The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1863-09-30
alreek Fire.
Frutn The Journal OF Cmmercc

| two years ago he threw similar messengers
/ iutu Sumter when Anderson and his brave
lnnd were holding that fortress. Similar.
we sHy. Ter II makes very little difference
whether 'hg ire which is sent iuto he
! sicFed place be in the shape OF red hot iron,
! ct burning mixtures We can not see the
difference trtwoen tlrctius fed hot shot
intr Sumter aud setting Gre 60 is. %oodcn
I l,utldings. r'aking tlfat plnco miniature
! hell for the brave men who were in il, aud
! t. flWng cold shot with fiery mixtu,es III.
side of thcm to hindle flames in l'caurc-
CARDS quarters in the city Of Charleston.
| War has its horrcrs, and there are barhari-
ties which are not permitted in civilized
Warfare. l|ut all nations, Sc far as we know
have been in the habit of using weapons of
this class down to the present times. The
British threw stink balls" in the lsst r1rt
aud in the Crimcan Campaign--" viilairvus
compounds" not unlike what Beauregard
complains of, Arrows and missiles chal god
with flame and fire have always been used
in siegcs. When the KRights OF st. John
male that celebrated dcfenso Of the Castle
OF St Elmo, which was, perhaps, the most
gallant defense ever made in war; after ,lre
walls were battered down, and the iortrcss
looked very much as Sumter is said to look
nnw the place was held by a new and ter
riblc cngin> Of war being simply common
hoops wound with rags aud dipped in in
tammable oil. These they hurled among the
Turks as they pressed up to the breach. \
hoop would catch often two or three men
in its circle OF ilanie, and their frantic strns
giles would prevent escape, each hindeting
the other. The torture was horrible ldit
the weapon was effective, When tue Brit
ish and French were getting really for the
trimean war, bullets were invented which
| l...l =
because they were in substance poisoned
bullets. But the rule OF sieges has always
been to make the place untenahlc BY every
and any possible annoyance 1t il hard t.
sly where the line can be drawn in such
cases between what ia and what is not bar
harous. 1t would he considered savage tu
poison a stream of water running INTO be
scged place, while it would be perfectly
proper to make it filthy and thus prevent
its use, or cut it off and kill the people hy
thirst. Such are the nice distinctions in the
way of killing each other which men mako
as rules of war.
Greek fire balls, however, are clearly
within the usayes OF modern civilized war.
fare, and Beauregard can net By any lueane
show that they are contrary to the most
rigid rules of human destruction by war
These balls have been very extensively ex.
perimcncd on in England and France, and
are generally adopted by European arti'-
lery boards.
The & &c fire of Ii story was probal ly
compound of bitumen, sulphur and pitch.
Nherc has been considerable romance in
the accounts of it, But il was II weapon OF
great importance to the Romans for four
centuries, d'triits which th2y preserved tho
secret of its composition as q national pos
session. II was thrown in balls or on ar.
rows or spears, and it was poured from
walls of cities upon the tow ere and hepda
of the bcsiegcrs It's most terrible ttse Was
on shipboarl, where it was pumped out of
tubes, in the Prov of galley, upon the
decks of an enemy, setting fire 20 all that it
touched. Tho Moiathit!cdans learned the
art of making it, aud used it in the crusa6es
with deadly csccti aud tlic Knights Of ST,
John, while ut Rhodes, make il grand
weapon of their naval combats. The con-
mon idea that Greek fire Mas fluid, which
iSnted on the stirlace of the sea- NAV bo
dismissed 1t sometimes burned on the wa
ter, but only when falling in large quaut-
ties. A prepaia ion of benzol, was recently
made in France, to burn Oh the surface of
! &c water. 1t was found that glass globe,
full of heuzole, with II Lttle particle of po-
tassum in, when broken on the 8 irfacc of
the water, would spread over large space
spring into flame. This has not been made
particularly useful though both England
and France are ready to adopt any such in
vcnion as soon as il is perfected. Il would
seem desirable to continue experiments Of
this kind with reference to defence agains:
or offensive attacks on iron-clads. II is by
no means certain that iAcn muy not intent a
liquid tire 10 pour over iron.clads which
will destroy them or make them untenahlu
by men.
The generic namo of Greek fire has bee
given to all kinds OF iuceudiary compounds
inclOscd III sltels and thrown irtd cities
for the purpose Of fri'ig them. There are
several patents ont for these compounds /,
and the exact mcthods of mixing and usirg
them are known only to the inventors. But
the basis of them ali is said 10 be phoi.
phorus dissolved in bisulphide OF cnrbnu.
The latter is n very curious liquid, having
all the apparent purity of distilled water,
and very high reiractivc power, but ev, ".
ing. on evaporation, or combustion, the foul.
est stencil known to chemical science ii
: science which positively rcvels in nausoous
odors. 1t lfas the extraordinary property
Of dissOving phosphorus freely, and pre-
serving it in flnid state for any length Of
, time wlren kept from the air. The com
pound kndlcs At "A heat as low as that OF
phosphorus alonc. When the shell charged
with the villainous" mixture. cxplodes hy
percussion Vr otherwise, the dissolved
phosplIofus is 3 It on fire and scattered far
! aud wide, Wherever il strikes il burns iur
long time with an almost mex inguishlLlc
fame and ignites all coinbnstible materials
that il touches. At the slme time the biSgi-
: phide of carbon throws ont it's abominablr
odor, and assists in keeping meddlcrs AZ =
respectful distance If Gilmore il inject
ing this stuff into Charleston. the people oi
that city might as we'll leave for the conntry
by the shortest road, taking their Grc-gincs
With them for the lister viii be OF littl, Ay-
count in pntting out the contaSratior,
which has been started and can b. kept
a-going for an unlimited period.
Beauregard is said To protest against this
vlIainous compound as unworthy oi
civilized nations \ ct lac is the man wli
threw red hot shot into Fort Sumter for
number of hours. and hy that means sci iire
to the wo6den quarters and burned ont aud
: smoked ont poor Major Anderson and his
handful of uter, General q ,lmore is ouly
trying the same game with a slight varia
tion Of applianc =, On Blauregaid and hls
soldiers, sheltered IN the city OF Charleston,
after the usual notice for the removal o}
non.comba4s,t +. Beauregard can stop the
" Greek fire any time 10y sgrrenloring the
city Just as Anderson put Il quieuS on tho
red hot shot by yielding up the fort Moth.
ing is easier
--------e~ -t---------~--