inhabitants, but, as I suppose, by, religious considerations, for had he
passed the Hyphasis, he might doubtless have made himself master of the
country all round him; but their cities he could never have taken,
though he had led a thousand as brave as Achilles or ten thousand such
as Ajax to the assault. For they come not out into the field to fight
those who attack them; but these holy men, beloved of the gods,
overthrow their enemies with tempests and thunder-bolts shot from their
walls.

“It is said that Egyptian Hercules and Bacchus (Dionysius), when they
overran India, invaded this people also, and having prepared warlike
engines, attempted to conquer them. They made no show of resistance, but
upon the enemy’s near approach to their cities they were repulsed with
storms of lightning and thunder hurled upon them from above.”

May we not here have the original of the Greek fire, that was in its day
so celebrated and so destructive?

Beginning then at the period of Geber, about 776 A.D., let us try to
work backwards and trace, if we can, the progress of chemical knowledge
down the stream of time.

While the Western Roman Empire had fallen, the Eastern still held its
sway as far as the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and continued the
contest with the Persian power for the supremacy in Asia. At this time
the various creeds and beliefs of the Arabian tribes--which had been
much influenced by the settlement amongst them of Jews who had been
dispersed at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and many of the
sects of Christians who had been driven from the Roman empire by the
more orthodox--were deeply stirred by the new doctrine of Islam,