CHAPTER IX.

THE QUESTION OF POWDERS.


The question of powder still remained to be settled. The public awaited
this last decision with anxiety. The size of the projectile and length
of the cannon being given, what would be the quantity of powder
necessary to produce the impulsion? This terrible agent, of which,
however, man has made himself master, was destined to play a part in
unusual proportions.

It is generally known and often asserted that gunpowder was invented in
the fourteenth century by the monk Schwartz, who paid for his great
discovery with his life. But it is nearly proved now that this story
must be ranked among the legends of the Middle Ages. Gunpowder was
invented by no one; it is a direct product of Greek fire, composed, like
it, of sulphur and saltpetre; only since that epoch these mixtures;
which were only dissolving, have been transformed into detonating
mixtures.

But if learned men know perfectly the false history of gunpowder, few
people are aware of its mechanical power. Now this is necessary to be
known in order to understand the importance of the question submitted to
the committee.