This historical work by H. W. L. Hime presents a detailed and exact account of the evolution of gunpowder and ammunition. The invention of gunpowder was impossible until the properties of saltpeter had become known. The book focuses on determining the approximate date of the discovery of this salt. It provides precise information in a comprehensible way and covers all the details on explosives, from methods of refining the saltpeter to the making of even fireworks. Contents include: The Origin of Gunpowder- Introduction Saltpetre The Greeks Marcus Græcus The Arabs The Hindus The Chinese Friar Bacon The Progress of Ammunition- Analytical Table of Ammunition Hand Ammunition War Rockets Gunpowder Shock Projectiles Igneous Projectiles Igniters Signals

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This book is a facsimilie reproduction of the original 1904 manuscript held in the Archive of the Royal Gunpowder Mills, Waltham Abbey. It contains information pertaining to the historical significance of the Royal Gunpowder Mills. It is the 6th volume in the Royal Gunpowder Mills Historical Reprint Series. For more information about the Archive, visit: http: //www.royalgunpowdermills.com/history-heritage/archives/ Description - excerpt from the Introduction: Much discussion has been caused in the past by the vagueness of the word gunpowder. The following are the meanings which this and a few other words bear in these pages: *Explosion: The sudden and violent generation, with a loud noise and in a time inappreciable by the unaided senses, of a very great volume of gas, by the combustion of a body occupying a comparatively very small volume. * Progressive Combustion: Combustion which takes place in a time appreciable by the unaided senses, such as that of rocket composition or a bit of paper. * Gunpowder: A mixture of saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur, which explodes. The signs of its explosion are a bright flash, a loud noise, and a large volume of smoke. * Incendiary (for "incendiary composition"): A substance or mixture which burns progressively, although fiercely, and is hard to put out. * Machine always means an apparatus of the ballista type. * Cannon includes bombards, mortars, guns, &c. * Musket includes all hand firearms charged with gunpowder. Of the many difficulties that beset the present inquiry, two deserve special mention. The first is the want of simple exactness in most early writers when recording the facts from which we have to draw our conclusions. At times their descriptions are so meagre that it is difficult, if not impossible, to decide whether certain projectiles were incendiary or explosive. At other times they abound in tropes and figures of speech which amount to an unintentional 'suggestio falsi'. The second difficulty arises from the change of meaning which many technical words have undergone in the lapse of years.

Readers of detective stories are turning more toward historical crime fiction to learn both what everyday life was like in past societies and how society coped with those who broke the laws and restrictions of the times. The crime fiction treated here ranges from ancient Egypt through classical Greece and Rome; from medieval and renaissance China and Europe through nineteenth-century England and America. Topics include: Ellis Peter’s Brother Cadfael; Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose; Susanna Gregory’s Doctor Matthew Bartholomew; Peter Heck’s Mark Twain as detective; Anne Perry and her Victorian-era world; Caleb Carr’s works; and Elizabeth Peter’s Egyptologist-adventurer tales.

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

Includes the institute's Proceedings.