The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-06-30

to prevent this.
Who invented gunpowder2
No one knows. All agree that its com
position and properties were understood il
reIotc antiquity. Authentic history ex
tends but a short way into the past, and
it is always difficult to draw the line sep.
arating the authentic from the fabulous
Like some other things, gunpowder, as
ages rolled on, may have been invented
forgotten, and re-inyented Certainly il
some form it was known and used fol
fireworks aud incendiary material long
before any one dreamed Of gun, or O
using tito do more than create terror in war
fare. And yet it is said that some of the
ancients had means of using it to throw de
structiye missiles among their enemies
probably a species of rocket or bomb
Nor does it seem, in its infancy, to hav,
been applied to industrial purposes, sucE
as blasting and quarying rock, for ther,
is evidence that the people who used il
for fireworks at their feasts quarried i'm
mense blocks of stone by splitting then
out Of the quarries with hammers anc
wedges
Its first uses probably were connected
with the religious ceremonies of the pagan
aneients. An old tradition taught thai
those who were the most powerful gods
who answered their worshipers by IRE
The priests, therefore, who practiced upon
the credulity Of the people, exercised theil
inginuity in inyenting ways of spontaneous
fire, which they told the people, was sent
by gods from heaven in answer to their
prayers The accounts of old writers still
preserved and dating back to three hun
dred years before Christ, describe "sul.
phurous and infammable substance" un.
mistakably like our gunpowder There
was certain place called the the "0racle
Of Delphi, once visited by Alexander the
Great, where this kind of fire was produc-
ed by the priests, and it is said that the
Druids, the ancient priests of Britain, also
used something Of this sort in their sacri-
fees, for they hot only produced sudden
fire, but they also initiated thunder and
lightning, to terrify the people with their
power. This must have been more than
two thousand years ago. II is known that
the Chinese, on the other side of the
world, had gunpowder about the same
time, but they used it chiefly for fire.
works, which then, as now, formed the main
feature of all their festivals and ceremonies.
In India it was early used in war, for a
writer who lived about A. D. pa says
when the towns of India are attacked
by their enemies the people do not rush
into battle, but put them to fight by thun.
der and lightning" 1t is said, too, that
one Of the Roman emperors, who lived
just after the cruciixion of Christ, chad
machines which initiated thunder and
lightning, and at the same time emitted
stones" Then, about A. d. 220, there
was written recipe "for an ingenious
composition to be thrown on an enemy,
which very nearly corresponds to our gun.
powder. During the many hundred years
that follow, little is recorded until about
the ninth century, when there appears in
an old book, now in Paris library, an
exact recipe for gunpowder, and a descrip-
ton of rocket 1t is said that in 1893
the Saracens, in defending Jerusalem,
"threw abundance Of pots of FIRE and shot
fire-darts, no doubt some kind of bombs
and war-rockets. History affords accounts
Of other wars about this time, in which
gunpowder was undoubtedly used in some
form. But in 1916 monk, Friar Roger
Bacon, made gunpowder; and it is asserted
he discovered it Independently, knowing
nothing Of its existence elsewhere. 1t is
not unreasonable to believe this, for in
those days people kept their inventions to
themselves if they could, and news tray
eled slowly. Some authors say German
named Schwartz discovered it in 1920,
and perhaps he did, too, and as honestly
and Independently as did Friar Bacon, or
the East Indians, or the Chinese. Others
insist that it was invented originally in
India, and brought by the Saracens from
Africa to the Europeans, who improved it.
At any rate, an English gentleman who
has made translation Of some of the laws
of India, supposed to have been established
1900 years before the Christian era, or
over $500 years ago, makes one of them
read thus THE magistrate shall not
make war with any deceitful machine, or
with poisoned weapons, or icah cannon
and guns, or any kind Of firearms "-iS.
Nicholas for July.