similarity in appearance of a rocket on its
-    stick to the round piece of wood used in the Middle Ages to
-    cover the point of a lance in mimic combat, and known as a
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">93</span>&ldquo;rockette,&rdquo; from &ldquo;rocca,&rdquo; the Italian word for a bobbin, a
-    diminutive of distaff.</p>
-
-  <p>As a rocket is the most important unit in the art of pyrotechny,
-    a description of its manufacture will assist in the
-    consideration of a large number of other fireworks which are
-    either modifications of or based upon the underlying principles
-    of the rocket, as well as the several principles governing
-    all fireworks.</p>
-
-  <p>The ingredients of rocket composition are those of gunpowder
-    in approximately similar proportions, but the resultant
-    composition is not gunpowder, the reason being that the
-    ingredients are less intimately mixed, with the result that the
-    combustion is spread over a longer interval of time. Instead
-    of the whole mass deflagrating instantly, only the exposed
-    surface is consumed. It is the recoil produced by the rush of
-    gases, and partially consumed matter, from the violently
-    burning composition which projects the rocket forward. The
-    obvious form for the case containing the composition is cylindrical,
-    both on account of ease of construction and of charging.
-    In order to get the greatest possible reaction from the burning
-    composition, the case of the rocket is constricted or
-    choked, so that the fire may issue as it were in the form of a
-    jet. This choke has one obvious disadvantage, it reduces the
-    surface of composition to the area of the opening, thus restricting
-    the initial burning surface at the time when the
-    maximum of effort is required to force the rocket into motion.
-    This defect is overcome by having a tapering hole up almost
-    the entire length of the composition, thus giving a large burning
-    surface with a consequent discharge of gas through a small
-    orifice and a resultant powerful jet of fire and gas.</p>
-
-  <p>The rocket case is of stout paper rolled on a former consolidated
-    by rolling under a board. The choke is formed by
-    inserting into the bore of the rocket two wooden tools with
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">94</span>rounded ends, the shorter tool having a peg projecting which
-    is equal in diameter to the bore of the choke. The tools are of
-    such length that when they are inserted the peg takes up the
-    position where the choke is to be formed. The case is then
-    constricted at this point by a strong pressure with a stout
-    cord wound round the case and soaped to allow it to slip
-    round easily.</p>
-
-  <p>The case is then dried and charged by placing on a
-    &ldquo;spindle,&rdquo; which is a strong gun-metal base with a nipple
-    fitting into the vent of the rocket and having a tapering spindle
-    which fits tightly in the choke and projects up into the bore
-    of the rocket. The composition is poured in in small quantities
-    measured in a scoop, each scoopful being consolidated
-    by blows with a wooden mallet or a wooden &ldquo;drift&rdquo; hollowed
-    to take the spindle. Before the first scoop of composition is
-    introduced, the rocket is &ldquo;set down,&rdquo; that is, several blows
-    are given on the drift to consolidate the paper at the choke
-    and give it accurate shape. Next, a scoop of ground dry clay
-    is poured in and charged firm as a protection to the paper of
-    the choke. The charging is then proceeded with as detailed
-    above. Varying drifts are used in order that the hole may
-    approximately correspond with the diameter of the tapering
-    spindle as the composition rises in the case.</p>
-
-  <p>A short portion of the case above the spindle is charged
-    solid; this is referred to as the &ldquo;heading,&rdquo; and is usually
-    about one and a half times the bore in depth.</p>
-
-  <p>Large rockets are charged in a mould which fits tightly
-    round the outside of the case and prevents the case being
-    split under the pressure of the blows whilst being charged.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow63" id="i094" style="max-width: 47.25em">
-    <img src="images/i094.jpg" class="w100" width="756" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Rocket Manufacture, from Frézier&rsquo;s &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Feu
-      d&rsquo;Artifice</span>,&rdquo; 1747.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>In early times these moulds were used for all sizes and
-    were of cast metal, and it is from them that the classification
-    of the sizes is derived. Rockets are designated by the weight
-    of a ball of lead which fits the bore of the corresponding mould.
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">95</span>Thus we have rockets varying in size from &frac12; oz. to 6 lbs. and
-    over, war rockets being made up to 9 and 24 lbs., but their
-    use is now almost extinct.</p>
-
-  <p>This classification, although it serves its purpose well
-    enough, is somewhat misleading, as the thickness of the case
-    varies in practice, at any rate under modern conditions. In
-    the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries pyrotechnists seem to
-    have had a standard proportion between the case and bore,
-    <i>i.e.</i>, the thickness of the case was one-quarter the internal
-    diameter of the rocket.</p>
-
-  <p>In modern commercial practice a rocket&mdash;say for example
-    of 1 lb.&mdash;is a rocket rolled on a former whose diameter is
-    that of the bore of a 1 lb. rocket of standard thickness, but
-    whose outside diameter is governed by the strength of the
-    paper employed in the case.</p>
-
-  <p>Several writers on pyrotechny, one Frézier writing in 1747
-    in particular, have endeavoured to supersede this classification
-    of rockets by replacing it with a series of internal diameter
-    measurements, so far without success. It is hard to supersede
-    the traditions of centuries on a plea of mere rationalism.</p>
-
-  <p>Rocket compositions, although containing the same ingredients,
-    namely, saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, have
-    them in differing proportions. Broadly speaking, the larger
-    the rocket the greater the proportion of charcoal and sulphur,
-    the variations in proportion being considerable, from the
-    half-ounce rocket mixing of 13 saltpetre, 2 sulphur, and 5
-    charcoal to the 9 lb. and 24 lb. war rocket, with 13 saltpetre,
-    3 sulphur, and 4 charcoal approximately, and even higher
-    proportions of the second and third ingredients for special
-    purposes. A larger proportion of charcoal gives a larger
-    tail&mdash;a desirable feature in display and signal rockets. Some
-    compositions have a proportion of mealed gunpowder to produce
-    fiercer burning.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">96</span></p>
-
-  <p>Early makers appear to have used mealed gunpowder and
-    added charcoal and other ingredients to, as it were, dilute
-    the powder and render the deflagration less fierce. Babington
-    (1635) adds charcoal in the following proportion:</p>
-
-  <table summary="charcoal proportion">
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdr">&nbsp; 1 oz.&mdash;</td>
-      <td class="tdl">4 oz.</td>
-      <td class="tdc">rockets,</td>
-      <td class="tdl">1 lb.</td>
-      <td class="tdc">of mealed powder to</td>
-      <td class="tdl">2 oz.</td>
-      <td class="tdc">charcoal</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdr">&nbsp; 4 oz.&mdash;</td>
-      <td class="tdl">10 oz.</td>
-      <td class="tdc">„</td>
-      <td class="tdl">1 lb.</td>
-      <td class="tdc">„ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; „</td>
-      <td class="tdl">2&frac12; oz.</td>
-      <td class="tdc">„</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdr">10 oz.&mdash;</td>
-      <td class="tdl">1 lb.</td>
-      <td class="tdc">„</td>
-      <td class="tdl">1 lb.</td>
-      <td class="tdc">„ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; „</td>
-      <td class="tdl">3 oz.</td>
-      <td class="tdc">„</td>
-    </tr>
-  </table>
-
-  <p>John Bate&rsquo;s compositions are rather erratically arranged;
-    in some cases he adds the saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur,
-    and a further addition is &ldquo;yron scales,&rdquo; presumably to increase
-    the effect of the tail, for which purpose later pyrotechnists
-    used iron filings.</p>
-
-  <p>The rocket having been charged to the top of the heading,
-    clay is charged in, forming a diaphragm above it. Earlier
-    practice was to turn down the top edge of the case on the
-    heading composition to form a diaphragm.</p>
-
-  <p>The best-known form of rocket is the sky rocket, which
-    is fitted with a stick held in position by having a dowelled
-    end introduced into a rolled paper or metal tube secured to
-    the side of the rocket. The object of the stick is to direct the
-    flight of the rocket, and further serves to hold it in position
-    for firing, being passed through two rings at a suitable distance
-    one above the other on a stake, through which it slides
-    easily.</p>
-
-  <p>Sky rockets are fitted with a &ldquo;cap&rdquo; containing the &ldquo;garniture&rdquo;
-    of the rocket, which may take the form of &ldquo;stars&rdquo; or
-    other pyrotechnic effects, or a gun-cotton wad, or similar
-    explosive to make a sound signal, or small cases charged with
-    picrate of potash, producing the well-known &ldquo;whistling
-    rocket&rdquo; effect.</p>
-
-  <p>The &ldquo;cap&rdquo; is either cylindrical or in the form of a truncated
-    cone, with a conical or other top. The cap is burst open
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">97</span>and the contents ignited by an opening charge of powder
-    lighted through a hole bored in the clay diaphragm above the
-    heading, so that when the heading is burnt through the fire
-    may be communicated to the opening charge.</p>
-
-  <p>From earliest times the rocket has been the chief item in
-    recreative fireworks; either the sky rocket as we know it to-day
-    or its many modifications and derivatives was the chief
-    constituent of the early displays.</p>
-
-  <p>During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a display
-    would contain the following items&mdash;dragons or similar figures
-    issuing from the scenic castle provided for the display; these
-    would be moved by line rockets. A line rocket has no cap or
-    garniture, the socket usually provided to hold the stick being
-    lengthened, and of sufficient diameter to allow it to slide along
-    a tightly stretched cord passed through it. Pieces of a similar
-    nature to the modern fountain and gerb would be represented
-    by &ldquo;ground rockets.&rdquo; This is a rocket less fiercely burning,
-    charged solid, fixed to a support so that it remains stationary
-    whilst burning, the fire being thrown out in a jet. Rockets
-    would also be used to turn such primitive wheels as were
-    exhibited, and to actuate mechanical scenic devices, which
-    are in effect the &ldquo;turning cases&rdquo; of the present day. Serpents
-    of fiz-gigs were much used, both as a garniture for rockets,
-    and to give animation to wheels and similar pieces. These
-    were made on the rocket principle, similar to the squib, but
-    slightly more elaborate. A choke was formed between the
-    composition and the &ldquo;bounce&rdquo; or powder giving the report.</p>
-
-  <p>To-day the ground rocket has developed into the gerb or
-    Chinese tree, fountains of various kinds, the flower pot&mdash;of
-    the larger kinds; and among the smaller varieties, the squib
-    with its variations, such as Black Jack and Blue Devil, and the
-    golden rain with its variations.</p>
-
-  <p>The modern, or rather more recent, method of heading
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">98</span>the rocket with a clay diaphragm evidently suggested that
-    the choking of the case might be dispensed with where the
-    composition was less fierce, the necessary reduction of the
-    orifice being produced by a clay diaphragm with a central
-    hole of sufficient size. This method is followed with the gerb,
-    fountains, and flower pot, and in the firework known to pyrotechnists
-    as &ldquo;fixt&rdquo;; this unit is largely used in display work
-    to form the fringe frame or lattice effect of a set piece. &ldquo;Fixt&rdquo;
-    are made in 1 oz. and 2 oz. sizes, and contain a composition of
-    approximately one part of steel filings to four of mealed gunpowder
-    and finish with a bounce. The origin of the name is
-    uncertain: it may refer to their use on fixed pieces in contradistinction
-    to one revolving, or&mdash;as is most probable&mdash;was
-    first used to distinguish between a fixed and a moving rocket.</p>
-
-  <p>The time of the introduction of the clay choke is uncertain.
-    Jones, writing in 1765, although using clay in the heading of
-    rockets, still choked all cases, but Mortimer (1824) uses it,
-    although Ruggieri (1821), whilst doing the same, appears to
-    think choking preferable.</p>
-
-  <p>The former gives instructions for charging the clay solid
-    and boring the central hole; Ruggieri, however, uses a nipple
-    like a much shortened rocket spindle, in which he agrees with
-    the modern practice. This method is also utilised at the
-    present time for small-sized rockets.</p>
-
-  <p>Of the fireworks of the fountain class, probably the first
-    to develop from the crude rocket form were the gerb and
-    flower pot. The gerb, or Chinese tree, contains a composition
-    of saltpetre, sulphur, charcoal and iron borings, with the
-    addition&mdash;if more force is required, as for instance to turn a
-    device&mdash;of mealed gunpowder. Early makers used mealed
-    powder alone and &ldquo;iron sand,&rdquo; or cast-iron reduced to powder
-    by hammering. This composition is known as Chinese fire,
-    and, as its name implies, was introduced into Europe from the
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">99</span>East. An interesting article appeared in the &ldquo;Universal
-    Magazine&rdquo; of 1764, written by a Jesuit missionary on the
-    subject of Chinese fireworks. In it he describes the making of
-    iron sand as follows:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;Old broken or useless pots serve generally for making
-      this sand; they are broken into pieces of the breadth of
-      the hand, after which, being made red-hot in the fire of a
-      forge, they are thrown in that condition into a trough filled
-      with fresh water, where they are left to cool. Thus calcined,
-      the rust falls off in scales, and they are easily reduced into
-      sand, being first broken into parcels of a finger&rsquo;s breadth.
-      The anvil and hammer used for this purpose must be also
-      of cast-iron, because steel flats the grains of sand. It is
-      necessary that the angles of those grains should be sharp,
-      as it is the angles that form the flowers.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>The word &ldquo;gerb&rdquo; is derived from the French word meaning
-    a sheaf of corn, and was first applied to water fountains.</p>
-
-  <p>The flower pot is charged with a composition formerly
-    known as &ldquo;spur-fire,&rdquo; from the resemblance in form of its
-    coruscations to the rowel of a spur. The effect produced is
-    one of the most effective when successful, but has the disadvantage
-    for display work that the effect is only appreciated
-    at close quarters. The ingredients used are lampblack, sulphur,
-    red arsenic, saltpetre, with sometimes the addition of charcoal
-    and mealed gunpowder.</p>
-
-  <p>Of the smaller works of this division the squib and golden
-    rain are too well known to need description. The squib and its
-    variations have a choked case; the golden rain and similar
-    works are left with an open bore.</p>
-
-  <p>Squibs are generally filled with a composition of sulphur,
-    saltpetre and charcoal, sometimes steel filings, with a bounce
-    of fine-grain powder.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">100</span></p>
-
-  <p>A curious firework, now almost obsolete, for which it is
-    difficult to find a class, is the five-pointed star. This work
-    consisted of a case having a diaphragm of plaster of paris or
-    clay above the filling, below which five holes are bored equidistant
-    and at right angles to the axis. The case is fired in the
-    unusual position of horizontal with the end towards the
-    spectator, the fire playing all round the case, forming a star.
-    The composition used was mealed powder, sulphur, saltpetre,
-    and sulphuret of antimony. Ruggieri mentions this firework
-    under the name &ldquo;Etoile fixé,&rdquo; and it is mentioned by Jones,
-    writing in 1765, but not by Frézier.</p>
-
-  <p>It is hard to believe that this unit was successful, so many
-    factors militating against success, which depends upon the
-    exactly similar jet from each of the five holes. But it is possible
-    that in large geometrical pieces it was at least of use to give an
-    additional effect in what, owing to the lack of variety of the
-    fireworks of the time, must have been rather a monotonous
-    repetition of a few effects. It also would enable small blank
-    spaces to be filled in on set pieces. In a sun or star of the
-    ordinary type, that is of radiating cases, the commencement
-    of the jets must be as far apart as the length of two of the
-    cases, which length is governed by the required time of
-    burning. This leaves a blank centre; the five-pointed star,
-    however, if working correctly, has the jets radiating from a
-    point.</p>
-
-  <p>Many of the earlier writers classified fireworks under the
-    heads:&mdash;Fireworks for the ground, for the air, and for the
-    water. Those falling in the latter division are only variations
-    of those for the ground, that is to say, a gerb, fountain or other
-    firework is fitted with a float, such as a block of wood, and
-    functions floating on the surface of the water, the effect being
-    greatly enhanced by the reflection.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow62" id="i100" style="max-width: 46.5em">
-    <img src="images/i100.jpg" class="w100" width="745" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">From &ldquo;The Universal Magazine,&rdquo; 1764.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>It is not proposed to deal separately in this work with
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">101</span>aquatic fireworks unless they have some essential difference
-    from their parallel type for land display.</p>
-
-  <p>One unit, of the rocket class, which is so distinct is the
-    &ldquo;skimmer.&rdquo; This is in effect a stickless rocket with the cap
-    (which is empty) fastened at an angle to the line of the main
-    case. When fired the skimmer, as its name implies, skims over
-    the surface of the water, with occasional dives under the
-    surface in an erratic course. It requires for its safe display a
-    considerable area of water. These are known by French
-    pyrotechnists as &ldquo;<span lang="fr">genouillères</span>,&rdquo; from their shape.</p>
-
-  <p>Ruggieri and Frézier describe what they call &ldquo;plongeons.&rdquo;
-    These are gerbs charged in the ordinary way, except that
-    before each scoop of composition a small quantity of mealed
-    powder is added. This produces a jerky burning, the recoil
-    of each puff of powder driving the gerb beneath the surface
-    of the water; the jet of fire, of course, is sufficient to prevent
-    water entering the case while so submerged. These, and
-    other earlier writers, in their section devoted to aquatic
-    fireworks, give directions for firing ordinary land fireworks
-    on the water, which would almost appear to have been included
-    with the idea of filling space. One item which is generally
-    included consists of directions for firing rockets under
-    water. Jones, under this heading, gives the following directions:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p class="center">&ldquo;TO FIRE SKY ROCKETS UNDER WATER.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;You must have stands made as usual, only the rails must
-      be placed flat, instead of edgeways, and have holes in them
-      for the rocket sticks to go through; for if they were hung
-      upon hooks, the motion of the water would throw them
-      off: the stands being made, if the pond is deep enough,
-      sink them at the sides so deep that when the rockets are in
-      their heads may just appear above the surface of the water;
-      <span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">102</span>to the mouth of each rocket fix a leader which put through
-      the hole with the stick; then a little above the water must
-      be a board, supported by the stand, and placed along one
-      side of the rockets; then the ends of the leaders are turned
-      up through holes made in this board, exactly opposite the
-      rockets. By this means you may fire them singly, or all at
-      once. Rockets may be fired by this method, in the middle
-      of a pond, by a Neptune, a swan, a water-wheel, or anything
-      else you chuse.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>It will be seen that the rockets themselves are above the
-    surface, which seems more reasonable than the instructions of
-    some writers, who, to get the effect of a rocket rising from
-    actually beneath the surface, give themselves an infinite
-    amount of trouble to render the case and connections waterproof.
-    The effect seen from a short distance is identical.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_2a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">103</span>
-    <h3 title="II. SIMPLE FIREWORKS&mdash;SHELL CLASS">CHAPTER <abbr title="2">II</abbr><br /><br />
-      SIMPLE FIREWORKS&mdash;SHELL CLASS</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">We</span> now come to a distinct class of fireworks, those
-    whose functioning depends on the propulsion of
-    gunpowder. The first and parent of this class is the
-    shell or bomb.</p>
-
-  <p>The original name of the shell was &ldquo;air balloon,&rdquo; which
-    is now obsolete. Some writers have been misled by its appearance
-    in old amusement announcements into thinking a balloon
-    ascent was referred to, or that a balloon carrying fireworks
-    was to be exhibited, at dates considerably before the invention
-    of gas or hot-air balloons.</p>
-
-  <p>In this connection it is interesting to note that Ruggieri
-    claims that his father was the first to release a balloon carrying
-    fireworks in 1786.</p>
-
-  <p>As we have seen, the military use of shell dates from at
-    least as early as the middle of the sixteenth century.</p>
-
-  <p>Both Babington and Bate, writing in 1635, give instructions
-    for making shell, and although the book of the former is
-    more advanced in this particular matter, he is, generally
-    speaking, considerably more primitive.</p>
-
-  <p>Babington describes a hollow sphere of canvas, a part of
-    which is filled with a slow-burning composition, the remainder
-    being filled with stars and grain powder, the canvas is pierced
-    to expose the slow composition. The shell is fired from a
-    mortar having a touch-hole. The following are Babington&rsquo;s
-    instructions in the matter:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;Load your morter piece with one ounce of corne
-      powder, putting after a wadd and tampion, and put on your
-      ball with the vent towards the mouth of your piece: so
-      <span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">104</span>elevating your piece to the zenith, you may proceed to the
-      firing of it, which must be after this manner: provide two
-      matches ready lighted, having one in each hand, and first
-      fire your ball with one hand and presently give fire to your
-      piece with the other, alwaies holding your head under the
-      horizontall line of your piece, for fear the blast annoy you:
-      this having done you shall see your ball mount very high
-      with a fair taile of fire, and when at its highest, shall break
-      forth into a goodly showre of starres.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>This somewhat unconvincing account gives one to wonder
-    if the worthy gunner had indeed fired a shell such as he describes,
-    and if so, whether he was not more than &ldquo;annoyed&rdquo;
-    at the result. He gives the lifting charge as exactly one ounce,
-    but gives no indication of the size of the shell or mortar. It
-    seems probable that he had never seen a shell of this nature,
-    and was giving his idea of it without practical experience;
-    this is the more curious as, generally speaking, his book is
-    wonderfully advanced for the period, and indicates personal
-    experience of the matters under discussion.</p>
-
-  <p>John Bate, although less fluent, gives greater indication of
-    practical knowledge of the matter. His &ldquo;balloone&rdquo; is rather
-    oblong in section, and is made by rolling canvas on a former,
-    using eight or nine turns. The ends are choked in the same
-    way as a rocket case, one end being choked on to a &ldquo;little
-    cane rammed full of a slow composition.&rdquo; The shell is placed
-    in the mortar with the fuse downwards, which is ignited by
-    the flash of the mortar charge. Bate takes the precaution of
-    having a time fuse at the touch-hole of the mortar, and concludes
-    his instructions for firing by saying, &ldquo;and while that
-    burneth, retreat out of harms way.&rdquo; Altogether a more practical
-    and convincing description.</p>
-
-  <p>Frézier (1747) makes the following prefatory remarks to
-    his chapter on shells:</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">105</span></p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;The name of &lsquo;balon&rsquo; is given to a firework which is
-      thrown into the air like artillery bombs for war, so that
-      they are often given the same name as bomb.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;The difference between this firework and a bomb is
-      not only that the former is to amuse and that the latter to
-      destroy, and that the one is made of iron, and the other of
-      wood, linen, or cardboard, but principally because the
-      latter is made to burst and throw out its garniture at the
-      point of the highest elevation, while the war bombs do so
-      at the moment of their fall to the earth, also the war bombs
-      are thrown towards the horizon, while the firework bombs
-      are thrown vertically or nearly so.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;The fireworks differ also from the war bombs in shape,
-      the former being not always spherical, as the latter are.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;We must therefore understand by the name of shell a
-      firework of which the effect and principal beauty is that
-      while going up in the air it only shews a small stream of
-      fire, which multiplies itself suddenly into a great number of
-      others at the moment of its highest elevation, which causes
-      a pleasant surprise.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;As this firework does not lift itself, but is thrown by
-      impulsion the same way as a bomb, it can, like the latter,
-      only be fired from a mortar.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>He describes two shapes of shell, the spherical and cylindrical,
-    with a hemispherical end, which shape is more convenient
-    where the contents are long in form, as rockets, Roman
-    candles, etc. He attributes the introduction of this shape to
-    Siemienowitz, who, he says, made the cases of wood. He
-    himself, however, adopts the modern method, as he does
-    with the fuse, which he calls the port-fire. The lifting charge,
-    however, is placed in the mortar separately from the shell
-    and ignited at a touch-hole, in which, as will be seen, he differs
-    from modern practice.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">106</span></p>
-
-  <p>He gives a list of garnitures or fillings, which are interesting
-    as showing the practice of the day:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;The first is the one which gives the effect of a waterfall
-      or head of hair. This is made of thin narrow tubes, or
-      if possible, of thin canes, cut to the length of the shell, and
-      filled with a slow-burning composition made of three parts
-      of priming powder, two of charcoal, and one of sulphur,
-      damped with a little petroleum, and capped with a paste
-      made of powder crushed in distilled water or spirit and
-      afterwards dried. All these are put in the tube, around the
-      one which is used for the passage of the port-fire.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;When it is full the loaded port-fire is introduced, and
-      pushed so far that it reaches the frame, and when it is
-      touching the lid, this lid must be glued by the rough ends
-      to that of the tube, and the shell is finished.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;As it is rather heavy, it is advisable to adopt means for
-      its resisting the shock of the lifting charge of powder which
-      drives it out of the mortar, by strengthening it with a covering
-      of linen strips, which should be stuck on to the shell by
-      means of a paste, composed of two-thirds of flour paste,
-      and one-third of glue.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;Unless this is done it often happens that the shell bursts
-      before it rises in the air.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>The second consists of serpents, the third of &ldquo;<span lang="fr">saucissons
-    volans</span>,&rdquo; similar to the &ldquo;fiz-gig&rdquo; of Bate; the choke in the
-    middle between the composition and the bang being varied in
-    position so as to produce a succession of bangs. The vacant
-    spaces left over in the shorter may be filled with stars.</p>
-
-  <p>The fourth is of stars arranged in beds of grain powder;
-    the interstices being filled with a mixture of mealed powder
-    and charcoal. The fifth of &ldquo;light balls,&rdquo; and for the sixth he
-    describes &ldquo;the manner of making figures and various shapes
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">107</span>in fire appear in the air.&rdquo; These letters are made on a frame
-    covered with composition, and are consequently limited to a
-    size to the internal diameter of the shell, that is, less than
-    eight inches. It seems improbable that they could be distinguished
-    satisfactorily at the height of a shell&rsquo;s trajectory,
-    besides which the difficulties involved, as he himself explains,
-    are very great, which no doubt explains the fact that this idea
-    is now obsolete.</p>
-
-  <p>Under the heading &ldquo;Double and Triple Balloons,&rdquo; this
-    writer describes the method of placing shell of smaller size
-    inside a larger. The bursting of the first shell lights the
-    short-time fuse of the contained shell, which falls some
-    distance and bursts. With the triple shell this action is
-    repeated.</p>
-
-  <p>Jones (1765) divides shell into four kinds, namely, &ldquo;illuminated
-    balloons&rdquo; filled with stars; &ldquo;balloons of serpents,&rdquo;
-    &ldquo;balloons of reports, marrons and crackers,&rdquo; and &ldquo;compound
-    balloons.&rdquo; The last description is misleading, as the
-    balloon is not compound but the contents are varied, as for
-    example, the contents of one specified ten crackers of six
-    reports, twenty golden rains, sixteen two-ounce cases charged
-    half-inch with star composition and bounced, two ounces
-    each of brilliant, blue, coloured tailed, large string and rolled
-    stars. It is hard to believe that this writer had ever seen a
-    shell fired in this manner, the result would have been mere
-    confusion. The star compositions of that date were very
-    rudimentary, the colours when seen from the distance of a
-    bursting shell were indistinguishable.</p>
-
-  <p>One interesting detail in Jones&rsquo;s work is the classification
-    of sizes. The smallest shell mentioned by him is the &ldquo;Coehorn
-    Balloon&rdquo;; he does not give the size, but it is given in the
-    &ldquo;Military Encyclopedia&rdquo; as 4&#8532; inches. This corresponds to
-    the 4&frac12;-inch of to-day. The name was apparently derived from
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">108</span>a Dutch military engineer of that name. The next size is the
-    royal 5&frac12;-inch, and above that 8-inch and 10-inch.</p>
-
-  <p>Ruggieri (1821) is the first writer on the subject to have
-    the shell and lifting charge in a unit as is the practice to-day,
-    which indicates constructionally a great advance over his
-    predecessors, although the fillings show little progress.</p>
-
-  <p>The modern shell is arranged with a &ldquo;lighter&rdquo; of quickmatch,
-    long enough to reach from the top of the shell when
-    in position in the mortar to a sufficient distance outside the
-    mouth to enable it to be ignited without danger. The lighter
-    fires the time-fuse in the top of the shell, and at the same time
-    two pieces of quickmatch which run round the shell in grooves
-    worked in the paper shell case, and ignites the lifting charge,
-    which is contained in a flannel bag, or in the case of small
-    shell, a paper cone.</p>
-
-  <p>The lifting charge projects the shell into the air and the
-    time fuse, which is arranged to burn through at the top of
-    the shell&rsquo;s flight, ignites the bursting charge which opens
-    the shell and fires the contents.</p>
-
-  <p>The modern varieties of shell are almost infinite. Colours
-    have been brought to a wonderful pitch of depth and brilliance,
-    besides various kinds of fire for stars, producing stars
-    with tails of the same and contrasting colours.</p>
-
-  <p>Another class of shell, which might be called the compound,
-    consists of shell filled with fireworks of other kinds&mdash;Roman
-    candles, tourbillions, wheel-turning cases, small
-    shell, and what gives undoubtedly the most dramatic aerial
-    effect yet devised, with rockets. The &ldquo;thunderbolt,&rdquo; a shell
-    16 inches in diameter, containing a hundred 4-ounce rockets,
-    has always been a popular feature of the Crystal Palace displays.</p>
-
-  <p>Another variation of the shell is the comet, which is in
-    effect a small shell (generally about three inches) with an
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">109</span>exaggerated fuse of brilliant fire, which leaves a heavy tail
-    during the comet&rsquo;s flight. These are usually fired from either
-    side of the firing-ground in rapid succession, producing an
-    aerial arch, and opening just after having passed each other.</p>
-
-  <p>The aerial maroon consists of a maroon fitted with a
-    lifting charge and time fuse.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_3a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">110</span>
-    <h3 title="III. SIMPLE FIREWORKS&mdash;MINE CLASS">CHAPTER <abbr title="3">III</abbr><br /><br />
-      SIMPLE FIREWORKS&mdash;MINE CLASS</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">The</span> next group of fireworks is what may be called
-    the &ldquo;Mine&rdquo; class, and has some of its members
-    amongst the earliest firework units.</p>
-
-  <p>To-day a mine consists of a quantity of small effects such
-    as stars, crackers, squibs, etc., blown simultaneously from a
-    case, or in display work&mdash;from a mortar. In the latter event
-    they are made up into bags with the lifting charge below,
-    and are known technically as &ldquo;bags.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The &ldquo;Mine of Serpents&rdquo; and &ldquo;Jack-in-the-Box&rdquo; as
-    sold in the shops consist of a rolled paper case which acts as
-    the mortar, at the bottom of which is a lifting charge. This
-    case has a light strawboard cover with a central hole, through
-    which passes a case charged with a golden fountain composition,
-    the lower end of which is not&mdash;as is generally the
-    case&mdash;&ldquo;clayed.&rdquo; The space round the central case is filled
-    in with squibs or crackers. When lighted the fountain case
-    functions in the usual way, but when finished ignites the
-    lifting charge, which lights and blows up the contained fireworks.</p>
-
-  <p>A very early reference to the &ldquo;Jack-in-the-Box&rdquo; is by John
-    Babington (1635). In Chapter <abbr title="37">XXXVII</abbr> he says: &ldquo;Another
-    which I call Jack in a Box. The order of making this is after
-    this manner: provide a box of plate, of what largeness you
-    please&mdash;then putting in a quantity of corn powder or powder
-    dust (in the bottom of the box) you shall fill it with fisgigs or
-    serpents, leaving a case in the middle for a cane to go through
-    to the bottom, which cane must be filled with a slow receipt,
-    in which you shall put a quantity of champhire but no oyles,
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">111</span>in regard of the narrow passage it has to burn without any
-    other vent.&rdquo; He then describes fitting the pasteboard top and
-    concludes: &ldquo;and light your cane, which will appear like a
-    candle, and after a pretty distance of time you shall heare a
-    sudden noyse and see all those fisgigs flying some one way,
-    some another. This toy has given great content to the spectators.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Frézier calls mines &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Pots à feu</span>&rdquo; or &ldquo;<span lang="fr">d&rsquo;aigrettes</span>,&rdquo; which,
-    he says, were three, four, or five inches in diameter, and
-    twelve to eighteen inches in length. When fired in batteries
-    they were called &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Pots de brins</span>.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The smaller kind were ignited at a vent formed by choking
-    the case, the vent&mdash;when the case was in position&mdash;pointing
-    downward. The larger sorts were lighted from above, and
-    were practically the same as the Jack-in-the-Box, with the
-    difference that there was a case similar to a shell fuse instead
-    of the central Roman candle.</p>
-
-  <p>Jones&rsquo; description of &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Pots d&rsquo;aigrettes</span>&rdquo; and &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Pots de
-    brins</span>&rdquo; are similar, only that he fires the former with a Roman
-    candle in the centre of the central mortar of a group with a
-    lighter from it to each of the others, so that at the finish of
-    the Roman candle the mortars are discharged simultaneously.</p>
-
-  <p>An elaboration of the &ldquo;Jack&rdquo; is the &ldquo;Devil-among-the-Tailors,&rdquo;
-    which is the same device surrounded by Roman
-    candles.</p>
-
-  <p>The next fireworks in this class&mdash;the Roman candle&mdash;is
-    one whose genesis presents a most interesting study. From
-    the evidence available there seems no doubt that this firework,
-    in spite of its name, originated in this country.</p>
-
-  <p>The first mention of anything resembling it is found in
-    Babington&rsquo;s book. He describes what he calls &ldquo;a trunck of
-    fire which shall cast forth divers fire balls.&rdquo; It is one of a
-    class, apparently in favour at this time, intended to be carried
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">112</span>on a staff, and known collectively as &ldquo;fire lances&rdquo; or &ldquo;clubs&rdquo;
-    (the former name is not to be confused with the lances used
-    in set-piece work).</p>
-
-  <p>The particular one under consideration, although it is
-    very large, being four inches bore, and only emits two balls
-    or stars, is undoubtedly the prototype of the &ldquo;Roman.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Bate describes a somewhat similar lance with the difference
-    that &ldquo;petards&rdquo; or single crackers are substituted for
-    stars.</p>
-
-  <p>This was in 1635. Over one hundred years later, Frézier
-    describes an almost exactly similar firework under the heading
-    &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Artifices Portatifs</span>,&rdquo; which name he adopts instead of the
-    old name &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Lance à feu</span>,&rdquo; in order to avoid confusion with
-    the lance as known to-day, which was then coming into use.</p>
-
-  <p>This is the only mention he makes of anything that can
-    be considered to even remotely resemble a Roman candle,
-    and as he refers to several other writers, a justifiable inference
-    seems to be that neither he or they had any knowledge of
-    such a firework. Had he known of it, such is its popularity
-    he would certainly have mentioned it.</p>
-
-  <p>Eighteen years later Jones describes exactly the Roman
-    candle as made to-day, to which he gives the name &ldquo;Fire
-    Pump.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;Pumps&rdquo; and &ldquo;Pumps with Starrs&rdquo; occur in the description
-    subjoined to engravings depicting English peace displays
-    in 1697 and 1713; there can be no doubt that the reference
-    is to Roman candles or the earlier development of them.</p>
-
-  <p>When, however, the elder Ruggieri came over to this
-    country in 1749 to conduct the Aix-la-Chapelle peace display
-    in Green Park, in conjunction with Sarti, no firework of this
-    nature appears in the programme of the display.</p>
-
-  <p>Here we have two pyrotechnists who can be considered
-    to represent the best skill of France and Italy; in fact, it
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">113</span>was Ruggieri whose arrival in France from Italy in or about
-    1735 marked the great advance in pyrotechny in the former
-    country. Yet the &ldquo;Pump&rdquo; does not appear in this great display
-    planned and executed by them, although for years it
-    had been a popular item in displays in this country. The
-    obvious reason for this omission is that they did not know of it.</p>
-
-  <p>In the early part of the nineteenth century the name
-    &ldquo;Roman candle&rdquo; comes into use both here and in France.
-    The &ldquo;English Encyclopædia&rdquo; of 1802 still uses the expression
-    &ldquo;Fire Pump,&rdquo; but this is probably because their article is
-    copied almost verbatim from Jones&rsquo; book. The name Roman
-    candle, however, appears in an advertisement of a display at
-    Ipswich by William Brock in 1818, and Ruggieri the younger
-    uses the words &ldquo;<span lang="fr">chandelle romaine</span>&rdquo; in his book of 1805.</p>
-
-  <p>How this firework received the name Roman is obscure;
-    it may have been affixed by one of the many Italian pyrotechnists
-    working here, or it may have had political or religious
-    significance.</p>
-
-  <p>A firework functioning in the same way as a Roman candle
-    is the Italian streamer, which has stars of a composition containing
-    lampblack, which burn with a gold fire and leave a
-    tail in their flight.</p>
-
-  <p>The Roman candle of the present day is made with an
-    almost endless variety of stars, but those in use when the name
-    was first introduced were of very simple character. Coloured
-    stars, as accepted to-day, were not introduced until about the
-    thirtieth year of the last century.</p>
-
-  <p>The compositions given by Jones and Ruggieri would
-    produce approximately the same effect as the Italian streamer
-    star of to-day, but with little or no tail.</p>
-
-  <p>Lampblack compositions appear to have been introduced
-    into Europe from the East, and there seems to be no reason
-    why Italy should have had them before this country, or that
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">114</span>the introduction of lampblack into Roman candle star composition
-    should be credited to Italy.</p>
-
-  <p>It seems more probable that the name Italian streamer
-    was attached to that firework in this country to distinguish it
-    from the Roman candle with tailless stars, and under the
-    mistaken idea that the &ldquo;Roman&rdquo; was a foreign importation,
-    or that it would be more acceptable if labelled with a foreign
-    name.</p>
-
-  <p>As we have said, the modern Roman candle is made with
-    stars of very many varieties, but whatever kind of star may
-    be used, the method of filling is the same.</p>
-
-  <p>The principle on which the Roman candle is constructed
-    is as follows: The case is charged with a series of repetitions
-    of the following&mdash;Roman candle fuse, &ldquo;dark fire,&rdquo; star, blowing
-    charge. These are repeated as many times as the case will
-    hold, and function thus&mdash;the fuse burns with a fountain effect,
-    and upon being exhausted lights the &ldquo;dark fire,&rdquo; which lights
-    the star, flashes round it and fires the blowing charge which
-    propels the star from the case. The blowing charge also
-    ignites the next layer of fuse, and the effect is repeated.</p>
-
-  <p>In filling the case different sized scoops are used for the
-    blowing charge, which is of fine-grain powder, the smaller
-    scoops being used at the lower portion of the case. This is
-    done so that the stars may rise to approximately the same
-    height; the charge at the bottom acting through a greater
-    distance, naturally acts more effectively and less is required.</p>
-
-  <p>Earlier pyrotechnists, in addition, as a means of regulating
-    the height of the stars&rsquo; flight, made the stars of differing sizes;
-    this under modern manufacturing conditions would be impossible,
-    and has been abandoned.</p>
-
-  <p>Roman candle fuse is composed of sulphur, charcoal,
-    saltpetre in the proportion of 4, 8, 15. The &ldquo;dark fire&rdquo; is of
-    mealed powder, with a small admixture of charcoal.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow65" id="i114" style="max-width: 48.375em">
-    <img src="images/i114.jpg" class="w100" width="774" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">An old Firework Bill.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">115</span></p>
-
-  <p>Another firework which is probably a development of
-    the Roman candle is the jewel fountain. This consists of a
-    fountain mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, to which
-    is added granules of star composition, which are thrown out
-    by the force of the fire, giving a fountain effect in which
-    appear variously coloured points of fire.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_4a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">116</span>
-    <h3 title="IV. SIMPLE FIREWORKS&mdash;SAXON &amp; LANCE CLASSES">CHAPTER <abbr title="4">IV</abbr><br /><br />
-      SIMPLE FIREWORKS&mdash;SAXON &amp; LANCE CLASSES</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">The</span> fireworks which form a class by themselves are
-    the Saxon or Chinese flyer, and the tourbillion. Both
-    of these consist of a single case made to revolve in
-    the plane of its axis by jets of fire projected through a hole at
-    right angles to the axis.</p>
-
-  <p>Saxons revolve about a nail driven through the case into
-    a post or other support; they are charged with a composition
-    of mealed gunpowder, saltpetre, and sulphur.</p>
-
-  <p>The case is charged thus: the lower end is firmly &ldquo;clayed&rdquo;
-    and the composition is charged up to a point about &#8541; inch
-    below the centre, clay is then charged for &frac34; inch, and again
-    composition to within a short distance of the top, which is
-    again firmly clayed. Two holes are bored near each end on
-    opposite sides of the case, and a third hole is bored through
-    the centre of the case at right angles to the other two and of
-    sufficient size to take the nail or spindle on which the case
-    revolves.</p>
-
-  <p>The two holes at the end may be connected with match
-    to light simultaneously, or the time of burning may be lengthened
-    by leading the second half from the lower end of the
-    first lit. In the larger sizes, and generally in display work, a
-    small case charged with a colour composition is attached to
-    the side of the case, producing a ring of colour inside the fire
-    of the saxon.</p>
-
-  <p>A smaller and cheaper form of saxon is what is in effect
-    half of that described above, the nail being at one end and the
-    propelling hole at the other.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow75" id="i116a" style="max-width: 56.25em">
-    <img src="images/i116a.jpg" class="w100" width="900" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Rocket Charging.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow74" id="i116b" style="max-width: 55.625em">
-    <img src="images/i116b.jpg" class="w100" width="890" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Filling Roman Candles.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>Formerly saxons for display work were made with a wooden
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">117</span>centre, on which the two halves, which were charged separately,
-    were fitted, and to which the colour case was secured
-    by a nail.</p>
-
-  <p>The tourbillion is a development of the saxon; instead
-    of the central spindle a piece of curved wood is secured to the
-    case, forming a pivot on which to revolve when lying on a flat
-    surface, and two additional holes are bored on the under side
-    of the case, so arranged as to light when the case has sufficiently
-    rapid revolution and project it into the air.</p>
-
-  <p>Jones describes tourbillions as made to-day, also saxons
-    under the older name of Chinese flyer. In addition, he describes
-    what he calls &ldquo;table rockets,&rdquo; which resemble four double
-    saxon cases fitted to a centre, which has a projecting cone
-    upon which the device revolves.</p>
-
-  <p>He says that &ldquo;table rockets are designed merely to show
-    the truth of driving and the judgment of a fireworker, they
-    having no other effect when fired than spinning round in the
-    same place where they begin till they are burnt out, and showing
-    nothing more than a horizontal circle of fire,&rdquo; but afterwards
-    adds that &ldquo;these rockets may be made to rise like
-    tourbillions by making the cases shorter and boring holes in
-    the under side of each case at equal distances; this being
-    done they are called &lsquo;double tourbillions.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Frézier shows tourbillions as at present manufactured,
-    which he calls &ldquo;<span lang="fr">tourbillion de feu</span>&rdquo; or &ldquo;<span lang="fr">soleil montant</span>,&rdquo; but
-    the nearest device he shows to a saxon is similar to Jones&rsquo;s
-    table rocket, made to revolve on a spindle, and having several
-    holes bored down the side of each case, presumably to
-    produce more effect. These he designates &ldquo;tourniquets&rdquo; or
-    &ldquo;<span lang="fr">soleils tournants</span>.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>He also illustrates two ordinary rockets mounted on a
-    centre similar to that of a double saxon. This he calls &ldquo;<span lang="fr">baton
-    à feu</span>,&rdquo; and describes that one case lights after the other is burnt
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">118</span>out, and one gathers that the device is intended to revolve
-    but how it can be made to do this by fire issuing radially is
-    not apparent.</p>
-
-  <p>The word tourbillion is the French for a whirlwind and
-    is applied by Ruggieri to a compound firework, which will
-    be considered later under that head.</p>
-
-  <p>What we know as tourbillion he names &ldquo;<span lang="fr">fusée de table</span>&rdquo;
-    (a table rocket), and adds that they are commonly called
-    &ldquo;<span lang="fr">artichauts</span>.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The success of all the above, in common with rockets,
-    depends on careful and experienced construction and strength
-    of the case, and it is indeed curious that Jones describes the
-    rolling of the cases for these fireworks without paste except
-    on the edge of the paper. It seems incredible that an experienced
-    pyrotechnist should make such a mistake, and one is
-    almost inclined to agree with Kentish (1878), who says of
-    Jones&rsquo;s book: &ldquo;The greater portion of it is absurd and impracticable,
-    and shows it was written by a person who undertook
-    to teach what he had not learnt.&rdquo; Nevertheless Jones&rsquo;s
-    book, as Kentish says, has been copied by almost every book
-    published since, just as his own matter was largely pirated
-    from previous works. In fact, for a century and a half the
-    plates illustrating pyrotechnic works were in a great degree
-    fac-similes of one another.</p>
-
-  <p>The catherine wheel, or, as it is sometimes called, the pin
-    wheel, is a rotating firework of simple, as distinct from compound
-    construction, and should therefore be included in this
-    class.</p>
-
-  <p>It consists of a long, thin case of small diameter, charged
-    with a composition of sulphur, saltpetre, and mealed gunpowder.
-    This case is wound round a circular block of thin
-    wood, with a hole in the centre through which a pin or nail
-    is passed, forming a pivot upon which the wheel turns.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">119</span></p>
-
-  <p>The case of the catherine wheel, unlike any firework we
-    have considered up to the present, burns down as the composition
-    is consumed, and for this reason it may be included
-    equally well in another small class of fireworks. This class
-    includes the lance, the port-fire, the starlights, feathers, and
-    the colour cases used on wheels and saxons, etc.</p>
-
-  <p>The lance is used in display work in greater numbers than
-    any other unit. Some idea of the quantity used may be gathered
-    from the fact that on one of the battle set pieces shown at the
-    Crystal Palace as many as thirty thousand lances are consumed
-    in a single display.</p>
-
-  <p>Lances consist of thin paper cases about the diameter of
-    a lead pencil, filled with colour composition, and primed, to
-    facilitate the lighting, with mealed powder damped with water.
-    This sets and further serves to retain the contents of the lance,
-    which are not compressed solid as are fountains, rockets, etc.</p>
-
-  <p>The port-fire is used as a means of lighting the pieces, etc.,
-    of a display, and in the last century for military purposes;
-    its composition consists of a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur,
-    and mealed gunpowder. It was formerly known as a blue
-    candle.</p>
-
-  <p>The starlight and feathers, as are the squib, golden rain,
-    etc., are of the garden type, and are not used in display work,
-    as although burning with pretty effect, it is not distinguishable
-    at any distance.</p>
-
-  <p>The feather and starlight compositions are similar to that
-    of the flower pot, but the cases are smaller, that of the feather
-    being catherine wheel pipe, but naturally not bent&mdash;the ends
-    are closed by &ldquo;dubbing.&rdquo; This is a method usually adopted
-    for closing the ends of &ldquo;small goods.&rdquo; The end of the case is
-    introduced into an opening formed by opposing V-shaped
-    notches in an upper and lower series of steel plates, the upper
-    set being then forced down. The result is to constrict the end
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">120</span>of the case, which is then dipped in a mixture of sealing-wax
-    and glue.</p>
-
-  <p>Under the same head fall the Light group, which are wide
-    and comparatively thin cases filled with coloured or &ldquo;bright&rdquo;
-    (as white composition is known in the trade) composition.
-    They are used either for illuminating as Bengal lights, or for
-    signalling purposes; if for the latter, they are generally provided
-    with a wooden handle and some means of self-ignition.</p>
-
-  <p>The name Bengal light is probably based on the use of
-    Bengal saltpetre, and does not indicate their origin in that
-    province.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_5a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">121</span>
-    <h3 title="V. COMPOUND FIREWORKS">CHAPTER <abbr title="5">V</abbr><br /><br />
-      COMPOUND FIREWORKS</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Compound</span> fireworks are those which are composed
-    of a number of simple fireworks or units fixed to a
-    framework or other device so that they produce a
-    more elaborate effect than do single fireworks.</p>
-
-  <p>Probably the earliest form of compound firework was the
-    wheel. After the sky rocket had become an established fact,
-    it was a small step to tie rockets round a wheel, so that when
-    fired they caused it to revolve.</p>
-
-  <p>Babington gives several devices based on the idea of imparting
-    movement to a wheel by rockets: he describes horizontal
-    and vertical wheels, which appear to be the same piece
-    fired either horizontally or vertically. In neither case is there
-    any further effect than the fire from the rockets tied to the
-    periphery. His illustration shows no less than sixteen rockets
-    to fire singly in succession, which would, by modern standards,
-    make a rather lengthy and monotonous piece. He also
-    describes ground wheels, which consist of two wheels fitted
-    to an axle with a smaller wheel placed centrally between them.
-    The centre wheel has rocket cases fitted to it, causing the
-    whole arrangement to revolve and run along the ground. As
-    an alternative he suggests substituting cases secured to the
-    axle without a central wheel, so arranged that one being burnt
-    out the second burns in the opposite direction and reverses
-    the direction of the wheels. The device is now quite obsolete.</p>
-
-  <p>One interesting point is the method of communicating
-    fire from one case to the next; quickmatch, as used to-day,
-    had not then been invented. His method was to fasten the
-    cases head to tail a short distance apart by wrapping and tying
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">122</span>paper round in the form of a tube, the space so formed containing
-    some mealed powder.</p>
-
-  <p>He also describes what he calls fixed wheels, which are in
-    effect the fixed sun of to-day; that is, a framework with cases
-    arranged radially so that the fire is thrown out from the centre.</p>
-
-  <p>As variations of the above, he suggests various effects such
-    as &ldquo;a fixed wheel which shall give divers reports,&rdquo; &ldquo;which
-    shall cast forth divers fisgigs, and likewise as many reports
-    or breakers,&rdquo; &ldquo;which shall cast forth many rockets into the
-    ayre.&rdquo; The latter is evidently the prototype of a piece known
-    later as the rocket wheel, popular for some time, but little
-    used at the present, the objection to it being that there
-    is no control over the direction in which the rockets fly from
-    it. The wheel revolves horizontally, and projects a series of
-    rockets into the air as it revolves.</p>
-
-  <p>During the following century, as compound fireworks
-    developed in this country, the Italian and French nomenclature
-    was introduced, many of which survive at the present
-    time.</p>
-
-  <p>The pyrotechnists of the eighteenth century seem to have
-    delighted in inventing new terms, possibly with the idea of
-    impressing the layman. Frézier, writing over a hundred years
-    later than Babington, records very little advance in revolving
-    fireworks, except in the matter of names. He classifies all
-    revolving pieces as girandoles. This word appears in pyrotechny
-    very frequently; curiously enough, nearly every writer
-    has attached a different meaning to it. Frézier explains that
-    the word is derived from <span lang="it">girare</span>&mdash;to revolve or gyrate, from
-    the Greek.</p>
-
-  <p>Bate applied this meaning to it. He says, &ldquo;How to make
-    gironels or fire wheeles.&rdquo; He is, however, the only English
-    writer to do so; others use it to mean a flight of rockets, and
-    occasionally for an elaborate fixed piece of the fountain type.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">123</span></p>
-
-  <p>Ruggieri and Sarti, both Italians, used it in the sense of
-    a &ldquo;flight&rdquo; of rockets in the programme of their Green Park
-    display in 1749. Ruggieri the younger, however, applies it to a
-    specific kind of revolving firework in his book, and introduces
-    a new word&mdash;girande&mdash;to which he applies the same meaning
-    as the one generally accepted in this country for <span lang="it">girandole</span>.
-    The confusion of these two words, which have the same
-    derivation, may be the explanation of the duplication of meaning,
-    or it may lie in the fact that the name was also applied
-    to the rocket wheel previously mentioned, which both revolves
-    and throws up rockets.</p>
-
-  <p>Frézier shows a wheel similar to that given by Babington,
-    and variations on the double saxon, a fixed sun also, as do
-    most early writers, double line rockets to run backwards and
-    forwards and variations. These latter, which appear to have
-    been very popular at this period, were known in France as
-    &ldquo;courantins.&rdquo; Bate calls them &ldquo;swevels,&rdquo; other early writers
-    &ldquo;runners on the line.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The above-mentioned, together with some rather intricate
-    but impracticable appearing water devices, make up the
-    compound fireworks in Frézier&rsquo;s book.</p>
-
-  <p>It seems, however, that he must have been behind his day
-    in this branch of the art, as the Aix-la-Chapelle peace display
-    appears to have included several elaborate pieces which, even
-    allowing for the usual exaggeration of the programme, must
-    have required considerable skill and knowledge in construction.
-    These were mostly what were called regulated or regulating
-    pieces, generally described as of a certain number of
-    mutations. The pieces were, and are, although the old descriptions
-    are now dispensed with, so constructed that after
-    being lit they go through a series of alterations in form and
-    movement without further attention.</p>
-
-  <p>Some of those described in old works would seem to have
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">124</span>required more than a slight element of luck for their successful
-    performance.</p>
-
-  <p>To-day it is often found more advantageous to make a
-    second lighting in cases where there is a danger of premature
-    ignition, the effect to the spectators being identical, and the
-    successful functioning of the piece secured. This does not
-    apply to all pieces of this nature, as with modern safety fuse
-    the pyrotechnist has considerable advantage over the earlier
-    practitioners.</p>
-
-  <p>The modern spectator is only concerned with the effect
-    produced, not by the means adopted to produce it. It is difficult
-    to-day to realise the position occupied by the pyrotechnist
-    of the eighteenth century. He carried out his work personally,
-    with of course trained assistants, and occupied a position
-    similar to the artist or sculptor. Each piece was looked upon
-    as a work of art, the personal effort of the pyrotechnic artist.
-    Ruggieri gives some idea of this in the following passage from
-    his book:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;It was in the month of July, 1743, that my father and
-      my uncles Ruggieri exhibited for the first time at the Theatre
-      de la Comédie Italienne and before the King, the passage
-      of fire from a moving to a fixed piece.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;This ingenious contrivance at first astonished the scientists
-      of the day, who said when it was explained to them that
-      nothing could be more simple and that any one could have
-      done it at once.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p>He then explains the method of construction, which is to lead
-    from the back end of one of the turning cases through the
-    hollow centre of the axle to the lighter of the fixed piece
-    situated behind it.</p>
-
-  <p>The development of fixed and mechanical pieces was
-    made possible by the introduction of quickmatch.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">125</span></p>
-
-  <p>When this actually took place is uncertain. Frézier describes
-    its making similarly to that in use to-day, under the
-    name of &ldquo;<span lang="fr">étoupilles</span>.&rdquo; Bate uses the word &ldquo;stouple,&rdquo; evidently
-    a corruption of the French. He gives no actual description of
-    the making of this, but it appears to be of &ldquo;cotton weeke&rdquo;
-    dipped in &ldquo;aqua vitæ wherein camphire hath been dissolved.&rdquo;
-    This would produce only a slow-burning match unless it was
-    his intention to use it wet, in which case the burning of the
-    spirits of wine might quicken the effect. It would, however,
-    be quite out of the question to construct a piece of any
-    elaboration with such materials.</p>
-
-  <p>Quickmatch is manufactured to-day in the following
-    manner. Cotton wick is run through a pan containing a paste
-    composed of gunpowder and starch. It is wound on a frame
-    six feet in length, dusted with mealed powder and dried.
-    When dry it is cut off the frame and threaded into paper tubes
-    or &ldquo;pipes&rdquo; of larger diameter, leaving an air space round the
-    match.</p>
-
-  <p>Before threading in the tubes it is known in the trade as
-    &ldquo;raw match,&rdquo; and is used for priming and similar uses, and
-    in this state will only burn quite slowly.</p>
-
-  <p>Quickmatch is used to connect the units of all pieces.
-    Display cases have a &ldquo;cap&rdquo; formed of a few turns of paper
-    pasted on the case at the lighting end. When a piece is fitted
-    up the cases are tied to the cleats provided to receive them on
-    the framework; they are then &ldquo;lead up.&rdquo; A length of quickmatch
-    has a small piece cut out of the pipe to allow the fire
-    to flash through, it is then doubled at that point and inserted
-    in the cap, which is gathered in and tied round securely. This
-    is continued round the piece, each case having match entering
-    and leaving the cap, and in some cases a further length
-    connecting one series with another. This leading up of set
-    pieces is work requiring skill and knowledge which is only
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">126</span>gained by experience. An amateur at a first attempt might
-    possibly be successful in lighting all the cases on a piece,
-    but he would be very unlikely to produce that instant
-    and symmetrical ignition which denotes the skilled pyrotechnist.</p>
-
-  <p>The smaller wheels have turning cases, that is, small
-    rockets to give them motion; these burn through very rapidly,
-    and the continuation of movement is provided for by capping
-    the turning cases at either end and leading them up vent to
-    head in series; the motive power for the larger display pieces
-    is provided by gerbs, which, from the nature of their fire,
-    give more effect than would rocket cases, and have the further
-    advantage of burning longer.</p>
-
-  <p>It would not be possible in the present work to give a
-    complete catalogue of the varieties of pieces which have been
-    produced, but the list given by Ruggieri is typical of the
-    whole, and includes many of the smaller compound pieces in
-    use to-day for shop and small display work.</p>
-
-  <p>The larger display pieces are generally designed and redesigned
-    season by season by pyrotechnists, and are certainly
-    being elaborated and improved. They, however, fall generally
-    into certain classes in the same way as do those given by
-    Ruggieri. His classification is as follows:</p>
-
-  <div class="center-container">
-    <ol class="inline">
-      <li>Stationary fireworks.</li>
-      <li>Fireworks turning vertically.</li>
-      <li>Mixed fireworks or fixed and turning.</li>
-      <li>Fireworks turning horizontally or on a pivot.</li>
-      <li>Built-up pieces turning on a pivot.</li>
-      <li>Cut-out pieces and transparencies.</li>
-    </ol>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="noindent">Of these, the last mentioned class are now obsolete: they
-    consisted of transparent and silhouette pictures or designs
-    illuminated from behind. He also includes both simple and
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">127</span>compound fireworks in each class, but as the former have
-    already been dealt with they will be ignored here.</p>
-
-  <p>Class 1. (1) Glorys, fans and &ldquo;<span lang="fr">pates d&rsquo;oie</span>&rdquo; or goose
-    foot, synonymous with our expression crow&rsquo;s foot.</p>
-
-  <p>Glory was a term used also in this country to signify fixed
-    suns, as mentioned above. Fans were cases five or more in
-    number, arranged as the name indicated, and <span lang="fr">pates d&rsquo;oie</span>,
-    three similarly arranged.</p>
-
-  <p>(2) <span lang="fr">Mosaiques</span>. These are geometrical designs formed
-    by arranging gerbs or fixt on framework, so that their fire
-    forms a symmetrical pattern. The effect is heightened by
-    saxons in suitable positions, and in large devices of this nature,
-    small wheels, also formerly, the now obsolete fixed or five-pointed
-    star.</p>
-
-  <p>This type includes what are now called &ldquo;lattice poles,&rdquo;
-    a series of poles provided with cleats so that the fire of the
-    cases crosses, forming a lattice of sparks; also the more
-    elaborate &ldquo;carpet piece.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>(3) <span lang="fr">Feux croisés</span>. These were similar in conception to the
-    above, except that the design is circular or based on the circle
-    or wheel form; this type is represented by the &ldquo;fixt piece&rdquo;
-    of to-day, which is constructed up to considerable dimensions,
-    the large fixt piece at the Crystal Palace often measuring
-    sixty feet across the fire.</p>
-
-  <p>(4) Palm Trees. These consist of a framework intended
-    to suggest the form of a palm, provided with cleats to take
-    the cases.</p>
-
-  <p>(5) Bouquets. These he describes also as a kind of tree
-    different from palm trees; his illustration shows that they
-    were similar to the modern lattice-pole with the difference
-    that the cleats were not symmetrically arranged.</p>
-
-  <p>To-day the word bouquet is applied to Roman candles
-    arranged in what he called &ldquo;<span lang="fr">pates d&rsquo;oie</span>.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">128</span></p>
-
-  <p>(6) Cascade. This device needs no explanation. He says
-    that Chinese fire is the best composition for such a piece;
-    this remained true up to the introduction of the aluminium
-    into pyrotechny, when the &ldquo;weird white waterfall&rdquo; became
-    a feature of the Crystal Palace displays, being 200 feet long
-    and 90 feet high.</p>
-
-  <p>(7) Decorations in coloured fire. This heading introduces
-    the lancework set piece of to-day.</p>
-
-  <p>The development of this branch since 1865 has been very
-    marked. As will be seen from the description of the lancework
-    pieces carried out at the Crystal Palace, the subjects dealt
-    with have been of extraordinary variety. Up to the beginning
-    of the nineteenth century pyrotechnists had failed to realise
-    the possibilities of lancework. This was undoubtedly due in
-    a great measure to the fewness of colours available. Ruggieri
-    appears to have used lancework to outline architectural
-    designs, evidently a survival of the temples or theatres of
-    earlier years. In his time, and even as late as the middle of
-    the nineteenth century, any subject of a pictorial nature was
-    depicted by the use of scenery or transparencies. Lancework
-    was, as Ruggieri describes it, merely &ldquo;decorations in coloured
-    fire.&rdquo; The lances of his day were considerably thicker than
-    those at present in use, which are about the diameter of a
-    lead pencil. They were also spaced further apart and were in
-    some cases &ldquo;bounced,&rdquo; as are fixed cases of the present day.</p>
-
-  <p>The modern method of constructing a lancework set piece
-    is as follows: An outline drawing of the subject is made in
-    which all unnecessary lines are eliminated. This is ruled in
-    square of such size that in the proportion one square to a foot
-    the completed piece will be of the size required.</p>
-
-  <p>Frames are then laid out on the drawing-floor: these are
-    of light battens forming foot squares, and of a convenient
-    size for handling, generally ten feet by five feet.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i128a" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i128a.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="854" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Lattice Poles.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="col center">
-    <div class="figcenter illow50 col50 vat" id="i128b" style="max-width: 37.5em">
-      <img src="images/i128b.jpg" class="w100" width="600" height="859" alt="" />
-      <div class="caption">Chromatrope<br />
-        (The outer fire forms the <span lang="fr">Guilloché</span> of Ruggieri.)</div>
-    </div>
-
-    <div class="figcenter illow50 col50 vat" id="i128c" style="max-width: 37.5em">
-      <img src="images/i128c.jpg" class="w100" width="600" height="857" alt="" />
-      <div class="caption">Lattice Diamond<br />
-        (The <span lang="fr">Feux Croisés</span> of Ruggieri.)</div>
-    </div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">129</span></p>
-
-  <p>The drawing is then transferred to the floor with the
-    assistance of the squared lines, and the design followed by
-    nailing on light wood strips or thin rattan cane.</p>
-
-  <p>The lines thus indicated are then &ldquo;pegged,&rdquo; that is, pegs
-    or small wire nails pointed at either end, are driven in at intervals
-    of about four inches. The lances, whose construction
-    has already been described in Chapter <abbr title="4">IV</abbr>, have their ends
-    glued and are pushed on to the pegs so that they stand vertically
-    from the framework. The frames are then led up with
-    quickmatch, secured by pins driven into the priming. The
-    match is then pierced with a small awl above the priming,
-    and secured and protected by a strip of paper pasted over it
-    and round the case of the lance. The piece is then ready for
-    hoisting into position and firing.</p>
-
-  <p>Formerly, and sometimes now on the Continent, the
-    match was secured by a wire passing through the case near
-    the top, which was twisted over the match.</p>
-
-  <p>Ruggieri, under this head, describes a method of illuminating
-    by impregnating wick similar to that used for matchmaking,
-    with a mixture of sulphur, antimony, and saltpetre.
-    This was wired on to a metal framework. He says it is better
-    than lancework for outlining curves, volutes, etc., as the line
-    is continuous. This difficulty is disposed of in modern English
-    lancework by the closer spacing of lances on curves rendered
-    possible by the smaller lances now used.</p>
-
-  <p>He also remarks that this method was rarely used in his
-    time and it is now quite discontinued.</p>
-
-  <p>Another device of which he seems proud was a palm tree,
-    the leaves of which were of thin metal from which project
-    spikes upon which was hung cotton impregnated with a composition
-    composed of &ldquo;vert-de-gris, vitriol blue and sel
-    ammoniac&rdquo; (copper acetate, copper sulphate and ammonium
-    chloride).</p>
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">130</span></p>
-  <p>Immediately before firing the cotton was soaked with
-    alcohol. Actually this composition can hardly be considered
-    pyrotechnic; what takes place is that the alcohol burns, and
-    the flame thus created is coloured with the copper present in
-    the salts. The whole arrangement is too cumbersome and
-    involved for modern use, but at the time of its inception, when
-    colour was practically unknown, no doubt it attracted great
-    admiration.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_6a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">131</span>
-    <h3 title="VI. COMPOUND FIREWORKS (continued)">CHAPTER <abbr title="6">VI</abbr><br /><br />
-      COMPOUND FIREWORKS (<i>continued</i>)</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Ruggieri&rsquo;s</span> next class (fireworks turning vertically)
-    includes the following:</p>
-
-  <p>1. Revolving Suns. These are merely vertical
-    wheels; he appears to use this term for the more ambitious
-    pieces of this kind.</p>
-
-  <p>2. Vertical Wheels. He illustrates a vertical wheel exactly
-    as made to-day under that name. It has, however, been
-    elaborated by the addition of colour cases on the spokes and
-    centre, as rosette and rainbow wheels; also by the application
-    of saxons to the spokes, as saxon wheels.</p>
-
-  <p>He also shows the triangle wheel, consisting of three spokes
-    with grooved ends to receive the cases whose sides form the
-    sides of an equilateral triangle. This has been further developed
-    into the double triangle wheel, with two sets of spokes
-    placed one set behind the other. In all the wheels in this class
-    the cases fire in succession, not as in the case of the sun&mdash;simultaneously.</p>
-
-  <p>Windmills he illustrates as flat bars pivoted in the centre
-    with three cases at either end fired in succession. There also
-    were three, four, and up to eight-armed windmills of the same
-    kind. The nearest device to these of modern times is the
-    chromatrope, the simplest form of which has two bars with a
-    gerb at either end so set as to revolve them in opposite directions,
-    the front one carrying two saxons. This piece, which is
-    of comparatively simple design, gives an extraordinarily fine
-    effect by the intersections of the various streams of fire.</p>
-
-  <p>The chromatrope has been developed and enlarged until
-    for important display work quite elaborate pieces are fired
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">132</span>under this name. Lancework of geometric form is used on
-    the bars or spokes, and the intersection of these, forming ever-changing
-    geometrical designs, adds greatly to the effect of the
-    intersection of the fire.</p>
-
-  <p>This effect is the basis of the <span lang="fr">Guilloché</span>, a somewhat
-    elaborate piece which falls in Ruggieri&rsquo;s third class. It consisted
-    of six wheels placed one behind the other in pairs of
-    graduated size; the two smallest&mdash;which fired first&mdash;had six
-    cases, the next eight, and the largest forty-eight, and was
-    twenty feet in diameter.</p>
-
-  <p>The next described is the <span lang="fr">Salamandre</span>, a piece which, on a
-    large scale, is still occasionally fired at the Crystal Palace. It
-    shows a snake in pursuit of a butterfly which it seems to overtake
-    but never quite catches. The mechanism is an endless
-    chain of wooden links running in and out between eight
-    sprocket wheels, arranged in octagon formation. About half
-    the length of the chain is made out and lanced to represent
-    the snake, and a lancework butterfly is situated in the centre
-    of the other half.</p>
-
-  <p>Ruggieri claims that his father fired this piece and the
-    <span lang="fr">guilloché</span> in 1739 at Versailles.</p>
-
-  <p>The other pieces mentioned in this section are too elaborate
-    for description in the space available, but are interesting as
-    showing the use of the helix and spiral as applied to wheels
-    and cones, as secondary elements of larger pieces.</p>
-
-  <p>The modern designer of pyrotechnic pieces has great
-    advantage over the earlier practitioners in that he has available
-    an infinitely larger range of colour and other composition.
-    It is often possible to get a much-enhanced result with less
-    cases giving more or varied effects as opposed to a larger
-    number of cases of similar effects, which, in an attempt to
-    produce a lavish show of fire, end in confusion.</p>
-
-  <p>His fourth division begins with the &ldquo;Caprice simple&rdquo;;
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">133</span>this is the modern horizontal wheel. This wheel is similar in
-    arrangement to the vertical above-mentioned, except that its
-    cases are arranged so that the first plays horizontally in the
-    plane of the wheel, the next at an angle downwards, and the
-    third upwards. This succession is repeated with the remaining
-    three cases. In addition, the horizontal wheel has either a
-    mine which is lit from the last case, or Roman candles and
-    mine, at the centre playing upwards. The second form is
-    arranged so that the Romans are fired simultaneously with
-    the fourth case and the mine from the last.</p>
-
-  <p>The wheel given by Ruggieri has a gerb in the centre. He
-    explains that Caprice is a generic name applied to all horizontal
-    wheels which vary the direction of the fire when revolving.
-    However, at the present time the name Caprice is only applied
-    to a wheel with three tiers of three cases, each similar in
-    appearance to three single triangle wheels superimposed at
-    distances about equal to their diameter, the grooves in the
-    end of the spokes being so arranged as to vary the direction
-    of the fire. The cases are led up in the following order&mdash;one
-    case horizontal, one up, one down, one horizontal, two cases
-    one up and one down, four cases in each direction and one
-    vertical. For a compact piece this is one of the most effective
-    made.</p>
-
-  <p>A similar piece is the Furiloni Wheel, which has, however,
-    two tiers of three cases each.</p>
-
-  <p>Jones describes a furiloni wheel which is more elaborate,
-    having twenty-five cases. His method of leading would, however,
-    not be so effective as the modern wheels of this type.
-    The cases used for these wheels are charged with a steel mixing
-    formerly known as brilliant fire.</p>
-
-  <p>He mentions two other devices&mdash;Caprices petans and Caprices
-    des pâtés. The first of these was a modification of the
-    piece formerly used in this country as the balloon wheel. It
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">134</span>consisted of a solid wheel round which are a series of mines
-    which discharged in succession as each turning case lit. The
-    second was similar but more elaborate, having rockets as well
-    as mines, and was a variation of the rocket wheel.</p>
-
-  <p>In his description of the Girandole, he explains that it is
-    composed of two horizontal wheels one above the other. This
-    is the form taken by the rocket wheel as fired in this country
-    which, as we have seen, was known as the girandole wheel.
-    Ruggieri, however, appears not to have used rockets on his
-    girandole.</p>
-
-  <p>The last device he mentions in this class is the Spirali,
-    which consisted of a framework in the form of a cone, round
-    which was wound a spiral of cane fitted with lances.</p>
-
-  <p>A very effective piece, not mentioned by Ruggieri, is the
-    revolving fountain; it consists of a wood centre bored to turn
-    on a vertical spindle. The centre has two spokes fitted with
-    gerbs for turning, and has playing vertically a large gerb and
-    Roman candles. The turning gerbs play tangentially and
-    slightly upwards.</p>
-
-  <p>Jones describes a similar device under the name of &ldquo;illuminated
-    spiral wheel&rdquo;; also two other horizontal pieces&mdash;the
-    spirali and the plural wheels, which approximate to the furiloni
-    and caprice wheels of the present day.</p>
-
-  <p>The spiral and helix are much used in larger devices, and
-    the use of modern lancework and colour has greatly added to
-    their effect.</p>
-
-  <p>Ruggieri&rsquo;s next division deals with built-up lancework
-    pieces such as the globe, which it was thought worthy of
-    separate mention in his time, but to-day is included with
-    many devices of this nature too numerous to mention, forming,
-    as they do, a large proportion of the mechanical and other
-    pieces used in display work.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i134" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i134.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="802" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">A Display ready for Firing, Dresden, September 1st, 1899. Firework Portraits of the King and Queen of Saxony on the right,
-      Bismarck second from the left.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>He then deals with tourbillions and table wheels. The
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">135</span>latter consisted of a circular table with a central pivot, round
-    which is free to revolve a bar which forms the axle of a wheel,
-    the hub of which runs on the edge of the table. When the
-    wheel is turned, the hub running on the edge of the table
-    moves it forward in a circular path round the pivot. This
-    principle is applied to similar and more elaborate devices.
-    The name tourbillions, as before mentioned, is by other
-    writers differently applied.</p>
-
-  <p>The section dealing with cut-out and transparent devices
-    is of little interest. These devices were an attempt to give
-    variety from the monotonous repetition of turning cases and
-    gerbs. To-day the use of colour cases, lances, a much-enlarged
-    range of fountain and similar compositions, including
-    aluminium and other brilliant fires, has obviated the employment
-    of effects which cannot be rightly considered as pyrotechnic.</p>
-
-  <p>The moving and stationary pieces considered in this and
-    preceding chapters give a good general idea of the firing
-    methods in compound fireworks. As we have already noted,
-    the difference of designs and effects at the present time is
-    infinite, so that it would be impossible in a work of the present
-    size to give anything approaching a complete survey of what
-    has been accomplished. But it is hoped that enough has been
-    said to give the reader some idea of the methods adopted and
-    the lines upon which the modern pyrotechnist works.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_7a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">136</span>
-    <h3 title="VII. FIREWORK COMPOSITIONS">CHAPTER <abbr title="7">VII</abbr><br /><br />
-      FIREWORK COMPOSITIONS</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">It</span> may have been remarked in the foregoing chapters
-    that, although the ingredients composing the firework
-    mixtures are given, generally the proportions are not.</p>
-
-  <p>The reason for this is two-fold: primarily, as we have
-    seen in the chapter on rockets, the proportion of the ingredients
-    of a firework varies in accordance with its size. So that
-    to give the proportions of the compositions of any one type of
-    firework would often require as many formulæ as there are
-    sizes.</p>
-
-  <p>Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the quality and
-    purity of chemicals as supplied in bulk vary so enormously
-    that a constant series of experiments has to be conducted in
-    order to ascertain what modifications and adjustments are
-    necessary in the formulæ to give the required standard of
-    performance.</p>
-
-  <p>It is not meant to suggest that the impurities generally to
-    be found in bulk supplies are necessarily harmful to pyrotechnic
-    results. This is not so; salts give far better results in
-    their natural or mineral form than do those prepared synthetically.
-    As an example of this saltpetre may be cited. For
-    pyrotechnic purposes the best obtainable is that from Bengal,
-    yet an analysis of this would probably be found to be less pure
-    than that synthetically prepared in Germany. But experiments
-    have shown that samples of the latter, taken from the same
-    cask, but in different parts, produce very distinctly varying
-    results pyrotechnically.</p>
-
-  <p>Pyrotechny is an art, chemistry is a science, and although
-    it is impossible to deny that the former is greatly indebted to
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">137</span>the latter for the supply and production on a commercial scale
-    of chemical ingredients, yet it is possible to overestimate the
-    position of chemistry in the art, or possibly it might be more
-    correct to say that pyrotechny has its own chemistry.</p>
-
-  <p>Chemistry without pyrotechnic experience is apt to lead
-    to erroneous conclusions. To take a concrete instance: in an
-    article in a famous encyclopædia, obviously written by a chemist
-    of standing, a portion deals with the use of metal salts in
-    the production of colour; the writer gives copper as producing
-    green, which no doubt it does in the laboratory; in practice,
-    however, copper is used solely for the production of blue.</p>
-
-  <p>The question of purity in chemicals used in pyrotechny
-    is a secondary consideration, that is, of course, as long as the
-    adulterants have no adverse effect either as regards the pyrotechnic
-    result or the safety of the worker in manipulation.
-    What is of first importance is its pyrotechnic suitability, that
-    is, it must produce the required result and must be consistent.
-    Unequal results are the bugbear of the firework makers. As
-    we have seen, constant experiments are necessary to keep an
-    even standard, but with irregularly functioning chemicals
-    these would be multiplied to an impossible degree.</p>
-
-  <p>The first group of compositions for consideration is that
-    nearest related to gunpowder, in fact, for the purposes of a
-    work on pyrotechny, gunpowder may be considered a particular
-    case of this class.</p>
-
-  <p>The governing principle of this group, and one may say
-    of all firework compositions, is the same. For combustion
-    to take place oxygen must be present. When an inflammable
-    article such as a piece of paper is set on fire it takes up oxygen
-    from the air. A pyrotechnic composition, however, is so
-    arranged that one of the ingredients has a supply of oxygen
-    which it is ready to give up; another, or others, are of a kind
-    ready to receive and combine with this oxygen.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">138</span></p>
-
-  <p>The oxygen-supplying ingredient which is by far the most
-    frequently used is saltpetre, or, as it was formerly called,
-    nitre, known chemically as nitrate of potash.</p>
-
-  <p>Saltpetre may be said to be the basis of pyrotechny. There
-    is hardly a formula by any of the writers on pyrotechny up to
-    at least the middle of the nineteenth century which does not
-    contain it.</p>
-
-  <p>Gunpowder is composed of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal,
-    three chemicals which it will have been gathered from
-    the previous pages play a prominent part in very many of the
-    pyrotechnic compositions. In some compositions their proportion
-    is apparently identical with that of gunpowder, yet
-    they do not form gunpowder as they are not milled, and are
-    consequently not so intimately mixed. Compositions containing
-    these ingredients have frequently an admixture of
-    mealed gunpowder, the function of which is to give additional
-    fierceness when required, as is the case in some rocket mixings.</p>
-
-  <p>These chemicals, as we have seen in the previous chapters,
-    are the components of rockets, turning cases, tourbillions,
-    saxons, Roman candle fuse, and many others. When variation
-    was required in fireworks used to give a simple fountain effect
-    the earliest addition was of metal in finely divided particles,
-    as filings, borings, or the now almost obsolete iron sand.</p>
-
-  <p>Steel filings were used in what was known as &ldquo;brilliant
-    fire,&rdquo; a term which has fallen into disuse since the introduction
-    of other metals whose effects eclipsed that of steel. It has also
-    been used where extra effect is wanted, that is, more tail
-    in rockets and tourbillions. It is, however, not much used in
-    the former case to-day, as the presence of steel in a composition
-    which is to be charged on a steel spindle introduces
-    a decided element of risk into the operation.</p>
-
-  <p>The introduction of steel and iron was the first use of
-    metals in firework making, probably the next metal to be
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">139</span>introduced was antimony, either black (sulphide) or regulus.
-    Jones (1765) was already using what he calls crude antimony;
-    this was probably the black sulphide.</p>
-
-  <p>Before the introduction of genuine colour, and while the
-    chemicals which had been adopted for pyrotechny were still
-    very limited in number, attempts were made to obtain either a
-    semblance of colour or some variety in stars and garnitures by
-    the addition of such substances as powdered glass, brass,
-    sawdust, beech raspings, which appear to have functioned as
-    do the iron or steel in the compositions already discussed,
-    except that there would be no coruscation even with the brass.
-    These additions would merely show as red-hot particles in the
-    jet of fire.</p>
-
-  <p>Kentish gives two gerb compositions, one of which contains
-    coke grains, and the other porcelain grains, which would
-    apparently produce cognate results; the use, however, of
-    both these ingredients is now almost if not quite obsolete.</p>
-
-  <p>Antimony, on account of its ready combustion, is more completely
-    consumed before leaving the case. In this connection it
-    may be mentioned that care is necessary in a mixture containing
-    steel or iron to avoid too large a proportion of the oxygen-bearing
-    ingredient, for fear of consuming it inside the case.</p>
-
-  <p>Another composition producing remarkable coruscations
-    is the old-fashioned &ldquo;spur fire,&rdquo; which consists of saltpetre,
-    sulphur, and lampblack. This composition requires very
-    careful and experienced mixing, or no effect will be produced,
-    rendering its preparation a very lengthy process.</p>
-
-  <p>This difficulty was somewhat overcome during the last
-    century by the addition of orpiment or sulphide of arsenic.
-    Even with this addition, however, its manufacture requires
-    care and patience. It is a curious fact that this composition,
-    unlike most others, has the quality of markedly improving
-    by keeping. How the lampblack produces this unique effect, or
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">140</span>why its effect should be so different from that produced by any
-    other form of carbon, has not been satisfactorily explained.</p>
-
-  <p>The compositions we have been considering fall into one
-    of two classes, namely, those to produce force and those to
-    produce sparks. These two classes, with one other, namely
-    that of colour, may be said to include all the modern recreative
-    firework compositions. Up to the end of the eighteenth
-    century the ingredients used in the production of the compositions
-    of these three classes were very few in number. A
-    considerably larger number went to supply the ingredients
-    for a fourth class now almost extinct, these might be called
-    the flame-producing class. The principle on which these compositions
-    were designed was, as it were, to overload a mixture
-    of saltpetre and sulphur with combustible material; this
-    latter took the form of gums, resins, or fats, the object being
-    to produce a reddish or golden coloured flame. The early
-    writers give formulæ for variously coloured stars and fires,
-    which must have required considerable effort on the part of the
-    observer for identification. These belonged to the flame class.</p>
-
-  <p>Frézier, with more perception than most of the others,
-    realised the shortcomings of such compositions, merely
-    designating them greenish (<i lang="fr">verdâtre</i>), yellowish, reddish, and
-    russet. The only colour which he professes to produce distinct
-    is blue, which he obtained with pure sulphur.</p>
-
-  <p>Progress from the earliest times of pyrotechny up to the
-    first quarter of the nineteenth century was very gradual and
-    very slight. The chemicals used by Bate and Babington in
-    their actual pyrotechnic compositions were as follows:&mdash;Gunpowder
-    and its constituents, camphor, pitch, resin, orpiment,
-    linseed oil, both pure and boiled, oil of spike (<i>spica
-    lavandula</i>), oil of petre (rock oil), an oil known either as
-    benedict or tile, varnish (probably amber), iron scales, and
-    aqua vitæ (spirits of wine).</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow68" id="i140" style="max-width: 50.875em">
-    <img src="images/i140.jpg" class="w100" width="814" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Diagram Illustrating the evolution of Pyrotechnic Composition.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">141</span></p>
-
-  <p>Bate extends this list considerably by the ingredients of a
-    series of compositions which he has evidently taken from
-    some alchemistic work. These compositions are all either
-    designed to burn under water or to ignite spontaneously in
-    water, and fall somewhat outside the bounds of our subject.
-    Frézier also includes these, evidently from the same source.</p>
-
-  <p>Bate also refers to a liquid, the recipe for which was probably
-    taken from the same work.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;<span lang="la">Aqua ardens</span>.&rdquo; The following are his directions for preparing
-    it: &ldquo;Take old red wine, put it into a glassed vessell,
-    and put into it of orpiment one pound, quicke sulphur halfe a
-    pound, quicke lime a quarter of a pound; mingle them very
-    well, and afterwards distill them in a rosewater still; a cloth
-    being wet in this water will burne like a candle and will not
-    be quenched with water.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>It is difficult to see what he obtained by this process differing
-    from spirits of wine. The quicklime would serve to dehydrate
-    the wine, and probably no part of the orpiment or sulphur
-    would be taken over in the distillation.</p>
-
-  <p>Rather over a century later we find Frézier and Jones have
-    made some additions to the ingredients of pyrotechny, the
-    most notable innovations being the use of iron filings (not to
-    be confused with the iron scales of Bate, which were probably
-    hammerslag, the magnetic oxide of iron), steel filings and
-    pulverised cast-iron. Beyond these, and the spark-producing
-    agent already mentioned, the other additions are of small
-    importance, the most notable being lapis caliminaris, or the
-    mineral carbonate of zinc, which however was not used as are
-    metal salts to-day, that is, for the production of colour.</p>
-
-  <p>Jones&rsquo;s book, written some years after that of Frézier,
-    shows little advance from the latter as far as pyrotechnic
-    results are concerned. What he has done, however, is to
-    eliminate what might be called the alchemistic, or one
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">142</span>might almost say magic element with which it is pervaded.</p>
-
-  <p>In attempting to classify the compositions in Frézier&rsquo;s book
-    one is staggered by the grotesque character of many of them and
-    by the extraordinary variations in the proportion of their ingredients,
-    even amongst compositions designed for a similar effect.</p>
-
-  <p>Presumably with the intention of impressing his readers
-    with the wonders of the science, he added ingredient after
-    ingredient, which, if they did actually no harm to the composition,
-    certainly in no degree assisted its functioning.</p>
-
-  <p>In what he calls a simple star there are eleven ingredients,
-    of which, in fact, four only are essential.</p>
-
-  <p>Further, beyond the multiplication of unnecessary ingredients
-    in individual compositions, there is often their
-    incompatibility and innate unsuitability for the purpose. Such
-    components as ink, onion juice, and the drainings of a dung-heap
-    suggest so strangely the formulæ of the alchemists that
-    one almost expects to come across &ldquo;the hair of a Barbary
-    ape,&rdquo; or similar absurdity.</p>
-
-  <p>Ruggieri, who may be considered as the last of the old
-    school, is the first author to deal with the subject in such a way
-    as to convince the professional reader of the practical knowledge
-    of the subject.</p>
-
-  <p>His additions to the list of ingredients are not many, but
-    they are genuine. He is the first writer to make use of metals
-    or their salts in the production of colour; he includes among
-    his chemicals metallic copper and zinc, also the acetate and
-    sulphate of copper, and chloride of ammonium. The notable
-    advance in his colour compositions, besides the use of metal
-    salts for that purpose, is the introduction of a chloride, which
-    has the effect of improving the colour by assisting in the
-    volatilisation of the metal. For this purpose he used sal-ammoniac,
-    the use of which has now been almost discontinued on
-    account of its hygroscopic nature, notwithstanding that its
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">143</span>base of ammonium is very useful in compositions containing
-    copper. Its place is now generally taken by calomel; in such
-    compositions chloride of sodium had been used for many
-    years, but not as a chlorine carried. Ruggieri appears to have
-    been the first to produce colour on anything approaching
-    modern lines, and although he did not progress greatly, what
-    he did achieve was undoubtedly a marked advance in the art.</p>
-
-  <p>His account of the invention of this composition is interesting.
-    He says that he was told by a returned traveller from
-    Russia of a set piece representing a palm tree, &ldquo;the colour of
-    which rivalled nature.&rdquo; This piece he set out to imitate, which
-    he did, at any rate to his own satisfaction. The result he
-    obtained would undoubtedly give a good colour, if the method
-    of firing was very clumsy. He remarks that he does not know
-    if his method was as that adopted in Russia, and later of the
-    &ldquo;merit if not of discovering a new fire at least to have imitated
-    or rather to have rediscovered it.&rdquo; It appears, therefore, that
-    there may be some doubt as to the originality or priority of
-    Ruggieri&rsquo;s achievement in this direction, but he must be
-    credited at least with independently arriving at the result.
-    Indeed it is more than probable that the piece seen in Russia
-    was quite different, a transparency or illumination, either
-    imported or copied from the work of Eastern pyrotechnists,
-    and that the whole credit of introducing colour into the art
-    belongs to Ruggieri and to him only.</p>
-
-  <p>He mentions that he puts it on record with the object of
-    &ldquo;thus preventing writers from attributing it to the Chinese,
-    the Medes, or Arabs, as is the custom in Europe, and above
-    all in France, where more than elsewhere there is a mania for
-    enriching foreigners with our merits and to rob ourselves of
-    the birthrights of genius.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_8a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">144</span>
-    <h3 title="VIII. MODERN FIREWORK COMPOSITIONS">CHAPTER <abbr title="8">VIII</abbr><br /><br />
-      MODERN FIREWORK COMPOSITIONS</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">Ruggieri</span> may be regarded as the last of the ancients.
-    It is true that his book shows a marked advance on anything
-    that had gone before, also that he appears to have
-    been one of the first, if not actually the first, to introduce the
-    use of metal salts in the production of colour. But he makes
-    no reference to the use of chlorate of potash, and it is the introduction
-    of this salt into pyrotechny which marks the commencement
-    of the modern epoch of the art.</p>
-
-  <p>This earliest use of chlorate, or as it was then called, oxymuriate
-    or hyperoxymuriate of potash, appears to have been
-    soon after its discovery in 1786 by Berthollet. Samuel Parkes,
-    in a work on chemistry written in 1811, says: &ldquo;The shocking
-    death of two individuals in October, 1788, and the burns
-    others have suffered by it, render it feared by chemists in
-    general,&rdquo; that is in conjunction with sulphur and charcoal.</p>
-
-  <p>He later remarks that notwithstanding this accident &ldquo;the
-    French have since &mdash;&mdash; actually employed in one of their campaigns
-    gunpowder made with oxymuriate of potash instead
-    of saltpetre,&rdquo; and adds that a Scotch clergyman had taken
-    out a patent for the use of a powder containing chlorate of
-    potash to be fired by percussion.</p>
-
-  <p>This patent, granted in 1807, is the first for the percussion
-    system in firearms.</p>
-
-  <p>The use, however, of chlorate of potash in propellant compositions
-    presents no very great advance in pyrotechny,
-    however revolutionary may have been the introduction of
-    the percussion system into the manufacture of firearms.</p>
-
-  <p>It is its use in the production of colour that marks the
-    modern epoch.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">145</span></p>
-
-  <p>The exact date of this innovation appears to be about 1830.</p>
-
-  <p>A Belgian lieutenant of artillery, Hippert by name, published
-    in 1836 a translation of a work by Captain Moritz Meyer,
-    of the Prussian Artillery, on the application of chemistry to
-    artifices of war.</p>
-
-  <p>In a chapter devoted to coloured fires he gives several
-    formulæ containing chlorate of potash. Although this appears
-    to be the first published notice of its use, it seems likely that
-    by the time the book was published that it was fairly well
-    established.</p>
-
-  <p>Meyer concludes his remarks on coloured composition
-    by saying that the English at that time made use of coloured
-    rockets for signalling at sea, and had succeeded in producing
-    ten different shades, &ldquo;which are quite sufficient for the purpose
-    of signalling particular pieces of information.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>This seems rather to indicate that the elaboration if not
-    the first introduction of chlorate of potash into pyrotechny
-    may be attributed to this country.</p>
-
-  <p>His mention of ten distinguishable tints, however, is
-    somewhat optimistic. During the late war it was found that
-    to avoid any chance of a mistake in code signals only three
-    colours could be used for long-distance signalling, namely,
-    red, green, and white.</p>
-
-  <p>It is curious that Meyer makes a mistake over the first
-    composition he mentions. He describes a light composition
-    of chlorate of potash and sugar, which he says burns with a
-    red light. In fact, however, the light so produced is a bluish
-    white, similar to the so-called blue shipping light.</p>
-
-  <p>The directions he gives for the preparation of other colours
-    are as follows:</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;A powder which burns with a green flame is obtained
-    by the addition of nitrate of baryta to chlorate of potash, nitrate
-    of copper, acetate of copper.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">146</span></p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;A white flame is made by the addition of sulphide of
-    antimony, sulphide of arsenic, camphor.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;Red by the mixture of lampblack, coal, bone ash, mineral
-    oxide of iron, nitrate of strontia, pumice stone, mica, oxide of
-    cobalt.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;Blue with ivory, bismuth, alum, zinc, copper sulphate
-    purified of its sea water (<i>sic</i>).</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;Yellow by amber, carbonate of soda, sulphate of soda,
-    cinnabar.</p>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;It is necessary in order to make the colours come out
-    well to animate the combustion by adding chlorate of potash.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>These formulæ, if somewhat incoherent, and clearly showing
-    a want of experimental verification, indicate a real advance
-    in pyrotechnic chemistry, not only by the addition of chlorate
-    of potash, but by the multiplication of the number of metal
-    salts used.</p>
-
-  <p>At the same time it is evident that the old alchemistic ideas
-    were not entirely extinct by the use of such ingredients as
-    ivory, mica, and pumice stone.</p>
-
-  <p>However, there can be no doubt that from the third decade
-    of the nineteenth century dates the modern era of the pyrotechnic
-    art. From this date onward chemical ingredients,
-    metals and their salts as they were provided by the commercial
-    chemist were eagerly taken and tested by the pyrotechnist, and
-    adopted or rejected on their merits. And from this date begins
-    the rapid elimination of useless additions.</p>
-
-  <p>Of those compositions given above the following salts are
-    at present in use: nitrate of baryta, sulphide of antimony,
-    sulphide of arsenic, nitrate of strontia, copper sulphate, carbonate
-    of soda, and chlorate of potash.</p>
-
-  <p>Zinc, alum, lampblack, and oxide of iron are also used,
-    but not for the purpose indicated.</p>
-
-  <p>Nitrate of copper and sulphate of soda would both be
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">147</span>valuable ingredients, but their unstable nature prevents their
-    use under modern conditions.</p>
-
-  <p>Meyer also describes the use of salts to tint an alcohol
-    flame, which is merely an elaboration of Ruggieri&rsquo;s palm tree
-    and of little interest at the present time.</p>
-
-  <p>The next name prominent in pyrotechny is that of
-    F. M. Chertier, who published in 1854 his &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Nouvelles
-    recherches sur les feux d&rsquo;artifice</span>,&rdquo; after having published
-    a pamphlet on the subject about twenty-five years previously.</p>
-
-  <p>In this work Chertier devotes most of his attention to the
-    subject of colour, and although new ingredients have been
-    introduced which were either unknown or were not then
-    available on account of expense or other causes, since the
-    time of his writing, yet there can be no doubt that Chertier
-    stands alone in the literature of pyrotechny and as a pioneer
-    of the modern development of the art.</p>
-
-  <p>Tessier, in the introduction to his &ldquo;Treatise on Coloured
-    Fires,&rdquo; published in 1859, whilst paying tribute to Chertier&rsquo;s
-    work, regrets that he only possessed &ldquo;quite superficial notions
-    of chemistry.&rdquo; Here speaks the chemist. The writer recently
-    asked a pyrotechnic chemist of many years&rsquo; experience, whose
-    knowledge of pyrotechnic chemistry is probably second to
-    none, his opinion of Tessier&rsquo;s book, and received this answer.
-    &ldquo;Tessier&rsquo;s book contains too much chemical theory and too
-    little pyrotechnic practice.&rdquo; There speaks the pyrotechnist.</p>
-
-  <p>The writer, as he has before remarked, has no wish to
-    belittle the value of the chemist&rsquo;s work in relation to pyrotechny,
-    but a knowledge of chemistry is not the most important
-    attribute of the successful pyrotechnist.</p>
-
-  <p>As in other arts so in pyrotechny, experience and natural
-    aptitude are the first essentials.</p>
-
-  <p>Chertier may have had little knowledge of chemistry, but
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">148</span>in spite of or perhaps because of his lack of chemical knowledge,
-    he was able to produce a work which, from the point
-    of view of the practical pyrotechnist, has never been equalled.</p>
-
-  <p>His researches were conducted by practical experiments;
-    he had one end in view, namely, pyrotechnic effect, and by
-    exhaustive trials of the materials obtainable, unbiased by
-    theoretical consideration, he succeeded in advancing the art
-    to a stage undreamed of a few years previously. It is true that
-    many of his formulæ are not in use to-day, in this country
-    that is, on account of the danger of using sulphur or sulphur
-    compounds in conjunction with chlorate of potash; but
-    there can be no doubt that his writings and research work
-    laid the foundation of modern pyrotechnic practice.</p>
-
-  <p>Once the theory of colour production was established,
-    that is to say the volatilisation of a metal salt in a hotly burning
-    composition, it was a matter of less difficulty to either
-    eliminate the sulphur, which was present chiefly as a burnable,
-    or to replace it.</p>
-
-  <p>This prohibition, as we have seen, took place in 1894,
-    under Order in Council 15, and affected the production of
-    coloured fireworks far less than might have been anticipated.
-    During the period between the introduction of chlorate of
-    potash and the Order in question, the development of commercial
-    chemistry had increased greatly the number of
-    chemicals available in pyrotechny, so that in some few cases
-    it was found possible to replace the chlorate.</p>
-
-  <p>In addition, moreover, most of the leading makers, anticipating
-    some form of restriction on this admixture, had been
-    for some time previously seeking substitute colour formulæ,
-    and although it may be said by some that colours were obtained
-    by the use of chlorate and sulphur which have not been
-    equalled by subsequent formulæ, yet most have not only
-    been equalled but improved upon, and the small minority
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">149</span>remaining are an insignificant price to pay for the security
-    and safety gained in manufacture.</p>
-
-  <p>Between the publication of Chertier&rsquo;s book in 1856 (nearly
-    thirty years later than his first pamphlet) and the close of the
-    century, several works on pyrotechny made their appearance,
-    several by Frenchmen: Tessier, 1859, &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Traité Pratique des
-    Feux colorés</span>,&rdquo; two works in the Roret encyclop&aelig;dia series,
-    &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Pyrotechnie Civile</span>&rdquo; and &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Pyrotechnie Militaire</span>,&rdquo; published
-    1865, and in 1882, &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Traité pratique des Feux d&rsquo;Artifice</span>,&rdquo;
-    by Denisse.</p>
-
-  <p>The English works of any value during this period were:
-    &ldquo;Pyrotechny,&rdquo; by Practicus, Brown&rsquo;s &ldquo;Practical Firework
-    Making,&rdquo; and &ldquo;The Pyrotechnist&rsquo;s Treasury,&rdquo; by Kentish,
-    1878. Hutstein and Websky&rsquo;s &ldquo;Art of Firework Making,&rdquo;
-    published at Leipzig in 1878, a book published under the
-    same title by Oscar Frey about 1885, and &ldquo;A Theoretical
-    and Practical Treatise of Civil Pyrotechny,&rdquo; by Antoni,
-    published at Trieste in 1893, together with some works on
-    military pyrotechny published both in Europe and the United
-    States, complete the list.</p>
-
-  <p>Some of the military works are of considerable value, but
-    are chiefly directed to the study of rockets and signals; some,
-    however, are in the same category as &ldquo;The Artillerist&rsquo;s Manual
-    and British Soldier&rsquo;s Compendium,&rdquo; by Captain F. A.
-    Griffiths, R.A., published in 1852. The section dealing with
-    fireworks in this work might almost be taken as an attempt
-    to be humorous on the subject. The author quotes in all
-    seriousness formulæ dating from the days of Bate and Babington,
-    and knows so little of his subject that he gives instructions
-    for making the same firework under different names
-    under the impression that they are distinct units, the information
-    being obviously pillaged from earlier writers.
-    Generally a study of the above-mentioned works indicates
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">150</span>that the tendency in pyrotechnic compositions has been in
-    the direction of simplification. During the eighteenth century
-    the useless ingredients had been in a great measure eliminated.
-    The &ldquo;burnables&rdquo; had been reduced from a long list of
-    alchemistic survivals to a mere half-dozen or so.</p>
-
-  <p>Gums had been reduced practically to shellac alone (the
-    use of gum arabic as an adhesive is quite distinct), carbons to
-    lampblack and charcoal, and these with sulphur and sulphides
-    of antimony and arsenic practically completed the list.</p>
-
-  <p>Of the metals the use of pure zinc, copper, and brass has
-    been discontinued, and the two almost revolutionary additions
-    of magnesium and aluminium made, the former about 1865
-    and the latter in 1894.</p>
-
-  <p>The date of the introduction of these metals marks almost
-    as great advances in the art as did the introduction of chlorate
-    of potash. Not only are they used as spark-producing metals
-    in the same way as are steel and iron, but they are also used
-    as &ldquo;burnables,&rdquo; that is, they are consumed inside the case;
-    and many of the present-day firework compositions owe their
-    brilliance to one or other of these metals.</p>
-
-  <p>It is, however, in colour compositions that the tendency
-    towards simplification is most strongly exhibited. In
-    Kentish&rsquo;s book colour compositions containing as many as
-    seven or eight ingredients are common, whereas to-day
-    formulæ containing over four are the exception rather than
-    the rule.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i150" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i150.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="964" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Roman Candles. This untouched photograph illustrates the extraordinary brilliance of aluminium compositions.
-      Each &ldquo;plume&rdquo; (200 ft. high) is produced by a single star about &frac34; in. diameter and &frac34; in. long.
-      Each line is a microscopic particle of aluminium.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>The reason for this complexity is not easy to follow, but
-    it may have been in some measure due to the difficulty of
-    obtaining sufficiently finely ground chemicals before the days
-    of machine grinding; in some cases it was found that by melting
-    two of the ingredients together and allowing the mass to
-    cool they could be ground with greater ease. Chertier went
-    so far as to melt shellac and salt together, grind them and
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">151</span>remove the salt by dissolving in water. Also by adding a finely
-    ground chemical of similar action to one only coarsely ground
-    a better result was obtained.</p>
-
-  <p>Whatever may have been the reason, there can be no doubt
-    that, except for secondary shades, the fewer the chemicals used
-    the more brilliant will be the resulting fire.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_9a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">152</span>
-    <h3 title="IX. MILITARY PYROTECHNY">CHAPTER <abbr title="9">IX</abbr><br /><br />
-      MILITARY PYROTECHNY</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">The</span> use of pyrotechnic mixtures for military purposes
-    is the basis of artillery, and one might almost say the
-    foundation of chemistry. Before the age of the alchemist
-    men were at work endeavouring to produce some
-    weapon which would give them an advantage over their
-    enemies. Of the natural phenomena none made so strong an
-    appeal as fire, which from earliest times had been a mysterious
-    and therefore terrible element.</p>
-
-  <p>The early use of fire or pyrotechnic mixtures gave the
-    users so decided an advantage over their enemies that their
-    use was chronicled by historians of the day either on the side
-    of the victors as a pæan of praise for their invincible weapon,
-    or as an excuse for defeat on the side of the vanquished.</p>
-
-  <p>Such reports are necessarily vague and exaggerated, vague
-    because the writer had no technical knowledge of the subject,
-    and the users naturally wished for secrecy and exaggerated
-    because exaggeration increased the value of the weapon.</p>
-
-  <p>It is from such reports that we obtain our information
-    about Greek fire and similar compositions, and when one
-    considers that the translations were generally biased, in most
-    cases unintentionally but still biased, in favour of reading
-    into passages referring to fire or projectiles an early reference
-    to gunpowder, guns or some unknown pyrotechnic effect, it
-    is obvious that all information so gained must be accepted
-    with a considerable amount of reserve.</p>
-
-  <p>The translators, too, in many cases were men of no technical
-    knowledge, which made them even more prone to fall
-    into errors which would be avoided by the expert.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">153</span></p>
-
-  <p>Of the mass of writing dealing with the subject, the work
-    of two writers stands out prominently&mdash;the late Mr. Oscar
-    Guttman in his &ldquo;History of Explosives,&rdquo; and <abbr title="Colonel">Col.</abbr> H. W. L.
-    Hime in his &ldquo;Origin of Artillery,&rdquo; whose observations
-    cover the field of information on the subject, although approaching
-    from slightly different angles.</p>
-
-  <p>Neither, however, gives an exact explanation satisfactorily
-    covering the projection of Greek or sea fire. <abbr title="Colonel">Col.</abbr> Hime,
-    rejecting earlier theories, goes somewhat to the other extreme:
-    he denies the knowledge of saltpetre before the twelfth century,
-    but attempts to explain the phenomenon by the use of
-    phosphide of calcium.</p>
-
-  <p>He premises four conditions to be filled by the weapon
-    or apparatus. These conditions are fulfilled by the explanation
-    already briefly touched upon on page 15, and the writer is
-    convinced that this simple although apparently little known
-    phenomenon is the true explanation of the terrible, mysterious
-    Greek or sea fire.</p>
-
-  <p>If a mixture of saltpetre, pitch, and sulphur is charged
-    into a long tube sufficiently strong and ignited it will burn,
-    giving off dense smoke, for a short time, when it appears to
-    choke momentarily. This choking is followed by a more or
-    less violent outburst, which may be likened to a &ldquo;cough,&rdquo;
-    projecting a burning mass of composition to a considerable
-    distance; the action is repeated with surprising regularity
-    during the burning of the whole of the composition throughout
-    the length of the tube, and will, the writer is confident,
-    satisfy any unbiased observer that here is the true explanation
-    of the phenomenon.</p>
-
-  <p>Let us see how the requirements mentioned by <abbr title="Colonel">Col.</abbr> Hime
-    are fulfilled. The first, &ldquo;It was a wet fire,&rdquo; <i>i.e.</i>, its action
-    necessarily connected in some way with water or the sea,
-    and as a matter of fact it was used at sea with great success
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">154</span>on many occasions. May not a &ldquo;wet fire&rdquo; be a way of saying
-    &ldquo;a molten, viscous mass of fire&rdquo;? The masses would float and
-    although some might become extinguished, some would
-    probably burn on the surface of the water; also its use at sea
-    would, with a range up to a hundred yards, be quite as easy as
-    on land.</p>
-
-  <p>Secondly, &ldquo;Its composition was such as could be kept
-    secret at Constantinople.&rdquo; If, as <abbr title="Colonel">Col.</abbr> Hime says, saltpetre as
-    such was unknown at the time, it was only as a separate kind
-    of salt. It was undoubtedly known, but not distinguished from
-    sea salt or nitrate of soda. Would not this fact render the concealment
-    of the ingredients used more easy?</p>
-
-  <p>Thirdly, &ldquo;It burned with much noise and smoke.&rdquo;
-    Allowing for some slight exaggeration the first condition is
-    fulfilled, as undoubtedly is the latter.</p>
-
-  <p>Fourthly, &ldquo;It was necessarily connected in some way
-    with syphons.&rdquo; As <abbr title="Colonel">Col.</abbr> Hime points out, there is ambiguity
-    between the word syphon and tube, and if the latter word
-    meets the facts it seems the more likely rendering.</p>
-
-  <p>The writer saw this effect produced during experiments
-    with smoke-producing compositions, and it is probable that
-    the mixture in question was not in the most effective proportions,
-    but so striking was the result that there is little doubt
-    that experiments on such lines would produce a terrible and
-    effective weapon under the conditions of warfare then in
-    existence.</p>
-
-  <p>The &ldquo;<span lang="fr">Dictionnaire Mobilier Français</span>&rdquo; gives a diagram of
-    a weapon of a somewhat similar nature stated to have been
-    used by the Arabs in the fifteenth century. The illustration
-    shows what is virtually a Roman candle, and appears plausible
-    until one considers the facts. What is most probable is
-    that the weapon, which was of an incendiary nature, was
-    similar to that described above, which fulfils the requirements
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">155</span>of the description without assuming a knowledge of compositions
-    which at the time did not exist.</p>
-
-  <p>From the period of Greek fire onward military and recreative
-    pyrotechny appear to have marched side by side.</p>
-
-  <p>As we have seen, the progress in the latter branch was
-    extremely slow, so with the former, and it was not until the
-    introduction of modern or comparatively modern methods
-    that real progress commenced.</p>
-
-  <p>With the progress came divergence, the introduction of
-    the rifled bore in artillery, and of nitro compounds and high
-    explosives whose dynamic force exceeds many times that of
-    gunpowder, which however useful they might be to the
-    artillerist, were of little value to the recreative pyrotechnist.
-    It was not until the great war that the resources of pyrotechny
-    were fully realised and utilised by the military. It is curious
-    to note that just as the tactics and methods of warfare eventually
-    adopted&mdash;although on an unprecedentedly large scale&mdash;were
-    in a great measure those of centuries before, so military
-    pyrotechny returned to ideas just as antiquated. With the
-    advantages of modern science, and by the assistance of knowledge
-    gained in the development of recreative pyrotechny,
-    the progress made in a month or so in military pyrotechny
-    during the war may, without exaggerating, be said to have
-    exceeded that of previous centuries.</p>
-
-  <p>Speaking generally, the use of pyrotechny in warfare, or
-    indeed any science, has two objectives, the first to destroy or
-    embarrass the troops of the enemy, and secondly, to assist
-    one&rsquo;s own.</p>
-
-  <p>Until the late war it was the first of these which received
-    by far the greater attention, and it is but natural that the introduction
-    of the modern methods mentioned above should
-    have provided means which left pyrotechnics far behind. In
-    the second division, however, pyrotechny triumphed.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">156</span></p>
-
-  <p>Of the offensive type the earliest use of pyrotechny was
-    the incendiary. Greek fire, wild fire, and similar compositions
-    have been used from time immemorial to set fire to enemies&rsquo;
-    works or ships or to injure his personnel. And just as incendiary
-    compositions antedated the propellant, so the incendiary
-    shell appears to have preceded the explosive.</p>
-
-  <p>Incendiary projectiles of the past were known as carcasses;
-    the earliest form appears to have been a canvas bag or container
-    pitched over on the outside and bound with iron hoops,
-    which, from their likeness to the ribs of a corpse&mdash;according
-    to &ldquo;Chambers&rsquo; Encyclopædia&rdquo; (1741)&mdash;suggested the name.</p>
-
-  <p>The fireball was similarly constructed and designed for
-    hand projection, bearing the same relation to the carcass as
-    does the grenade to the bomb.</p>
-
-  <p>The composition in most incendiary missiles consisted
-    of a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and pitch, with or without
-    the addition of mealed gunpowder.</p>
-
-  <p>The most recent form of carcass was a spherical shell of
-    iron, having three vents, and filled with incendiary composition.
-    This projectile became obsolete in the Service at the
-    end of the last century.</p>
-
-  <p>Another form of pyrotechnic projectile was that designed
-    to give out smoke, either with the idea of rendering the
-    atmosphere of works or casemates unbearable to the defenders
-    (a principle revived in the late war by the use of poison gas),
-    or to hinder them by obscuring their vision either by firing a
-    smoke cloud in their (the enemy&rsquo;s) works, or so placed as to
-    hide one&rsquo;s own troops.</p>
-
-  <p>It is open to discussion if the use of smoke is not indeed
-    of greater antiquity than that of incendiary missiles, but it is
-    probable that its origin was its production by the combustion
-    of grass or similar material, and not with pyrotechnic composition.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">157</span></p>
-
-  <p>Read&rsquo;s &ldquo;Weekly Journal&rdquo; of October 25th, 1760, in an
-    account of a review in Hyde Park, mentions as the concluding
-    item of the man&oelig;uvres, that &ldquo;pieces of a new construction, of a
-    globular form, were set on fire, which occasioned such a smoke
-    as to render all persons within a considerable distance entirely
-    invisible, and thereby the better in time of action to secure a
-    retreat.&rdquo; There can be little doubt that this is one of the first
-    demonstrations, at any rate in this country, of the use of
-    smoke balls.</p>
-
-  <p>The Chinese made use of both projectiles many centuries
-    ago, and the smoke&mdash;or stink-pot&mdash;was in use by them until
-    comparatively recently.</p>
-
-  <p>Smoke balls from 4&#8534;th inches up to 13 inches calibre
-    were included in the official list of projectiles for smooth-bore
-    guns until about 1873, when with ground light balls they
-    became obsolete. The latter, as their name suggests, were
-    intended to be burnt on the ground and light up enemy
-    working parties, etc. This also was the object of the parachute
-    light-ball, which was fitted with a time fuse and an opening
-    charge; upon opening, a light was ignited suspended from a
-    parachute. This method appears to have been invented in
-    Denmark in 1820, and they were used in Austria the following
-    year.</p>
-
-  <p>Another class of war store which naturally suggests itself
-    is that used to give light for the purpose of signalling. The
-    light is either burnt on the ground as a hand light or fitted to
-    a rocket. Fireworks for this purpose have been in use from
-    earliest times, being the logical development of the signal
-    beacon, but it was not until the introduction of genuine
-    colour&mdash;that is to say, colour distinguishable at a long distance&mdash;that
-    they reached their full standard of utility.</p>
-
-  <p>It is, however, the rocket which has received most attention
-    for military purposes, and certainly with good reason. Here
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">158</span>was a projectile which, in the days of smooth-bore ordnance
-    had a good range and required no heavy gun or transport.
-    Moreover, it formed its own time fuse. Congreve wrote:
-    &ldquo;Rockets are ammunition without ordnance, the soul of
-    artillery without the body.&rdquo; Many methods of fitting up
-    rockets for warlike purposes have been evolved, invented
-    and re-invented, most of which for practical purposes were
-    useless.</p>
-
-  <p>It is the military use of the rocket, however, which presents
-    the most interesting study in military pyrotechny.</p>
-
-  <p>There are several early references to what is supposed to
-    be the use of rockets in warfare. The Paduans are stated to
-    have burned the town of Mestre with these projectiles.</p>
-
-  <p>Orleans used rockets in its defence in 1429, and Dunois
-    fired them in 1449, when besieging the town of Pont-Andemer.
-    In 1452 they were used against Bordeaux, and the following
-    year at Gand.</p>
-
-  <p>Rockets were employed in 1586 for lighting purposes and
-    as projectiles against cavalry. The description seems to indicate
-    a method of fitting up to produce a similar effect to a
-    shrapnel shell.</p>
-
-  <p>Hanselet, writing in 1630, refers to rockets with grenades
-    attached. Casimir Siemienowitz, <abbr title="Lieutenant-General">Lieut.-General</abbr> of the Ordnance
-    to the King of Poland, published in 1650 his &ldquo;Great
-    Art of Artillery,&rdquo; which contains a treatise on fireworks both
-    for civil and military purposes. He refers to a work on the
-    military use of fireworks written ninety years before, and
-    speaks of rockets up to 100 lbs. and describes their construction.</p>
-
-  <p>A French work published in 1561, entitled &ldquo;Treatise
-    upon several kinds of War-Fireworks,&rdquo; suggests a rocket case
-    of varnished leather.</p>
-
-  <p>It is on record that in 1688 trials were made in Berlin
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">159</span>with rockets of 50 lbs. and 120 lbs., which carried a bomb
-    weighing 16 lbs. The composition was nine parts saltpetre,
-    four parts sulphur, and three parts charcoal. The case is stated
-    to have been of wood covered with linen.</p>
-
-  <p>Hyder Ali is credited with making considerable use of
-    rockets against our troops in India; he is said to have had a
-    corps of 1,200 &ldquo;rocketers&rdquo; in 1788, whilst later on, his son,
-    Tippoo Sahib, employed as many as 5,000, and Captain
-    Moritz Myer, writing in 1836, ascribes to experience of these
-    weapons so gained the efforts made in England to bring them
-    to perfection.</p>
-
-  <p>He also describes the Indian rocket as &ldquo;an iron envelope
-    about 8 inches long and 1&frac12; inches in diameter, with sharp
-    points at the top. The stick of bamboo 8 or 10 feet long, but
-    sometimes consisting of an iron rod. They were hand-thrown
-    by the rocketers, and did much damage to the cavalry.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>This description, which, to say the least, is unconvincing,
-    would seem rather to refer to some other pyrotechnic missile.</p>
-
-  <p>Whatever may have been the cause, there was undoubtedly
-    great interest in the subject of rockets during the first half of
-    the nineteenth century. Sir William Congreve is perhaps best
-    known in connection with the work of this period. His efforts,
-    however, were rather directed to the development of existing
-    ideas than to invention.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1804, after experiments at the Royal Laboratory, Woolwich,
-    a flotilla of boats was fitted out under his direction for
-    the purpose of bombarding Boulogne Harbour with incendiary
-    rockets from frames fixed on the decks. The first attempt
-    ended in a fiasco owing to heavy weather, but the following
-    year better results were obtained, although the rockets were
-    deflected by the wind and did more damage in the town than
-    in the harbour.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1807 Congreve personally superintended their use at
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">160</span>Copenhagen with even better effect, and they were again used in
-    the Walcheren Expedition and in an attack on the island of Aix.</p>
-
-  <p>These rockets were all of an incendiary nature, with paper
-    cases, and fired at an elevation of 55 degrees. Myer gives the
-    proportion of the composition as 62.44 saltpetre, 23.18 charcoal,
-    14.38 sulphur. This writer gives Congreve&rsquo;s rockets
-    little credit for efficiency, but admits that they &ldquo;attracted
-    great attention and were regarded as formidable.&rdquo; He remarks
-    that at the siege of Flessingen &ldquo;the rockets acted so
-    badly that the English themselves said that they did more
-    harm to the battery than the besieged town.&rdquo; He also states
-    that as a result of finding an &ldquo;unburnt specimen&rdquo; in the
-    town after the bombardment of Copenhagen trials were conducted
-    by Captain Schuhmacher, although how an unburnt
-    rocket could reach the town is not clear; possibly he means
-    from a reconstruction of the remains collected.</p>
-
-  <p>These trials seem to have been successful, and in 1808 a
-    rocket brigade was formed.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1809 Admiral Cochrane used rockets upon the town
-    of Callao, in 1810 they were used against Cadiz, and in 1813
-    in the battle of Leipsic, where the commanding officer,
-    Captain Bogeu, was killed, and at the siege of Dantzic. It is
-    interesting to note that during that year they were used for
-    propaganda purposes. At the siege of Glogau proclamations,
-    etc., were printed on thin paper and fastened to the sticks
-    with light thread. Rockets were used with effect at Waterloo,
-    the rocket detachment being directed by Sergeant Dunnet.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1813 Colonel Augustin, of the Austrian army, saw
-    the English rocket batteries in action and trials of Congreve
-    rockets in London, and the following year visited Copenhagen,
-    where by arrangement between the two Powers he
-    was instructed by Schuhmacher in his method of rocket construction.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">161</span></p>
-
-  <p>The Austrian Government as a result established shortly
-    afterwards an extensive factory at Weinerisch-Neustadt for
-    the manufacture of war rockets.</p>
-
-  <p>Much work and ingenuity was expended about this time
-    in seeking to eliminate the necessity of the rocket stick. Congreve
-    is credited with introducing fins similar in action to the
-    feathers on an arrow; this, however, had been done nearly
-    one hundred years previously, and Frézier illustrates the
-    method in his treatise.</p>
-
-  <p>A Mr. Heath, of Boston, is credited with having reached a
-    range of two and a half-miles with a five-pound rocket of this
-    type.</p>
-
-  <p>Garnier in 1813 proposed to avoid the alteration in position
-    of the centre of gravity by using a wire or chain with a weight
-    at the end fastened to the centre of the rocket and hanging
-    vertically. From Ruggieri&rsquo;s book it would appear that this idea
-    had often been tried previously.</p>
-
-  <p>However, the most successful series of inventions were
-    those based on the principle of the rifle, that to give the rocket
-    a rotary motion in its passage through the air.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1815 successful trials were made in America with rockets
-    of the rotary type, rotation being imparted by means of holes
-    bored through the case into the composition in an oblique
-    direction.</p>
-
-  <p>Congreve established a factory at Bow for the manufacture
-    of rockets for the East India Company, and Captain Parlby,
-    of the Bengal Artillery, manufactured similar rockets, both
-    being made to rotate, probably on similar lines to the American
-    model. The &ldquo;Calcutta Journal&rdquo; of the period contains a discussion
-    of the rival merits of Congreve&rsquo;s and Parlby&rsquo;s rockets.</p>
-
-  <p>Hale patented a rocket constructed on similar lines as
-    late as 1844, the holes at the side of the case being nearly
-    tangential. He also gave his name to a service rocket&mdash;Hale&rsquo;s
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">162</span>24 pr. and 9 pr. These were constructed of iron with a wooden
-    head, fitted metal plug at the base with three vents, a tail piece
-    or flange continuing from the base so as to enclose half the
-    periphery of each jet. This arrangement imparts a rotary
-    motion to the rocket.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1853 Macintosh patented a method of rotating the tube
-    from which the rocket was fired so as to give an initial rotary
-    movement before the flight commences.</p>
-
-  <p>The following year Fitzmaurice patented the idea of
-    causing rotation by a screw-shaped head, and Court a method
-    by which the fire impinged on surfaces inclined to the axis of
-    the rocket.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1826 Congreve patented a method of fixing two or
-    more rockets together so that the heading of one ignited the
-    next and so obtained a longer time of burning; this method
-    is, however, again anticipated in Frézier&rsquo;s book.</p>
-
-  <p>About this time all the leading Powers in Europe were
-    manufacturing rockets for war purposes, factories for their
-    manufacture being established at Warsaw, Turin, Toulon,
-    and Metz. The Russians used them at this period in their war
-    with Turkey, firing them in salvoes of nine.</p>
-
-  <p>In 1831 a series of trials were made by the Swiss military
-    authorities of 6 lb. rockets fired from a 6 ft. tube, when a
-    range of from 18–1900 yards was obtained, and three hits
-    registered out of five were made at 1,100 yards.</p>
-
-  <p>Although great interest was aroused by the rocket for war
-    purposes, it quickly subsided, and it is now practically only
-    used for signalling and line-carrying purposes.</p>
-
-  <p>William Bourne, who describes himself as a &ldquo;poor
-    gunner,&rdquo; the first to produce an original book on artillery in
-    this country, as distinct from translation of continental works,
-    makes the following observations on military pyrotechnics:
-    &ldquo;Divers gunners and other men have devised sundry sorts of
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">163</span>fireworks for the annoyance of their enemies, yet as far as I
-    have ever seen or heard, I never knew any good service done
-    by it, either by sea or land, but only by powder, and that has
-    done great service for that the force of it is so mighty and
-    cometh with such a terror. But for their other fireworks it is
-    rather meet to be used in the time of pleasure in the night
-    rather than for any service.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_10a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">164</span>
-    <h3 title="X. MILITARY PYROTECHNY IN THE GREAT WAR">CHAPTER <abbr title="10">X</abbr><br /><br />
-      MILITARY PYROTECHNY IN THE GREAT WAR</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">The</span> outbreak of the great war, whatever may have
-    been the case as regards other branches, found the
-    Service badly equipped pyrotechnically. The great
-    and almost frantic interest taken in military pyrotechny
-    during the first half of the nineteenth century had died away.
-    Gradually the pyrotechnic stores included in the official
-    schedule had been reduced until in 1914 a few rockets&mdash;mostly
-    signal&mdash;lights for signalling and illumination, Very
-    pistol cartridges for signalling purposes, with single stars of
-    various colours, and incendiary and light stars for shells constituted
-    the entire list.</p>
-
-  <p>The cause of this neglect of the art of pyrotechny for warlike
-    purposes was not difficult to understand. Rifled barrels,
-    breech-loading, and quick-firing ordnance had entirely
-    destroyed interest in the rocket as a projectile. The telephone
-    and telegraph had almost entirely superseded older methods
-    of signalling, and so with most of the pyrotechnic contrivances
-    which, less than a century before, had been thought to be
-    indispensable.</p>
-
-  <p>As events proved, this abandonment of old ideas was
-    premature. Although every thinking man in the country
-    realised that war was some day inevitable, no one, or at least
-    very few, realised the nature of the struggle. The development
-    of land war into what were practically siege operations
-    on a gigantic scale; the nature of sea warfare with the new
-    factors, the submarine, seaplane and wireless; the extent and
-    ferocity of aerial warfare&mdash;all were unforeseen. Yet each of
-    these called for new inventions, new methods of destruction,
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">165</span>new methods of protection and communication, and in many
-    cases the resuscitation of old ideas long since abandoned.</p>
-
-  <p>And as fire has for all time been associated with the sword,
-    it is small wonder that pyrotechny played no inconspicuous
-    part in the struggle.</p>
-
-  <p>As has always been the case, and no doubt always will be,
-    the outbreak of hostilities was the signal for an epidemic of
-    inventions. Men who had never before interested themselves
-    either in war, or in that particular department of science to
-    which their ideas belong, and in spite of or perhaps because
-    of an entire ignorance of the subject, inundated the authorities
-    with so-called inventions which were so much waste of time
-    to all concerned.</p>
-
-  <p>In this connection it is interesting to turn to a volume of
-    &ldquo;Abridgements of Specifications relating to Fire-arms and
-    Other Weapons,&rdquo; published by the Patent Office in 1859.
-    The preface contains the following remarks: &ldquo;It is worthy
-    of notice that a very large proportion of the so-called inventions
-    of the present day are, in fact, old contrivances, sometimes
-    modified and adapted to modern requirements, but
-    very often identical with what has been tried and abandoned
-    as useless long ago. From the year 1617 down to the end of
-    the year 1852, not more than about 300 patents were granted
-    for inventions relating to fire-arms. When the war with Russia
-    broke out the Patent Office was inundated with applications
-    for Letters Patent for similar inventions, and about 600 have
-    since been actually granted. Of these it may be safely said
-    that five-sixths of the applications related to old contrivances
-    which have been patented over and over again.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>Many of these inventions recall a story of the Duke of
-    Wellington, who was examining a steam rocket invented and
-    patented by a Jacob Perkins in 1824. This device consisted
-    of an iron case with a stick like that of a rocket. The case was
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">166</span>filled with water and had a fusible metal plug at the base. The
-    case was heated, and when the plug melted the generated
-    steam escaped and impinging on the air drove forward the
-    projectile. The absurdity of the idea is too obvious to need
-    discussion. The Duke carefully examined it, and after asking
-    many questions, remarked: &ldquo;If this had been invented first
-    and gunpowder afterwards, what a capital improvement gunpowder
-    would have been.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>The great war saw these &ldquo;inventions&rdquo; multiplied a
-    thousand-fold. The spread of education, the availability of
-    books from which at least a smattering of any subject could
-    be obtained, and from the increase both in quality and
-    quantity of newspaper news a consequent closer knowledge
-    of what was happening&mdash;all these factors helped to add to
-    the crop of ideas. In many cases undoubtedly these ideas
-    were elaborated and worked out by the inventor, adopted
-    by the authorities, and proved of the highest value. These
-    cases were, however, greatly in the minority, and were generally
-    the work of one who had at least some pre-knowledge of
-    his subject. Such a man was the late Wing-Commander F. A.
-    Brock, R.N.A.S., of whom it can be said without fear of
-    contradiction no one man did more for military pyrotechny
-    during the great war, and possibly in no other single subject
-    during the war was one man so invaluable.</p>
-
-  <p>Born in 1884, educated at Dulwich, he entered the firm
-    of C. T. Brock and Co. in 1901, where he remained until the
-    outbreak of war. Endowed with a marked inventive ability
-    and a phenomenal memory, and brought up as it were in an
-    atmosphere of pyrotechny, he developed a knowledge of pyrotechnic
-    chemistry which was extraordinary and appeared
-    almost instinctive.</p>
-
-  <p>A naval correspondent, writing in &ldquo;The Navy,&rdquo; speaks
-    of him as follows: &ldquo;From H<sub>2</sub>O to WO<sub>2</sub> they knew all
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">167</span>about it, or thought they did until the wayward genius of the
-    Commander, who never pretended to be a chemist, taught
-    them that there were permutations and combinations to the
-    <i>n</i>th degree that they had never dared to think of.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow66" id="i166" style="max-width: 50em">
-    <img src="images/i166.jpg" class="w100" width="796" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">WING-COMMANDER FRANK ARTHUR BROCK, R.N.A.S.<br />
-      Killed at Zeebrugge, April 23rd, 1918.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>&ldquo;Wing-Commander Brock&rsquo;s great secret was originality.
-    To the accepted formula he would add just a touch of the
-    unexpected. The chemists would say it can&rsquo;t be done, or it
-    wouldn&rsquo;t work. Sometimes it did not, but often it did, very
-    nearly. And Brock&rsquo;s pioneer brain touched it a bit more&mdash;and
-    lo! the impossible and the unexpected had arrived.&rdquo;</p>
-
-  <p>During his connection with the firm he had travelled over
-    a large portion of the world on its behalf. His experience at
-    a comparatively early age in organising and carrying out large
-    displays&mdash;where the safety of thousands of spectators is in
-    the hands of the directing mind&mdash;no doubt did much to
-    develop those qualities of self-reliance and self-confidence
-    which were so marked a characteristic of his Service career.</p>
-
-  <p>Wing-Commander Brock was responsible for many pyrotechnic
-    inventions, and for the practical development of many
-    ideas and inventions not his own, but which required technical
-    knowledge and experience to ensure success.</p>
-
-  <p>It is perhaps as the &ldquo;inventor of the smoke screen&rdquo; that
-    he is best known, a quite mistaken idea, the fallacy of which
-    a moment&rsquo;s consideration will show. There are many references
-    to the use of smoke as a screen in classic times and even
-    in mythology. The smoke ball, as we have seen, was a recognised
-    military store up to the middle of the last century. It is
-    just as absurd to credit Commander Brock, or for that matter
-    any living man, with the invention of the use of the smoke
-    screen in warfare as to credit the inventor of a patent fire
-    extinguisher with the idea of putting out fires.</p>
-
-  <p>What Commander Brock did do was to provide the means
-    when the demand arose of producing smoke suited to the
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">168</span>particular purpose for which it was to be used, whether for
-    screens, signalling, or other purposes.</p>
-
-  <p>As an example the &ldquo;E&rdquo; float may be cited. A demand
-    had arisen for a smoke-producing device for use on board
-    merchant ships to assist escape from enemy submarine
-    attack. Commander Brock, with characteristic energy, in a
-    very short space of time produced the &ldquo;E&rdquo; float, which for
-    ease in manipulation by untrained operators and volume of
-    smoke produced was probably unsurpassed by any subsequent
-    device, and on the score of cheapness it undoubtedly
-    held the field.</p>
-
-  <p>This store, which was in reality a triumph of pyrotechnic
-    design, was in appearance so simple as to mislead some at
-    least to whom greater insight might have been credited as to
-    the ingenuity of its design. Counsel at a sitting of the Royal
-    Commission on Awards to Inventors, described the float as
-    &ldquo;half-a-dozen or so drain rockets in a box.&rdquo; A remark which
-    might be considered as accurate as to describe a clock as some
-    pieces of metal in a box, were it not for the fact that the box
-    in question contained no drain rockets, or anything resembling
-    them more closely than one firework resembles another
-    designed for quite a different purpose.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow76" id="i168" style="max-width: 56.875em">
-    <img src="images/i168.jpg" class="w100" width="910" height="1200" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Smoke Float in Action.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>The requirements to be met were as follows: The apparatus
-    was to be used by men whom by nature of their employment
-    it was impossible to train individually, therefore its
-    ignition must be simple and at the same time certain and quick
-    in action, and carried on the float itself; a chamber had to
-    be provided in which to as it were accumulate the smoke
-    generated, which chamber had of necessity to have holes
-    through which the smoke could issue. As the float had to be
-    dropped after ignition from the deck of the vessel into the sea,
-    and would consequently be submerged for a short time, these
-    holes must be in some way sealed until the float rose to the
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">169</span>surface. The pyrotechnic compositions which produce the
-    greatest volume of smoke were found to take some considerable
-    time to attain their maximum of production, and separate
-    units had to be included which would develop almost instantaneously
-    a big mass of smoke, pending the generation
-    of the main supply.</p>
-
-  <p>In addition, the float must be so constructed as to remain
-    efficient when stored on the deck of a merchant vessel in all
-    weathers and conditions.</p>
-
-  <p>Two hundred thousand of these floats were issued during
-    the war.</p>
-
-  <p>The subject of smoke is one which naturally attracts the
-    attention of the pyrotechnist, although in what might be called
-    a negative direction.</p>
-
-  <p>For display work the elimination of smoke is obviously of
-    greater importance than its production, but inquiry into the
-    one of necessity leads to a knowledge of the other.</p>
-
-  <p>In some few cases the smoke generated is of value in adding
-    to the effect of the burning composition; the most noticeable
-    case of this is the use of coloured fire as flares, that is to
-    say, burnt in masses for the illumination of trees and other
-    natural features. Some years ago Messrs. C. T. Brock &amp; Co.
-    spent considerable time in eliminating as far as possible the
-    smoke from coloured fire, when it was found that without the
-    smoke the result was very poor. It was the reflection of the
-    colour on the smoke upon which the illumination depended
-    for its effect. This, however, is hardly germane to our subject,
-    but is mentioned to indicate how largely the question of
-    smoke enters into the work of the modern pyrotechnist.</p>
-
-  <p>Commander Brock had, apart from his ordinary work,
-    been engaged for some months prior to the outbreak of war
-    on the question of the production of smoke for the Admiralty,
-    and had also interested himself in the subject for commercial
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">170</span>purposes, such as insecticide and other uses. He was therefore
-    in a position, when the demand arose for smoke both for
-    naval and military use, to start research in the matter considerably
-    ahead of other inquirers, and to produce immediately
-    a smoke that would supply the needs for the time being
-    until more satisfactory means could be evolved.</p>
-
-  <p>The Royal Naval Experimental Station at Stratford, of
-    which he was in command and which he organised and
-    brought into being, had many activities besides smoke. But
-    even the exacting work of controlling its many activities was
-    not sufficient for the Commander&rsquo;s untiring energy; the
-    few moments he could snatch from his duties and the many
-    he stole from sleep were devoted to the invention and elaboration
-    of war devices. His greatest achievement was the
-    Brock anti-Zeppelin bullet, for which he and he alone is
-    responsible, and which beyond any shadow of doubt delivered
-    this country from the terror of the Zeppelin raids.</p>
-
-  <p>His other inventions include many purely pyrotechnic
-    smoke devices and inventions connected with the production
-    of smoke, such as igniters which were used to start the action
-    of smoke production, the Dover flares of one million candle
-    power each, used by the anti-submarine patrol in the Straits of
-    Dover, and burned to the extent of several hundreds every night.</p>
-
-  <p>He was also responsible for several forms of stars for use
-    in Very pistol cartridges.</p>
-
-  <p>Captain Carpenter, V.C., in his splendid book, &ldquo;The
-    Blocking of Zeebrugge,&rdquo; writes as follows of his work in connection
-    with that operation:</p>
-
-  <blockquote>
-    <p>&ldquo;It would be difficult for anybody to speak too highly of
-      Wing-Commander Frank A. Brock. He was a rare personality.
-      An inventive genius, than whom the country had no better,
-      it was his brain that differentiated this blocking enterprise
-      <span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">171</span>from all previous attempts in history in one most important
-      particular. The difficulty of reaching the destination in the
-      face of a strenuous opposition had hitherto brought failure,
-      but he provided an antidote in the form of a satisfactory artificial
-      fog designed to protect the blockships from the enemy&rsquo;s
-      guns during the critical period of approach. That in itself
-      was a wonderful achievement, but his inventive mind was not
-      satisfied therewith. To him we owed the special flares intended
-      for turning darkness into light.</p>
-
-    <p>&ldquo;A special buoy was wanted&mdash;one that would automatically
-      provide its own light on being thrown into the water. Brock
-      made so little of the problem that he produced such a buoy,
-      designed, constructed and ready for use in less than twenty-four
-      hours. Special signal lights were required: Brock produced
-      them. Flame projectors, far exceeding anything hitherto
-      known, were mooted: Brock produced them also. No matter
-      what our requirements were Brock was undefeated. With a
-      highly scientific brain he possessed extraordinary knowledge
-      of almost any subject. He had travelled much and could tell
-      you all that was worth knowing of any country from Patagonia
-      to Spitzbergen. He was no mean authority on old prints
-      and books, was also a keen philatelist, and was blessed with a
-      remarkable memory. Wherever he went he carried with him a
-      pocket edition of the New Testament, which was his favourite
-      possession; his knowledge of the contents was quite unique.
-      And with it all he was a great shot and an all-round sportsman.
-      His fine physique was well remembered by many a Rugby
-      footballer from the days when he played in the pack of one of
-      the leading club fifteens. His geniality and humour were hard
-      to beat. But of all his qualities, optimism perhaps held first
-      place. At times we, who were far from being pessimistic,
-      thought his optimism excessive, but it was justified absolutely
-      with regard to the success of the enterprise.&rdquo;</p>
-  </blockquote>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">172</span></p>
-
-  <p>The &ldquo;Very&rdquo; was a pre-war invention, patented in 1878;
-    it was not adopted into the Service until about ten years later.
-    It consists of a short-barrelled pistol of 1 inch calibre&mdash;or
-    rather that was the original size, a 1&frac12; inch pattern was introduced
-    during the war, and subsequently a 1&frac12; inch pattern
-    with a longer barrel and shoulder piece.</p>
-
-  <p>The original cartridge was in effect a single star Roman
-    candle, fired by percussion. A small propelling charge drove
-    out a single coloured star, either red, white, green or blue.
-    The star rose to a height of about 300 feet. These were used
-    purely for signalling purposes.</p>
-
-  <p>The war suggested another use of the &ldquo;Very&rdquo; pistol,
-    that is for illuminating purposes, and various illuminating
-    stars were introduced, both to light up upon reaching their
-    objective with a range of two to three hundred yards, and to
-    hang suspended from a parachute, similar to the old parachute
-    light ball, but with many times the brilliance, although considerably
-    less in size.</p>
-
-  <p>The difficulty of identifying coloured stars in daylight suggested
-    the use of coloured smokes. These were successfully
-    evolved by Major Wicks and Captain Gray, an achievement
-    of far greater difficulty than the casual observer might
-    think.</p>
-
-  <p>Apart from these synthetically prepared colours, the yellow
-    smoke natural to orpiment was much used in signal stars.</p>
-
-  <p>Later stars were suggested by Commander Brock, which
-    ascended burning white and at their height broke into two, and
-    in a subsequent pattern into three, stars of varying colours.</p>
-
-  <p>The rifle grenade, which was fired by a rod fixed to the
-    base of the grenade and running down the barrel of a rifle,
-    being blown out by a cartridge without a bullet, was also
-    fitted up for signalling purposes. Upon opening, a series of
-    lights, arranged to code, were suspended from a parachute.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">173</span></p>
-
-  <p>Recognition and illuminating lights were constructed for
-    use from aeroplanes, and were ignited by dropping through
-    a launching tube fixed to the machine, which made contact
-    and fired them electrically as they passed through.</p>
-
-  <p>Landing lights and wing-tip lights, electrically ignited,
-    were other stores used in connection with aerial warfare.</p>
-
-  <p>Another was the incendiary bomb. Until the outbreak of
-    war the incendiary composition for use as stars in incendiary
-    shells was of a most primitive nature, and even during the
-    war incendiary compositions were used which were ridiculous
-    in comparison with those produced later.</p>
-
-  <p>The construction also of some of the earlier efforts was
-    quite as absurd. Projectiles were devised in a thin paper case,
-    intended to be dropped from heights of many thousand feet,
-    and ignite on impact, whereas the impact produced by the
-    velocity of a projectile after such a fall was sufficient to
-    scatter the case and its ingredients in all directions.</p>
-
-  <p>It was the use of aluminium in pyrotechny which pointed
-    the way to real incendiary composition, composition which
-    exceeds the temperature of these primitive pitch and other
-    elementary compositions by many times more than the flame
-    of a candle exceeds the temperature of ice.</p>
-
-  <p>Bombs containing thermit, and later on thermalloy (a
-    composition which set hard, and did away with the necessity
-    of a case), were terrible weapons, giving a temperature which
-    has hardly been exceeded by other means.</p>
-
-  <p>These compositions were almost identical with some of
-    those containing aluminium used in pyrotechny for a considerable
-    time before the war, but of course not for incendiary
-    purposes. The intense heat is naturally accompanied by
-    brilliant light, which was of great value to the pyrotechnists,
-    the more so as aluminium compositions do not deteriorate
-    on being kept as do those containing magnesium, and although
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">174</span>the light is not quite so brilliant, and has less actinic value,
-    the fact that it is considerably cheaper, combined with its
-    keeping qualities, renders it a very satisfactory substitute for
-    that rather expensive metal, in very many cases at least.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Chap_11a">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">175</span>
-    <h3 title="XI. THE CIVIL USE OF FIREWORKS">CHAPTER <abbr title="11">XI</abbr><br /><br />
-      THE CIVIL USE OF FIREWORKS</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <p class="drop-cap"><span class="uppercase">The</span> utility of fireworks and the number of purposes
-    to which they have been applied are far greater than
-    most people imagine, both at sea, where possibly
-    their usefulness is most fully exploited, on land, and since the
-    war and its consequent developments of aeronautics, in the air.</p>
-
-  <p>Firework signals at sea are used in almost endless variety
-    for the purpose of identifying vessels at night. Each shipping
-    line has its own signal or signals, which are fired on such
-    occasions as when passing Lloyd&rsquo;s signal stations. These
-    signals consist of hand lights, Roman candles, rockets, or
-    Coston lights. The last-mentioned is a small hand light which
-    is arranged to burn with either one colour or two or more
-    colours in succession. This signal is used by the majority of
-    foreign vessels. The signal used may be either lights burnt
-    singly or together, or a light or lights burnt in combination
-    with Roman candles or rockets. By making use of the various
-    combinations a great number and variety of signals have been
-    arrived at: a few typical examples will illustrate the kind of
-    signals used.</p>
-
-  <p>The Zud-Amerika Lyn of Amsterdam burns a white light
-    at stern, green at bridge and blue at bow. The White Star have
-    a green light at bow and green at stern. W. Johnston and Co.,
-    a green light followed by a Roman candle, throwing three
-    red and three blue stars, followed by a white light. The Aberdeen
-    have a red light followed by a Roman candle, throwing
-    red, white and blue stars three times successively, shown from
-    aft. J. L. Burnham and Co., a blue light changing to white,
-    then to red, followed by a red star.</p>
-
-  <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">176</span></p>
-
-  <p>The Cunard Line, off the coast of Ireland, fire a blue light
-    followed by two golden star rockets. The Ulster Steamship
-    Co. fire three vertical lights, yellow, blue and red, followed
-    by two Roman candles fired together, each throwing two
-    yellow, two blue and two red stars.</p>
-
-  <p>These examples will give some idea of the variety of signals
-    used; they are often followed by another signal, or rather have
-    a suffix which if fired has a particular meaning. For instance,
-    a red light after the signal may mean &ldquo;All&rsquo;s well,&rdquo; or a green
-    may signify a wish to communicate. Some lines bring the
-    whistle into the signal and combine long and short blasts
-    with pyrotechnic signals.</p>
-
-  <p>Besides the house signals there are some generally accepted
-    signals used by all vessels. A blue light is the signal for a pilot
-    in all waters, except those of the United States. It is curious,
-    however, that no universal pyrotechnic signal of distress has
-    yet been arranged, although in 1889 Mr. F. Crundall endeavoured
-    to get a standard distress signal recognised by shipping
-    throughout the world. This signal, which consisted of a Roman
-    candle surrounded at the mouth by four lights which burnt
-    simultaneously with it, was demonstrated before the Board
-    of Trade, and was distinguishable across the Channel at
-    Dover, but was, however, not universally adopted.</p>
-
-  <p>Another extensive field use of pyrotechnic signals at sea is in
-    the fishing industry. Lights and rockets are used to communicate
-    between vessels of the fishing fleets and with the carriers.</p>
-
-  <p>The use of such signals by the coastguard and the Lifeboat
-    Institution and at harbours and ports throughout the
-    world is also very great.</p>
-
-  <p>Another pyrotechnic store of the greatest utility is the line-carrying
-    rocket, a device which has been responsible for the
-    saving of thousands of lives.</p>
-
-  <p>The credit for suggesting this use of the rocket appears
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">177</span>to belong to a Mr. Trengouse, of Cornwall. This was in 1807.
-    The proposal did not, however, make as much headway as it
-    should have done, owing to the fact that Capt. Manley had
-    that year introduced a device with a similar purpose, the line
-    being carried by a shot fired from a mortar. This idea had
-    been previously worked out by a <abbr title="Sergeant">Sergt.</abbr> Bell of the Royal
-    Artillery and by La Fère, a Frenchman, the two working independently.</p>
-
-  <p>The Manley apparatus was officially adopted, and stations
-    established at forty-five positions round the coast.</p>
-
-  <p>The rocket method was, however, revived in 1826 by a
-    Mr. Dennett, of Newport, Isle of Wight, and four stations
-    were established on the island for the use of rockets of his
-    pattern. The advantages of the rocket over the shot apparatus
-    are obvious&mdash;the lightness and mobility of the rocket trough
-    as compared with a mortar, the fact that the rocket traces its
-    own flight, which can be seen and followed even at night,
-    not to mention greater simplicity in working. However, it
-    was not until 1855, when a rocket of greater range was invented
-    by <abbr title="Colonel">Col.</abbr> Boxer, of the Royal Laboratory, that the rocket
-    as a line carrier came into its own.</p>
-
-  <p>The Boxer rocket consisted actually of two rocket cases
-    joined head to tail, and so arranged that when the first case
-    had burnt out it was blown off, and the second gave renewed
-    impetus. This rocket is still in use at the Board of Trade
-    rocket stations.</p>
-
-  <p>A further development of the line-carrying rocket which
-    is making rapid headway is a compact apparatus designed for
-    use on the wrecked vessel to carry a line to the shore.</p>
-
-  <p>This system has two great advantages, namely, the target
-    is so much greater when firing from the ship, consisting as it
-    does of the whole coast line, whereas the ship forms in comparison
-    an insignificant mark from the shore. Again, a vessel
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">178</span>is generally wrecked on a lee shore, so that in firing from the
-    ship the rocket travels with the wind.</p>
-
-  <p>Both the Brock and Schermuley systems are designed for
-    this purpose, and there is little doubt that in a few years all
-    vessels will carry their own means of establishing communication
-    with the shore.</p>
-
-  <p>As a further development of the line-carrying rocket, it is
-    interesting to note that Congreve, in association with <abbr title="Lieutenant">Lieut.</abbr>
-    J. M. Colquhoun, took out a patent for the use of the rocket
-    as a harpoon in whale fishing, which, if it proved satisfactory
-    in use, must have been a marked advance, especially as this
-    was before the advent of the now universally used harpoon
-    gun.</p>
-
-  <p>Another pyrotechnic invention responsible for the saving
-    of many lives is the Hale&rsquo;s Light apparatus. This apparatus is
-    fitted to a lifebuoy, which is arranged for launching from a
-    vessel&rsquo;s bridge; the act of launching ignites a flare, enabling
-    the person in the water to see the buoy and the rescuing boat
-    to pick them up.</p>
-
-  <p>The practical use to which fireworks have been put on
-    land are many. Probably that which comes most readily to
-    the mind is the sound signal or alarm. Many fire brigades
-    whose members are volunteers and therefore scattered use
-    aerial maroons to warn and call them for duty. These maroons
-    became familiar to Londoners during the air raid period in
-    the late war.</p>
-
-  <p>The maroon has also been adopted for firing with a trip
-    line as a burglar alarm, or for protecting game preserves or
-    similar purposes.</p>
-
-  <p>Another well-known pyrotechnic sound signal is the fog
-    signal used on the railways, which consists of a tinned iron
-    envelope containing a mixture of chlorate of potash and red
-    phosphorus. It is secured in position on the rail by two lead
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">179</span>clips provided for the purpose, and is fired by percussion on
-    the impact of the engine wheel. Bird scarers, consisting of a
-    series of single crackers connected by a time fuse, and so
-    arranged as to fire at regular intervals, have been much used
-    for the protection of seed and crops.</p>
-
-  <p>The miner&rsquo;s squib and chieza stick or fuse lighter are to
-    all intents port-fires for lighting the fuse in blasting operations
-    in mines, their form and composition being adapted to the
-    particular circumstances of their use.</p>
-
-  <div class="figcenter illow100" id="i178" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/i178.jpg" class="w100" width="1200" height="800" alt="" />
-    <div class="caption">Crystal Palace. From a photograph taken by the light of a magnesium shell.<br />
-      The crowd at &ldquo;Brock&rsquo;s Benefit&rdquo; (64,000 persons present).</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <p>The use of pyrotechnic compositions for photographic
-    purposes is well known; those in use at the present generally
-    contain magnesium, which has greater actinic value than any
-    other firework composition.</p>
-
-  <p>Magnesium lights fitted up to fire with a trip line have
-    been successfully used for obtaining photographs of big game
-    in their native surroundings at night.</p>
-
-  <p>Smoke pyrotechnically produced has for several years been
-    used for the testing of drains, and recently successful experiments
-    have been carried out establishing the value of smoke
-    as a protection for fruit blossom against frost.</p>
-
-  <p>It has also been used as an insecticide for use against
-    various kinds of parasites; a poisonous smoke has been found
-    of great use in the dislodging and exterminating of rats.</p>
-
-  <p>Another agricultural use of pyrotechnic, or in this case
-    perhaps more correctly explosive composition, is the use of
-    explosive cartridges for ploughing; that is, cartridges are
-    exploded at a certain depth in the ground, the effect being
-    to break up the subsoil. The explosive used is a mild and
-    cheap form of dynamite.</p>
-
-  <p>The use of rockets and other explosive fireworks for producing
-    rain has been much discussed recently. Many writers
-    deny the possibility of success by such means. There cannot
-    be the slightest doubt, however, that given clouds in the right
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">180</span>condition and altitude it is quite possible to cause rain. The
-    writer has seen it done, not once but many times; generally
-    it must be admitted when the rain was not wanted. Maroons
-    fired in wide-mouthed mortars have been used on the Continent
-    for some years to break up hail clouds and bring them
-    down in the form of rain over the vineyards, where a hail storm
-    is a serious calamity to the wine grower.</p>
-
-  <p>The use of pyrotechnic signals in connection with aerial
-    travel is gradually increasing. The stores used are practically
-    those evolved and adopted during the great war, modified in
-    some cases to suit peace time requirements, but substantially
-    they are those described in the chapter on Military Pyrotechny.</p>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="List">
-    <span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">181</span>
-    <h3>LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL INGREDIENTS USED IN<br />
-      PYROTECHNY AT THE PRESENT TIME.</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="center"><i>Force and Sparks Compositions.</i></div>
-
-  <div class="center">
-    <ul class="block-contents">
-      <li>Saltpetre</li>
-      <li>Sulphur</li>
-      <li>Charcoal</li>
-      <li>Mealed Gunpowder</li>
-      <li>Iron Borings</li>
-      <li>Steel Filings</li>
-      <li>Zinc Filings</li>
-      <li>Aluminium and Alloys</li>
-      <li>Magnesium and Alloys</li>
-      <li>Lampblack</li>
-      <li>Orpiment (Sulphide of Arsenic)</li>
-      <li>Black Antimony (Sulphide of Antimony)</li>
-    </ul>
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="center"><i>Chlorate Colour Compositions.</i></div>
-
-  <table class="w50" summary="Pyrotechny Ingredients">
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdc" colspan="4"><div>Chlorate of Potash or Perchlorate of Potash.</div></td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Red</td>
-      <td class="tdr x300" rowspan="3"><div>{</div></td>
-      <td class="tdl">Nitrate</td>
-      <td class="tdl">of Strontia</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl">Carbonate</td>
-      <td class="tdl">&nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; „</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl">Sulphate</td>
-      <td class="tdl">&nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; „</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl" rowspan="3">Green</td>
-      <td class="tdr x300" rowspan="3"><div>{</div></td>
-      <td class="tdl">Nitrate</td>
-      <td class="tdl">of Baryta</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl">Carbonate</td>
-      <td class="tdl">&nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; „</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl">Sulphate</td>
-      <td class="tdl">&nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; „</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl" rowspan="4">Blue</td>
-      <td class="tdr x400" rowspan="4"><div>{</div></td>
-      <td class="tdl">Carbonate</td>
-      <td class="tdl">of Copper</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl">Sulphide</td>
-      <td class="tdl">&nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; „</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl">Arsenite</td>
-      <td class="tdl">&nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; „</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl">Calomel</td>
-      <td class="tdl">&nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; „</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl" rowspan="2">Yellow</td>
-      <td class="tdr x200" rowspan="2"><div>{</div></td>
-      <td class="tdl">Oxalate</td>
-      <td class="tdl">of Soda</td>
-    </tr>
-    <tr>
-      <td class="tdl">Carbonate</td>
-      <td class="tdl">&nbsp; „ &nbsp; „</td>
-    </tr>
-  </table>
-
-  <div class="center">For extra brightness Magnesium added.<br />
-    Secondary tints obtained by mixtures of the above.</div>
-
-  <div class="center mt2"><i>Non-Chlorate Colour Compositions.</i></div>
-
-  <div class="center">
-    <ul class="block-contents">
-      <li>Saltpetre</li>
-      <li>Sulphur</li>
-      <li>Charcoal</li>
-      <li>Black Antimony</li>
-      <li>White Arsenic</li>
-      <li>Orpiment</li>
-      <li>Aluminium</li>
-      <li>Magnesium</li>
-      <li>Sulphate of Copper</li>
-      <li>Borax</li>
-    </ul>
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="center"><i>Burnables.</i></div>
-
-  <div class="center">
-    <ul class="block-contents">
-      <li>Shellac</li>
-      <li>Pitch</li>
-      <li>Sterine</li>
-      <li>Paraffin</li>
-      <li>Sugar of Milk</li>
-      <li>Linseed Oil</li>
-    </ul>
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="center"><i>Agglutinants.</i></div>
-
-  <div class="center">
-    <ul class="block-contents">
-      <li>Shellac and Spirit</li>
-      <li>Starch Paste</li>
-      <li>Gum Water</li>
-      <li>Linseed Oil</li>
-      <li>Dextrine</li>
-    </ul>
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="center"><i>Sound Producing.</i></div>
-
-  <div class="center">
-    <ul class="block-contents">
-      <li>Gunpowder</li>
-      <li>Gun-cotton</li>
-      <li>Picrate of Potash</li>
-      <li>Chlorate of Potash</li>
-      <li>Aluminium</li>
-    </ul>
-  </div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Biblio">
-    <span class="pagenum">182</span>
-    <h3>PYROTECHNIC BIBLIOGRAPHY</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <ul class="biblio">
-    <li class="mt1"><i>Manuscripts</i></li>
-
-    <li>1225.&nbsp; Treatise of the Ruses of War, the capturing of Towns and the
-      Defence of Passes, according to the instructions of Alexander
-      son of Philip (in the Leyden Library).</li>
-
-    <li>1432.&nbsp; <span lang="de">Feuerwerksbuch</span> (MS. 362 in the University Library of Freiburg
-      i. B.).</li>
-
-    <li>1438.&nbsp; (about). Latin Manuscript, with enumeration of materials for
-      all fires (<abbr title="number">No.</abbr> 197 in the Royal Library, Munich).</li>
-
-    <li class="mt1"><i>Printed Books</i></li>
-
-    <li>1529.&nbsp; Strassburg. Anonymous: <span lang="de">Buchsenmeisterei von Geschoss,
-      Buchsenpulver, Salpeter und Feuerwerk</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1540.&nbsp; Venice. <span lang="it">Vanuccio Biringuccio: De la pirotechnia</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1573.&nbsp; London. Peter Whitehorne: How to make Saltpetre, Gunpowder, etc.</li>
-
-    <li>1578.&nbsp; William Bourne: Inventions and Devices.</li>
-
-    <li>1579.&nbsp; Leonard Diggs: <span lang="it">Stratistico</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1588.&nbsp; London. Cyprian Lucar: Lucar Appendix, collected to shew
-      the Properties, Office and Dutie of a Gunner, and to teach
-      him to make and refine artificial Saltpeeter to sublime for Gunpowder,
-      etc. (annexed to a translation of Tartagalia&rsquo;s book).</li>
-
-    <li>1591.&nbsp; London. Anonymous: A profitable and Necessary Book of
-      Observations for all those that are burned with the flame of
-      Gunpowder, etc.</li>
-
-    <li>1607.&nbsp; Argentorati (Strassburg) Albertus Magnus: <span lang="la">De mirabilibus mundi</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1614.&nbsp; Diego Ufano: Artillery.</li>
-
-    <li><i><abbr title="circa">c.</abbr></i> 1620. W. Eldred: The Gunners Glasse.</li>
-
-    <li>1628.&nbsp; Robert Norton: The Gunner.</li>
-
-    <li>1629.&nbsp; F. Malthus (Francois de Malthe): Treatise of Artificial Fireworks.</li>
-
-    <li>1630.&nbsp; Pont-à-Mousson. Jean Appier, alias Hanzelet: <span lang="fr">La Pyrotechnie</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1635.&nbsp; London. John Bate: Mysteries of Nature and Art. The
-      Second Book teaching most plainly and withall most exactly
-      the composing of all manner of Fireworks for Tryumph and
-      Recreation.</li>
-
-    <li><span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">183</span>1635.&nbsp; London. John Babington: Pyrotechnia.</li>
-
-    <li>1643.&nbsp; Robert Norton: The Gunners Dialogue.</li>
-
-    <li>1648.&nbsp; Worcester, Nathanael Nye: The Art of Gunnery.</li>
-
-    <li>1650.&nbsp; Casimir Siemienowitz: Great Art of Artillery. (Translated
-      into English by George Shelvocke in 1729.)</li>
-
-    <li>1698.&nbsp; Hafniae (Copenhagen). (?) Winter: <span lang="la">De pulvere Pyrio</span>. Recreation.</li>
-
-    <li>1707 &amp; 1747. Paris. Frézier: <span lang="fr">Traité des Feux d&rsquo;Artifice</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1710.&nbsp; Frankfort. (?) Sinceri: <span lang="de">Salpetersieder und Feuerwerker</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1735.&nbsp; Paris. Jean Baptiste Du-Halde: <span lang="fr">Description géographique
-      historique, Chronologique et physique de l&rsquo;empire de la Chine
-      et de la Tartarie chinoise</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1740.&nbsp; Paris. Perinet-d&rsquo;Orval: <span lang="fr">Essay sur les Feux d&rsquo;Artifice</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1755.&nbsp; Frankfort. Anonymous: <span lang="de">Der Wohlerfahrne Salpetersieder
-      und Feuerwerker</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1765 &amp; 1776. London. Lieut. Robert Jones: A new Treatise on
-      Artificial Fireworks.</li>
-
-    <li>1801 &amp; 1821. Paris. Claude-Fortuné Ruggieri: <span lang="fr">Elémens de Pyrotechnie</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1807.&nbsp; Leipsig. <span lang="de">Die Pyrotechnie nach der Vorschriften von Claude
-      Ruggieri und Thomas Morel</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1812.&nbsp; Paris. Claude-Fortuné Ruggieri: <span lang="fr">Pyrotechnie Militaire</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1824.&nbsp; London. G. W. Mortimer: A Manual of Pyrotechny.</li>
-
-    <li>1824.&nbsp; Strassburg. J. Ravichio de Peretsdorf: <span lang="fr">Traité de pyrotechnie
-      militaire, contenant tous les artifices de guerre en usage en Autriche</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1836.&nbsp; Bruxelles. Capt. Moritz Meyer (translated into French by
-    Lieut. Hippert): <span lang="fr">Pyrotechnie Raisonnée</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1845.&nbsp; Madrid. D&rsquo;Antonio Bermejo: <span lang="es">Manual de pirotechnica militar</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1845.&nbsp; Paris. Joseph Toussaint Reinaud and General Ildephonse
-      Favé: <span lang="fr">Histoire de l&rsquo;artillerie. 1<sup>ère</sup> partie. Du feu grégois
-      des feu de guerre et des origines de la poudre à canon</span>.</li>
-
-    <li><span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">184</span>1847.&nbsp; Paris. Joseph Toussaint Reinaud and General Ildephonse
-      Favé: <span lang="fr">Controverse à propose de feu grégois. Réponse aux
-      objections de L. Lalanne</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1850.&nbsp; Breslau. Martin Websky: <span lang="de">Schule der Lustfeuerwerkerei</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1854.&nbsp; Paris. F. M. Chertier: <span lang="fr">Nouvelles recherches sur les feux
-      d&rsquo;artifice</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1859.&nbsp; London. Abridgments of the Specifications relating to Fire-Arms, etc.</li>
-
-    <li>1864.&nbsp; Philadelphia. G. Dussauce: A Practical Treatise on the
-      Fabrication of Matches, Gun-Cotton, Coloured Fires and
-      Fulminating Powders.</li>
-
-    <li>1865.&nbsp; London. &ldquo;Practicus&rdquo;: Pyrotechny, or The Art of Making Fireworks.</li>
-
-    <li>1865.&nbsp; Paris. A. D. &amp; P. Vergnaud: <span lang="fr">1<sup>ère</sup> Partie, Pyrotechnie militaire.
-      2<sup>ième</sup> Partie, Pyrotechnie Civile</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1865.&nbsp; London. Richardson &amp; Watts: Chemical Technology.</li>
-
-    <li><i><abbr title="circa">c.</abbr></i> 1870. London. &ldquo;Practicus&rdquo;: Manual of Pyrotechny.</li>
-
-    <li>1876.&nbsp; Paris. E. Désortiaux: <span lang="fr">La poudre, les corps explosifs et la
-      pyrotechnie. Traduction des ouvrages des docteurs Upmann et Meyer</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1878.&nbsp; Paris. A. Lamarre: <span lang="fr">Nouveau manuel de l&rsquo;artificier, ou traité
-      pratique pour la fabrication des feux de couleurs, etc</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1878.&nbsp; Washington. Major James M. Whittemore and Lieut. F.
-      Heath: Ammunition, Fuses, Primers, Military Pyrotechny, etc.</li>
-
-    <li>1878.&nbsp; London. Thomas Kentish: The Pyrotechnists&rsquo; Treasury.</li>
-
-    <li>1880.&nbsp; London. Dr. W. H. Browne: Practical Firework-Making for
-      Amateurs.</li>
-
-    <li>1882.&nbsp; Paris. Amédée Denisse: <span lang="fr">Traité pratique complet des feux
-      d&rsquo;artifice</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1883.&nbsp; Paris. Paul Tessier: <span lang="fr">Chimie pyrotechnique, ou traité pratique
-      des feux colorés</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1884.&nbsp; Hull. Dr. W. H. Browne: Firework Accidents.</li>
-
-    <li>1885.&nbsp; Erfurt. Oscar Frey: <span lang="de">Die Feuerwerkskunst</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1891.&nbsp; Paris. Marcelin Berthelot: <span lang="fr">Les compositions incendiares
-      dans l&rsquo;antiquité et au moyen age. Le feu grégois et les origines
-      de la poudre à canon</span>. (<cite lang="fr">Revue des Deux Mondes.</cite>)</li>
-
-    <li><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">185</span>1893.&nbsp; Trieste. <span lang="it">Domenico Antoni: Trattato Teorico&mdash;Practico de
-      Pirotecnia Civile</span>.</li>
-
-    <li>1895.&nbsp; London. Oscar Guttman: The Manufacture of Explosives.</li>
-
-    <li>1896.&nbsp; London. Warwick Wroth, F.S.A.: The London Pleasure
-      Gardens of the Eighteenth Century.</li>
-
-    <li>1906.&nbsp; Woolwich. <abbr title="Colonel">Col.</abbr> J. R. J. Jocelyn: The connection of the
-      Ordnance Department with National and Royal Fireworks.</li>
-
-    <li>1909.&nbsp; London. The Rise and Progress of the British Explosives Industry.</li>
-
-    <li>1915.&nbsp; London. <abbr title="Lieutenant-Colonel">Lieut.-Col.</abbr> H. W. L. Hime: The Origin of Artillery.</li>
-
-    <li class="mt1"><i>Encyclopædias, Periodicals, etc.</i></li>
-    <li>1753.&nbsp; Chambers&rsquo; Cyclopædia.</li>
-    <li>1802.&nbsp; English Encyclopædia.</li>
-    <li>1830.&nbsp; Brewster&rsquo;s Cyclopædia&mdash;MacCullock.</li>
-    <li>1865.&nbsp; Boys&rsquo; Own Volume: Papers on Pyrotechny, &ldquo;Practicus.&rdquo;
-      Encyclopædia Britannica.</li>
-    <li>1886.&nbsp; The Techno-Chemical Receipt Book. Brannt &amp; Wahl.</li>
-    <li>1921.&nbsp; Harmsworth Universal Encyclopædia. A. <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> H. Brock.</li>
-  </ul>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="chapter" id="Index">
-    <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">187</a></span>
-    <h3>INDEX</h3>
-  </div>
-
-  <ul class="index">
-    <li class="ifrst">Abdulla, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Aberdeen Line, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Abridgments, Patent Office, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Absent-minded Beggar, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Abusavanani, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Accidents, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Acetate of copper, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Adirvedis, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Admiralty, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Aerial maroons, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Aeroplane signal lights, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Aix, Island of, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Aix-la-Chapelle, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Albertus Magnus, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Alcohol, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Alexander the Great, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Alexander <abbr title="the second">II</abbr>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Alexandra Palace, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Alexandria, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Alphonso, Duke, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Alum, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Aluminium, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Amber, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">America, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Ammonium chloride, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Angelo, Mr., <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Antimony, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Antimony sulphide, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Antoine de Lalaing, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Antoni, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="la">Aqua ardens</span>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; vitæ, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Arabic gum, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Arc de Triomphe</span>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Arctic regions, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Arsenal, Woolwich, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Arsenic sulphide, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Arthur&rsquo;s Seat, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Artichauts</span>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Artifices portatifs, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Artillerists&rsquo; Manual, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Artillery bomb, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Astley, senior, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Avalanche, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Augustin, Col., <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Austrian Government, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Army, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Babington, John, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bacon, Roger, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bagdad, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bags, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bailey, Bill, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Balloon, Air, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Fire, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Gas, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Coehorne, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; double and triple, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Balloone, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Balon, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bate, John, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Baton à feu</span>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Battle, Bantry Bay, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Jutland, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Nile, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Trafalgar, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Tsu-Shima, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Beacon, signal, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Beaconsfield, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Beckman, Sir Martin, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bell, Sergeant, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bell&rsquo;s Weekly Messenger, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Belvue Gardens, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Benedict, Oil of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bengal lights, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; saltpetre, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bergheri, Victory of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Berlin, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bermondsey Spa, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Berthollet, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bird scarers, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bismuth, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Black antimony, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Black Jack, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Blackmore, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Blaney, Lord, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Blantyre, Africa, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Blondin, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">188</span>Blowing charge, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Blue devil, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Blue vitriol, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bobb&rsquo;s Hall Tavern, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Boiled oil, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Boleyn, Anne, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bomb, Artillery, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Firework, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Rocket, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Thermit, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; War, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bombardment, Alexandria, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Canton, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Sebastopol, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bombay, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bombshell, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bone ash, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bonfire, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bordeaux, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Borings, Iron, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Boulogne Harbour, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bounced lances, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bounces, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bouquets, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bourne, William, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bow, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Boxer, R.A., Lt.-Col., <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Boxing kangaroo, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Boxing match, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Boyers, Captain, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Brand, Peter, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bridge of Louis <abbr title="the sixteenth">XVI</abbr>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bright composition, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Brilliant fire, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Brittany, Duke of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Brock, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Arthur, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Charles Thomas, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; C. T., &amp; Co., <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; F. A., Wing Comdr., <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; William, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Brooklyn Bridge, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Burglar alarm, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Burgundy, Duke of, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Burnham, J. L., &amp; Co., <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Bursting Charge, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Burusu, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Burying mortars, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Cadiz, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Caillot, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Calaminaris, Lapis, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Calcium phosphide, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Calcutta, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Calcutta Journal, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Callao, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Calomel, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Camphor, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Canton, Bombardment of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cap, Rocket, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Caprice, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Caps, Percussion, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Carbonate of soda, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Carcasses, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Carpet piece, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cascades, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cases, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">Wood, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">Turning, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">Bamboo, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">Rocket, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">Cap for, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">Iron, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cast iron, pulverised, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cat fight, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cathedral, Salisbury, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Worcester, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Catherine wheel, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cenotaph, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cetewayo, King, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chaillot Barriere, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Challoner, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chambers&rsquo; Encyclopædia, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Champs Elysées, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chandelle romain, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chandrajota, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Charcoal, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Charging, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Charging tools for rocket, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Charles <abbr title="the second">II</abbr>, Coronation, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Charles <abbr title="the eleventh">XI</abbr> of Sweden, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chateau Grand display, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cherbourg, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chertier, F. M., <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chesapeake and Shannon, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chester accident, Pen., U.S.A., <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Races, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chiesa stick, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chinese crackers, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; displays, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; fire, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; flyer, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; tree, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chlorate accidents, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chlorates and sulphur, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">189</span>Chlorate of potash, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chloride of ammonium, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Choke of a case, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Chromatrope, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cinnabar, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Civil and military pyrotechny, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Civita Vecchia accident, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Clanfield, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Clariner of Nuremberg, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Clarke, W., <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Classification of pieces, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Claudius, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Clayed, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Clay choke, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cleats, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Clifton Zoological Gardens, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Clithero, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Clubs, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Fire, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Coal (mineral), <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Coastguard, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cobalt oxide, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cobonell &amp; Sons, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cochrane, Admiral, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cockerill, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Coehorn Balloon, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Collins, Lottie, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Colombo, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Colossus,&rdquo; torpedo boat attack, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Coloured military smoke, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; stars, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Colour case, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; cloud shells, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Colquhoun, <abbr title="Lieutenant">Lt.</abbr>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Columbus Centenary, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Comet, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Competition, Firework, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Composition, Bright, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">Flare, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">Golden Fountain, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">for Rockets, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Incendiary, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">magnesium flash, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Slow, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Compositions, Pyrotechnic, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Compound fireworks, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cone, Paper, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cones, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Congreve, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Congreve, Sir W., <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Constantinople, Defence of, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Copenhagen, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Copper, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; acetate, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; sulphate, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Coronation of Alexander <abbr title="the second">II</abbr>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; George <abbr title="the fourth">IV</abbr>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Victoria, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; William <abbr title="the fourth">IV</abbr>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Coston light, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cotton, Madame, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cotton wick, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Courantins, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Court, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Covent Garden, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Crackers, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cremorne Gardens, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Crimean War, Peace Rejoicings, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cromwell Gardens, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Crude antimony, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Crundall, Mr. F., <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Crusaders, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Crystal Palace displays, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cullen, Peter van, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cunard Line, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Cylindrical shell, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Dallas accident, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dantzic, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Danube, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Darby, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dark fire, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dauphin 1730, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; 1782, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Delhi, Mosque at, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;De Miribilibus Mundi,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Denisse, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Denmark, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; King of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dennett, Mr., <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">D&rsquo;Ernst, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Devil, Blue, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Diamond Jubilee, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Dictionnaire Morbilier Français,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dijon, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dillar, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Display, Calcutta, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Chinese, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>,
-      <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Crystal Palace, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>,
-      <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">190</span>Display, Delhi, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; fireworks, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Guards, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Portsmouth Fleet, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Distress signal, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Don Pedro, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Double and triple balloons, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; line-rockets, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; tourbillions, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; triangle wheel, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dover, Attack on, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dragon, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Drain tester, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dreadnought, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Drewett, <a href="#Page_65">65</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Drift, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dubbing, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Duffel, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dunnet, Sergeant, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dunois, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Dutens, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">&ldquo;E&rdquo; Smoke Float, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Eagle, The, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Edward, Prince of Wales, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Eider, Wreck of the, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Elizabeth, Princess, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Queen, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Elvetham, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Emperor, 1853, Fête of the, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Emperor&rsquo;s birthday, 1859, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Empress of India, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Encyclopedia, English, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Military, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Entente Cordiale, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Erith explosion, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Eruption of Mt. Etna, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Eton, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Etoupille, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Evelyn, John, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Everyday Book,&rdquo; Hone&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Experiments at Nunhead, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Explosives Acts, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; magazine, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; ploughing, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Factory rules, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fair, Postdown, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fairbanks, Douglas, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Falcon Court firework maker, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Falling rocket sticks, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Feather, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Ferrara, Duke of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Festivals, religious, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fête, Imperial, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; of the Emperor, 1853, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fêtes, Baptismal, 1856, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Military, 1852, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Feux croises</span>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Filings, Steel, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Filling, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Finch&rsquo;s Grotto Gardens, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fine-grain powder, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fire, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; balloons, <a href="#Page_60">60</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; brilliant, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Chinese, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; clubs, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Drake, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Greek, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; lances, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; pumps, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;</li>
-    <li class="isub1">wheels, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; spur, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; torches, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; wild, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fireball, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fires, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Firework, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; accidents, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; bomb, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; competition, <a href="#Page_46">46</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; license, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; manufacture, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fireworks, Aerial, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; compound, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; daylight, <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; display, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; illegal, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; living, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; on water, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; philosophical, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Swedish, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; water, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fishing signals, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fitzmaurice, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Five-pointed star, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fixed sun, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fixt, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fizgigs, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Flannel bag, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">191</span>Flash composition, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fleet at the Nore, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Flessingen, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Flights of rockets, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Flint, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Florence, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Flower pot, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fog signal, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fountains, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Four and a half inch shell, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Fourth of June,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Frame of quickmatch, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Frames, lancework, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Frazer, Sir Augustus, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Frederick (Elector Palatine), Prince, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Frey, Oscar, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Frézier, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fulminate of mercury, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Funnel and wire, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Furiloni, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Fuse, lighter, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Roman candle, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; safety, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; time, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Fusée de table</span>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Gand, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Garden, Covent, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Garden of the Senate, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gardens, Belvue, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Bermondsey Spa, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Clifton Zoo, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Cremorne, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Cromwell, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Finch&rsquo;s Grotto, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Marylebone, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Mermaid, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Mulberry, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; North Woolwich, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Rosherville, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Surrey Zoo, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Tea and Pleasure, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Yorkshire Stingo, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Garnier, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Garniture, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gas balloon, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; poison, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Genovini, Signor, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">George <abbr title="the third">III</abbr>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">George <abbr title="the fourth">IV</abbr>, Coronation of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gerb, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">German Petre, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gibraltar, Siege of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Girande, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Girandole, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gironels, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Globe, The, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Glogau, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Glorys, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">God Save the Queen, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gola, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Golden fountain composition, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; rain, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; streamers, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Good-bye, Dolly Grey,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Good-bye, my Bluebell,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Goodship, Mr., <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Graecus, Marcus, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Grain powder, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Granules, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Greek fire, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Green man, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Park, The, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Orlando Furioso, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gregorini, Signor, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gregory, Bill, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Grenade, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; signal, Rifle, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Grey, Captain, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Griffiths, F. A., <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Ground light balls, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; rockets, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; wheels, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Guards display, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Guilloché, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gun-cotton wad, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gunpowder, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Acts, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Mealed, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Guttman, Oscar, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Gyngell, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Hague, The, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hail dispersers, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hale, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hale&rsquo;s Light apparatus, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; 24-pounder rocket, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hammerslag, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hand lights signal, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">192</span>Hanselet, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Harold Wood Factory, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hawai, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Heading, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; clay, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Heath, Mr., of Boston, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hengler, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Madame, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Henry <abbr title="the second">II</abbr>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Henry, M., <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Henry <abbr title="the eighth">VIII</abbr>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hilton, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hime, Col. H. W. L., <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hindoo pyrotechnists, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hippert, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">History of colleges, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Home Office, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hone, William, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Honeysuckle and the Bee,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hoogstraten, Count of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Horizontal wheel, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hornpipe, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hotel de Ville, Paris, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">House on fire, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Howard, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hull, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hutstein and Websky, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hyde Park, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hyder Ali, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Hyperoxymuriate of potash, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Ignium, Liber, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Illegal Fireworks, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Illuminations, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Imperial Fête, Danube, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Implacable,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Incendiary, composition, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp;rocket, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; shell, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; thermalloy, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">India, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Insecticide fumigators, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Inspector, H.M., <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Invalides, Les, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Invetto, Mrs., <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Iron, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; borings, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; cast, pulverised, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; dust, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; filings, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; magnetic oxide, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Iron oxide, mineral, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; pyrites, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; sand, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; scales, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Italian streamer, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Italians, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Ivory, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Jack and the Beanstalk, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jack-in-the-box, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jaipur, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jamaica House, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">James <abbr title="the first">I</abbr>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">James <abbr title="the second">II</abbr>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jebb, Dr., <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jenny&rsquo;s Whim, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jesuit missionary, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jewel fountain, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Johnson &amp; Co., <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Johnson, Dr., <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jones, Lieutenant, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jubilee, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; 1809, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Naval Review, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jumping cracker, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Jutland, Battle of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Kenilworth, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Kentish, Thomas, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">King&rsquo;s birthday, 4th June, 1809, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Kingston, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Koroo, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">La Fere, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lamb, Charles, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lampblack, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; compositions, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lance, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; <span lang="fr">à feu</span>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; bounced, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; work, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lances, Fire, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lancework frames, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lanterns, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lapis calaminaris, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lattice poles, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Leading up, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Leipsic, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Leo <abbr title="the sixth">VI</abbr>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Leo <abbr title="the thirteenth">XIII</abbr>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">193</span><span lang="fr">Les Invalides</span>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="la">Liber Ignium</span>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Licenses for fireworks, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lifeboat Institution, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lifting charge, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Light balls, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; ground, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; parachute, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lighter, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lights, Bengal, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Coston, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; signal, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; signal, hand, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Very signal, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Li Hung Chang, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Line-carrying rocket, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Line rockets, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Linseed oil, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Living fireworks, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lloyd&rsquo;s signal station, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">London, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Longueman, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Lord Cobham&rsquo;s Head,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Louis <abbr title="the fourteenth">XIV</abbr>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Louis <abbr title="the fifteenth">XV</abbr>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Louis <abbr title="the sixteenth">XVI</abbr>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Louvre, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lushalan, Mr., <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lutzelberg, Victory of, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lyceum, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Lyons, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Machine for fireworks, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Macintosh, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Madame la Première</span>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Madras, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Madura, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Magazine fired, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Magnesium, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; flash composition, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mahteb, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Majendie, K.C.B., Sir V. D., <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Making crackers, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Malaga, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mallet, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Manilla Bay, Battle of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Manley, Captain, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Manufacture of fireworks, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Maori King, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Marcus Graecus, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Marinari, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Maroon, Aerial, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Maroons, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Marryat, Captain, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Marylebone Gardens, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Match, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; pipes, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; quick, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; raw, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mealed gunpowder, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mechanical pieces, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mercury fulminate, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mestre, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Metz, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Meyer, Captain Moritz, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mica, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Military coloured smokes, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Encyclopedia, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; fêtes, 1852, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mine, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; of serpents, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; on wheel, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Miners&rsquo; squib, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mixing, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mortars, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mortram, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Mosaiques</span>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Moscow, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mould for rocket charging, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Mulberry Gardens, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Munitions, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Naphtha, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Napoleon, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Louis, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Marriage of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Newhaven accident, Conn., U.S.A., <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">New Wells, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Nile, Battle of the, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Nipple, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Nitrate of baryta, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; copper, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; potash, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; strontia, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Nitre, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Nomenclature of rockets, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">North Woolwich Gardens, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Nunhead experiments, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; factory, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Nuremburg, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst"> <span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">194</span>Oil of Benedict, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; petre, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; spike, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; tile, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Old Bull and Bush,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Opening charge, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="la">Opus Majus</span>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Orange, Prince of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Order in Council, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Orleans, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Orpiment, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Out,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Oxide of iron, magnetic, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; mineral, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Oxymuriate of potash, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Paduans, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Palm tree, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Paper cone, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Paris, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; accident, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Exhibition, Visit of Queen Victoria, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Park, Green, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Hyde, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> James&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Victoria, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Parkes, Samuel, <a href="#Page_144">144</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Parlby&rsquo;s rockets, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Paste, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pasting in, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pataka, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Patent Office Abridgements, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Pates d&rsquo;oie</span>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Peace, 1783, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; 1802, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; 1814, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Crimean War, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; display, Hyde Park, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pedro, Don, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pegging, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pepys, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Percussion caps, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Perkins, Jacob, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Persia, Shah of, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Petard, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Petre, Bengal, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; German, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Oil of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Petroleum, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Philippe, Don, of Spain, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Philosophical fireworks, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Philostratus, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Phosphide of calcium, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pian-King Lo Yang, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pickford, Mary, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Picrate of potash, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Piece, Mechanical, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Carpet, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Transformation set, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pieces, Classification of, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Set, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Piercing, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pilot signal, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pin wheel, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pipes, Match, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pitch, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Place Royal, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pleasure gardens, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pleissenburg, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Ploughing by explosives, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Poison gas, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; smoke, Rat, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pompeii, Destruction of, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pont-Andemer, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Port Arthur, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Portfire, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Portsmouth fleet display, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Portugal, King of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Postdown Fair, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pot, Flower, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Potash, Chlorate of, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Pots à feu</span>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; <span lang="fr">d&rsquo;aigrettes</span>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; <span lang="fr">de brins</span>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Powder, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Practicus, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pretender, Old, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Priming powder, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; wet, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Primrose Hill, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Projectile, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Propellant charge, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pumice Stone, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pump (Star), <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pumps with stars, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Puzzle pictures, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pyramids, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pyrotechnia, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Pyrotechnic compositions, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">195</span>Pyrotechnists, Japanese, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Hindoo, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Quebec, Tercentenary of, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Quickmatch, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; frame of, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Rain, Golden, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; production, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Ranelagh, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Raw match, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Read&rsquo;s Weekly Journal,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Recreative fireworks, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Regulated pieces, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Regulus of antimony, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Reports, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Revenge,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rheims, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Richard C&oelig;ur de Lion, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Richmond, Duke of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rifle grenade signal, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Riswick, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rochelle, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Rocket&rdquo; and express engine, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rocket cap, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; cases, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; charging, Mould for, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; tools, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; composition, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; iron, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; line, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; spindle, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; stick, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; sticks, Falling, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; wheel, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rockets, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Congreve&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; ground, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; incendiary, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; line-carrying, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; nomenclature of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Parlby&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; signalling, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; table, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; war, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rolling cases, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Roman candle, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; fuse, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; signal, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rome, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rosherville Gardens, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rosin, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rossi, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rotary rockets, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Royal Commission on Fireworks, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Laboratory, Woolwich, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Ruggieri, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Gaetano, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Rules for factory, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Russia, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Russian war rockets <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Safety Fuse, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Salamander la Rosace</span>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Salamandre</span>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sal ammoniac, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Salisbury Cathedral, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Salome, <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Saltpetre, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Bengal, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sand, iron, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Saqui, Madame, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sarcophagus, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sarti, Gioseppe, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Saucissons volans</span>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Saxon, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; wheels, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Saxony, Prince of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Schumacher, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sea battle, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Seasons, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sebastopol, bombardment, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Second lighting, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Seine, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sel ammoniac, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Serpent, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Serpentine, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Serpents, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Servandoni, Chevalier, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Set piece, transformation, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Set pieces, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Setting down, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Seville, King of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Shah, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Shakespeare, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Shellac, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">196</span>Shell, incendiary, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Shells, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Siam, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Siege of Pian-King Lo Yang, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Siemienowitz, Casimir, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Signal beacon, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; distress, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; fishing, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; fog, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; hand lights, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; lights, <a href="#Page_66">66</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; aeroplane, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Very, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; pilot, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; rifle grenade, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; rockets, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Roman candles, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; sound, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; station, Lloyd&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sir John Oldcastle, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Skimmer, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sky rockets, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Slow composition, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Small factory license, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Smirk, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Smoke at Crystal Palace, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; balls, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; drain testers, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; float &ldquo;E,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; screen, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Smokes, coloured military, <a href="#Page_171">171</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Snake and butterfly, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sodium carbonate, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; sulphate, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Soleil montant</span>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Soleils tournants</span>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span lang="fr">Soleure</span>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Song pieces, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sound signal, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Southby, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">South Norwood Factory, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Spain, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; King Consort, 1864, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Spherical shell, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Spike, Oil of, <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Spindle, Rocket, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Spirali, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Spithead, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Spontaneous heating, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Spur fire, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Squibs, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Squibs, miners&rsquo;, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Angelo, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> James&rsquo;s Park, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Square, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Stephen&rsquo;s Green, Dublin, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Star and Garter,&rdquo; Chelsea, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Starlights, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Stars, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; coloured, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; two-coloured, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Statute of William <abbr title="the third">III</abbr>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Steam rocket, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Steel filings, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sticking, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sticks, Falling rocket, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Stink pot, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Stockholm, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Stodard, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Stouple, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Stratford, R.N. Experimental Station, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Streamer, Golden, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">„ Italian, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Strontium nitrate, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Strutt, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sully, Duc de, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sulphide of arsenic, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sulphur, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; chlorate mixtures, <a href="#Page_74">74</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sulphuret of antimony, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sun, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; star, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Surrey Zoological Gardens, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sutton Factory, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Swarms, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Swevels, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Swiss military rockets, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Sydenham, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Table rockets, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tagus display, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tailed stars, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Taku forts, bombardment, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tampion, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tavern, &ldquo;Lord Cobham&rsquo;s Head,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; &ldquo;Sir John Oldcastle,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Temple of Flora, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tessier, Paul, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Thames, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Theatre de la Comedie Italienne, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Theodosius, <a href="#Page_13">13</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">197</span>Theresa, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Thermalloy, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Thermit bombs, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Throwdowns, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Time fuse, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tinder, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tippoo Sahib, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Toledo, King of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tools, Rocket charging, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Torches of fire, <a href="#Page_26">26</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Torré, Morel, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Touch hole, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Toulon, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tourbillion de feu, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tourbillions, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tourney display, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tourniquets, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tower Hill, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Trafalgar, Battle of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Transformation set piece, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Treatise on war fireworks, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Trees, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Trengouse, Mr., <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Triangle wheel, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tsu-Shima Battle, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tubri, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tun dish, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tunis, King of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Turin, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Turning cases, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Tyrrel, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Ufano, Diego, <a href="#Page_20">20</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">United States, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Universal Magazine, The,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Vanochio, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Vauxhall, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Vengagvedi, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Versailles, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Vert de gris, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Vertical wheels, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Very signal lights, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Vesuvius, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Victoria Park, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Queen, Coronation of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Portrait of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Visit to Paris Exhibition, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Vienna, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Village Blacksmith, The,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Volcano, <a href="#Page_9">9</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Wadd, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Walcheren Expedition, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Wallis, Admiral Sir Provo, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Walpole, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">War inventions, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; rockets, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Warman, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Warsaw, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Warwick, Earl of, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Water fireworks, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Waterloo, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">&ldquo;Weekly Journal, Read&rsquo;s,&rdquo; <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Weinerisch-Neustadt, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Wheel, block, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; brilliant, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; catherine, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; double triangle, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; hundred-feet, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; pin, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; rocket, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; saxon, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Wheels, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; fire, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; horizontal, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; revolving, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; triangle, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; vertical, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Whistler, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">White Conduit House, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">White Star Line, <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Whitehall, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Wicks, Major, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Wild fire, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">William <abbr title="the fourth">IV</abbr>, Coronation of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Windmills, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Woolwich Arsenal, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx"> &nbsp; &nbsp; „ &nbsp; &nbsp; Royal Laboratory, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Worcester Cathedral, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Wordsworth, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Yalu, Battle of the, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Yellow orpiment smoke, <a href="#Page_172">172</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Yorkshire Stingo Gardens, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Ypres display, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Yron scales, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li>
-
-    <li class="ifrst">Zinc, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li>
-
-    <li class="indx">Zud-Amerika Lyn, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
-  </ul>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="figcenter">
-    <img src="images/i198.png" class="" width="110" height="145" alt="decoration" />
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="center big">THE WESTMINSTER PRESS<br />
-    HARROW ROAD<br />
-    LONDON</div>
-
-  <hr class="chap" />
-  <div class="figcenter"  id="endpaperback" style="max-width: 75em">
-    <img src="images/rcover.jpg" width="1200" height="650" alt="" />
-    <div class="attr"><i>Back Endpaper.</i></div>
-    <div class="caption"><span lang="fr">FEU D&rsquo;ARTIFICE À VERSAILLES POUR LE MARIAGE DU DAUPHIN</span>, 1735.<br />
-      FROM A WATER-COLOUR DRAWING BY MOREL TORRÉ.</div>
-  </div>
-
-  <div class="transnote mt5">
-    <div class="large center blue mb2"><b>Transcriber’s Notes:</b></div>
-    <ul class="spaced">
-      <li>Blank pages have been removed.</li>
-      <li>Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected.</li>
-      <li>All errata have been applied.</li>
-    </ul>
-  </div>
-
-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PYROTECHNICS ***</div>
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author	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-01-23 05:48:28 -0800
committer	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-01-23 05:48:28 -0800
commit	a763cf423ce4686a14038d92c679c94d0fe79788 (patch)
tree	10f7245aec5cf6356267c9b338eec21c22773225
parent	461bc719e81de65c763a2e6302f1f0442bc58eed (diff)