Section 69

Sf * tite
joo Natural Magick. 2?00^ 12.
Fire that u quenched, with oyl^ is kindle A with water. It is thus made : I laid that Naphtha will hum in water, and that Camphire is a kind ofk. Wherefore, if yr.u mingle brimlione wich it, or other things, that will retain fire ; if you caft in oyl or mud, it will quench it ; but it revives and flames more , if you calt in water. L/'s^rcistcs, That iome old women in their plays, lighting Tor- ches nude of theft: thing?, pafled over Tyber, that itfeemed a miracle to the be- holder?. I faidit was the .ropercy of Bitumen to take fire from water, and to be quenched with oyi. 'Diofcorides fai'h, That the Thracian ftone is bred in a certain River of Scythia ; the name of it i; Pontus : it hath the Force of Jet , they fay it is enfiamed by water, and quenched withoyl, like as Bitumen. Hicander fpeaks of this (tone thus:
If that the Thracian ftone be burnt in fire, And wet with water, the flame willafpire ; But oyl wiU quench it* Thracian fhepherds bring "This ftone from iti %jver Pontus^Poets fing.
Torches that will not be put out by the winds.
They are made with brimftone , for that is hardly put out, if once kindled. Wherefore Torches made with wax and brimftone, maybe carried fafcly through winds and tcmpefts. Thefe ate good for Armies to march by , or for other necefla- ry thing?. Others ufe fuch: They boil the wick of the Torches in Salt-peter and water ; when it is dried, they wet them with brimftone and Aqua, vita : of this mix- ture then they make their Candles , with brimftone, and then with half Camphire, and Turpentine, two parts Colophonia, three of Wax; of this they make four Can- dles, and put them together: in the middle that is empty, they caft in quick-brim- ftonc , and they will forcibly refift all things. Or thus : Boil wicks of Hemp or Cot- ton in water, with Salt-peter ; take them out and dry them : then melt in a brafs pot equal parts of brimftone , gunpowder, and wax; when they are melted, put in your wicks to drink up part of the mixture; take them out, and to what is left in the kettle, add Gunpowder, Brimftone, and Turpentine, of each a like quantity , of which mixture make your Torches, and joyn them together. Alfo there is made
A cord that fet on fire, (hall neither [moke nor fmell.
When Souldiers or Hunters go fecretly by day or night , they ufe l'ome times to make a Match , that being lighted , will neither tmell near hand, nor far off, nor make any fmoke • for wild Beafts, if the Match fmell , will fent it , and run to the tops of the Mountains. Take a new earthen por, and put into it a new cord fo handfomely, that the whole pot may be filled : fo laid in rounds, that no more can go in ; cover it, and lute it well three or four times, that it may have no vent; for the whole bufinefs depends on this. Then make a fire round about it , by degrees , that firft it may grow hot, then very hot, and laftly red hot ; and if fometimes the fmoke come forth, ftop the chinks with clay ftill ; then heaped up under the coles, let it grow cold of it lelf ; and opening the Pot, you fhall hnde the Cord black, like a cole. Light this Cord, and it will neither fmoke nor fmell.
Cmap. XI.
Vire-compofitionsfor Fefttval days,
IHavefhewed you Terrible and Monftrous fire-works, it is fit to (hew you fome to ufe at Solemn Times : not fo much for ufe , as to give you occafion to find out higher matters. I fhall fhew then how to make one,
That when a man comes into hit Chamber, the whole Air may take fire.
Take
Of Artificial Fires. 301
Take* great qmntityof the beft refined Aquavit*, and put Camphire into it, cue fmall, for it will foon diffoivc in it : when it is diflblved , (hut the Windows and Chamber-doors, that the vapour that exhales, may not get forth : when the veffel is foil with water, let it boil with coles, put under, without any flame, that all the wa- ter may reiolve into fmoke, and fill the Chamber, and it will be fo thin, that you can fcarce perceive it. Let fome man enter into the Chamber with a lighted Can- dle in his hand , and the Air by the Candle light , will take fire all about, and the whole Chamber will be in a flame, like an Oven, and will much terrifie one that goes iD. If you diffolve in the water a little Muik, or Amber-grcCfe , after the flame you (hall fmcll a curious fent. Alio there is made
Exceeding burning wau r : Thus : Take old ftrong black Wine, put into it quick Lime, Tartar, Salt, and quick- Brimftonc ; draw out the water of them with a glafs retort. This will burn exceed- ingly, and never ceafe till it be all confumed. If you put it into a veflTel with a very large mouth , and put flame neer it , it will prcfently take fire : if when it is on fire you calf it againft a wall, or by night out at the window, you (ball fee the Air full of fparks,and kindled with fires. It will burn, held in your hands, and yet will noc fcald yon. Difiil it once again, and it will burn the ids; But if you take equal parts of quick Lime, and Salt, and (hall mingle them with common Oyl, and make little Balls, and call them into the belly of the retort at the neck , and then (ball draw forth the Oyl by a vehement fire; and mingling this Oyl again with Salt and quick Lime, (hall difl ill them again, and dull do the fame four times, an Oyl will come forth that will burn wonderfully , that fome defervedly call it infernal Oyl. A So- lemn Pleafant fire, is made for the Theater. If Camphire be ditTolved in Aqua vita, and with that Fillets, Papers, or Parchments, be fmeered ; and being dried again, be lighted, and (hall fall from a loft > as they fall lighted through the Air, you (hall fee Serpents with great delight. But if you defirc
To ctft flame a great way, Do thus : Beat Colophonia, Frankincenfe , or Amber finely, and hold them in the palm of your hand,and put a lighted Candle between your fingers ; and as you throw the Powder into the Air, let it pafs through the flame of the Candle ; for the flame will fly up high. If you will have that
Many Candles fkall be lighted prefently, on Feftival Days, as I hear they are wont to do amongft the Turks : You (hall boil Brimftone and Orpiment with Oyl, and in them let thred boil ; when it is dry, bind it to the wicks of Candles , and let them pafs through ; for when one head is light- ed , the flame will run to them all , and fet them on fire. Some call ic Hermes his Oyntmcnt. Any man may
Eating in the dark^cafi fparkjes out of hit mouth. It is pleafant for the Spectators ; and it is thus : Let a man eat Sugar-candy,for as he breaks it with his teeth, fparkles will (eem to fly out of his mouth ; as if one (hould rub a fire-brand*
Cm a*. XII. Of fome Experiments of Fires.
J Will fet down fome Experiments , that are without the ranks of the reft. I held it better to conceal them : but they may give you occafion to think ©n greater niat- •er s by them. If you will
That Bullets from Brafs Guns,maj enter deeper,
you may eafily try this againft a wall , or plank fet up. Let the Ball rather go into
the
501 Natural Magic k. cBooJ{\i.
the hollow of it, ftreight, then wide: bat wetitinOyl, before you put ic ih,andfb caft it in : this Bullet (hot off by force of fire , will go in twice as far as otherwife. The reafon is eafie : for the Oyl takes away the occahon of the Airs breathing forth • for all vents being ftopt, the flames liriving within , calt forth the Bullet with more violence, as we (hall (hew more at large. Soalfowill the Bullets of Brats Guns penetrate with more force : and if you lard the Bullets , they will penetrate through Arms of proof. I can alio by acunoing Artifice
Shoot a man through with a Bullet, and no place fhall be feen where it went in, or
came forth.
The minde of man is fo cunning, that it hath invented a way to fhoot a man quite through with a Bullet, and yet no mark of the Bullet fhall appear, though all the in- ward parts be braifed and beaten through. Confider, that what things are heavy, are folid , and fo fubtile, that they will penetrate and leave no marks, where they cntred or came out and they will do the fame, though they be united, as if they were dif- joynted ; and every part will aft by it felf alone, as it would do being united. I have faid thus, to take away all occafions from ignorant and wicked people, to do mifchief. Ifaw
A Gun difcharge often, and yet no more powder wo* put in.
Famous Souldiers ufethis , not onely for Brafs Cannon , but for final 1 band- Guns. It is thus: wrap a paper three or four tines about the rammer that is put into the hollow mouth of the Gun , and drawing out the Gun-Rick , fill that hollow place with Powder and Bullet ; here and there let the Bullets be flopt in, and gle wed faft, that no feature or vent may appear in the paper. Firft, let it be put into the Gun, but loofly, that the Powder put in above, may come to the vent-hole beneath : then put your meafure of Powder in atop, and ftampin your Bullet , putting Gunpowder to the touch-hole ; and putting fire to it, the upper Ball fhall be foot off with its Powder : preiently thruft in a &arp inftrument at the vent-hole, and make a hole in the Cartcridge, and feed it with Powdcr,and put fire to it again ; and in fhort time it will dilcharge twice. I can
Blind jour eyes with the fmoke. This may much profit , when enemies come to ftorra a City. But firft we muft con- fider the wind , that it may be on the backs of our men, and may carry the fmoke into the faces of our enemies. Let there bemeafures made like lanthorns, fo wide that they may go in at the mouths of the Brafs Guns : fill them with Powder cf Eu- phorbium, Pepper, quick Lime, Vine-afhes, and Arfoick fublimate; and put them into the hollow ©f ir, after the Gunpowder : for. by force of the fire, will thefe paper-frames break ; and the fmoke of the Powder,if it come at the eyes of the ene- mies , will fo trouble them, that cafting away their weapons, they can hardly fave their eyes.
Chap, XIII. How it may Ire, that a Candle fhall burn continually,
BEfore we end this Book, I fhall difcovcr, whether it may be that a Candle once lighted, fhould never be put out ; which feems very contrary to the reafon of the corruptible things of this world , and to be patt belief. But let us fee firft whe- ther the Antients ever attempted i^ or did it. We read in the Roman Hiftories, that there was at Rome, in the Temple of the goddefs Vefiai and of Mtnc rva, at Athens j and of Jpotioy at Delphi , a perpetual fire kindled. But this feem* to be falfc ; for I remember that 1 have read in many Authors , that this perpetual fire was always kept fo by the VcfialNuns, that it fhould never go out : as we find it in flutarch,\n the Life of Numa • and then in the time of the Civil War, and of Mithridates, it went out. At Delphi it was watched by widows, who took care , by always pouring in
Of Artificial Fires. 3 03
of Oyl, that ic fhou'.d never go fortb:but t is fai!ed,when the M^des burnt that 1 cm- pie. Of the fame fort was that fire, God appointed by (JMofesio the Scriptures. The fire (hall always bom upon mine Altar, which the i'riclt (kill always keep light cd,' putting under wood day by day. Wherefore, the fire was not perpetual in the 1 e.m- plcs of the gods cf the Gent) ies. Yet I read that about the Town Ateftc neer Pa- dua, there was found an earthen Pitcher , in which there was another little. Pitcher^ and in that there was found a little light (till burning , which 'by the hands of iorne ignorant fellows, pouring it rudely forth, was broken, and to the flame was put onr. And in our time, about the year 600. in the iflacdNefis. that i auds in Naples , there was a Marble Sepulchre of feme Roman found , and. ihax beipg opened , a Vial was found within it ,' in which there was a Caadlc : wi: en this was broken,and it came to the light, it went out: it was fhuc in before the coming pf our Saviour Seme others I have heard of, by report of my friends, that Were found and fecn with their eye-. Whence T colleit this may b-j done, and was done by our An- cestor?. Let us fee if we can do the lame. Seme fay that Oyl of Metals may laft long, and aimoft perpetually. But this is faife: for Oyl of Mcrals will not burn. Others fay, Oyl of Juniper from the wood will la(t long , because the coles of that wood may be kept a whole year alive under allies. But this is melt falle, becaufe I kept a cole under afhes,and it would rot laft two,nor yet one dayjand thcOy I of the wood burns moft vehemently , and is fooner wafted then common Oyl. Some boaft they have drawn Oyl from the incombuftible Bone , thioking that flame cannot confume * that : for a wick made thereof, will never be burnt ; and yet burns always, if you put Oyl always to it : But if that be tiue, that the wick is not consumed by fire,yet that follows not that Oyl extncStcd from it , fhould burn always acd never wafte : And no man yet was ever fcen to draw Oyl from the ftone Amiants that would burn. O- thers think that Oyl drawn from common Salt, will laft always; for ifycucaft Salt intoO U it makes the Oyl in the Lamp laft twice as long, and not beconlumcd, which 1 affirm to be true ; therefore if Oyl be drilled from it, it will burn always and never willf. Yet this follows not that Oyl drawn from Salt will burn continu- ally; and O; 1 oiHilled from it will burn no more than a ftor.eof Aqua fortu, that part? Gold and Silver, of which kind it is. But it is an ignorant thing to imagine, tha' an Ovl maybe made that (hall burn always, and never cenfome. Wherefore fomeoiher thing muftbe thonsht on. Seme fay fan J they do not think foolifhly) that fire in a Vial doth not always burn ; but in the Vial there is feme compofition laid up, that lo loon as ir comes to the Air, prelently takes fire, and feems to burn onely at that time, yet ir nevtrr burned before. This may be tiue: fGrasI often have laboured in Chymical matters , aglafswell ftopt, and forgot by me after the things were burnt in it ; and being io left for many moceths, I may fay, many years : at laft, being opened, hath been feen to fbme, and burn, and lir.cke. What I had burnt I had forgot , but they might be the lame things, that I heard of by my friend, that had the fame chance: for when he had boil*d Litharge,Tarrar, quick Lime, and Cinnaber in Vinegar , until it wa Vtffel well, be let it into a vehement fire , and when ic was enough, he f? t it by till itwa«cold: after feme moneths, when he weDt to open it to fee his work, aflame, fuddenly flew out of the Veftel > and fet fire on fome things , when as he thought of no fuch matter: and the fame hath happened to many more. Moreover, when I boiled Linfeed Oyl for the Prels, when the flames took within , I covered the pot with clothes to put it out: after fome time I opened the Vtffel, the Oyl at thf Air coming to it flamed again, and cook fire. Put experience is againft this opinion : For wbofaw a fandlefbut upclofein aglais Via!, and to keep its flaming quality, and to give light ? For the Ancients thought that the fouls of the dead did always reft in the grave, as the allies do ; and that they might not lye in the dark , they endeavovred all they could to fend cut this light, that their fouls might enjoy light continually. Therefore we muft thirk on another experiment, and make trial of ir. But thismuft be held for a rare and firm principle in Natures fhop,that the caufe of wonders is be- caufe there can be no vacuum ; and the frame of the work will fooner break afunder, tnd ill things run to nothing , thea there can be any fucb thing : Wherefore if a