We may also remark, that we have given some of the more common, or general properties of the substances, employed in the composition of fire-works, without going into that detail, which belongs exclusively to works that treat of Chemistry. It was neither our design, nor have we given, for the reasons thus stated, all the chemical characters or properties of the substances so employed; and, therefore, have confined ourselves, generally speaking, to an enumeration of such properties as are connected with the subject, or are indispensably necessary to be known, before a rationale of the causes and effects can be understood.
It was our intention to accompany the work with plates, exhibiting the arrangement, &c. of fire-works, which, there can be no doubt, would have facilitated in particular the knowledge of forming, and arranging, certain pieces of fire-work; but, on second reflection, as such illustrations were connected more with fancy exhibitions, and have little or no relation to Military Fire-works, the most useful branch of Pyrotechny, we were finally of opinion, that the addition of plates would greatly enhance the price, without advancing or adding to the value of the work.
If, however, a second edition should be required, various figures in illustration of particular subjects may be added, either with a distinct explanatory chapter, or a reference from the articles themselves, with the necessary explanation, to the figures respectively.
It would require at least twenty-five plates to include all the figures we originally intended to have introduced.
Before concluding this introduction, it remains for us to remark, that, in forming this work, we consulted a variety of authors, but with little advantage, except some French works, which we shall notice. Chaptal (Chimie Appliqué aux Arts;) Bigot (Artifice de Guerre;) Morel (Feux d'Artifice;) Thenard (Traité de Chimie;) Ruggeri (Pyrotechnie Militaire;) MM. Bottée and Riffault (Traité de L'Art de Fabriqué la Poudre à canon;) Peyre (Le Mouvement Igné;) Biot (Traité de Physique, Recherches Experimentales et Mathématique, sur les mouvement des Molecules de la Lumiere, &c.;) M. Duloc (Theorie Nouvelle sur le Mechanisme de l'Artillerie;) the Dictionnaire de l'Industrie; the Dictionnaire Encyclopedique des Arts et Metiers Mecaniques, article Art de L'Artificier; Œuvre Militaire; Archives des Découvertes; Système des Connoissances Chimiques par A. F. Fourcroy; Aide-Mémoire a l'usage des officiers d'Artillerie de France.
We examined various authors in English; and with regard to the origin of inventions, we found the learned, and valuable work of professor Beckman (History of Inventions) very useful, and likewise James's Military Dictionary. To the Encyclopedia Britannica, we are indebted for many interesting facts, and some extracts on fire-works for exhibition.
On the subject of mining, we consulted the Treatise on mines for the use of the Royal Military Academy, by Landmann.
We deem it necessary to observe, that, in collecting our formulæ for military fire-works, although we have sometimes extracted from the Strasbourg Memoir, the Bombardier and Pocket Gunner, and the Military Dictionary of Duane and James, we have generally followed Bigot; as the formulæ which he gives for the preparation of Military fire-works have been approved by the French government; and where any thing of importance occurred in Ruggeri, we have, for the same reason, extracted such formulæ from that author.
As respects the turtle, torpedo, and catamarin, submarine machines, it appears that Bushnel (Trans. Am. Phil. Soc.) claims the originality of the discovery from the date of his invention, although similar contrivances had long ago been suggested. Fulton's improvements, in the torpedo, are deserving of particular attention; but it is plain, that the Catamarin of the English is the same in principle and application as Fulton's torpedo, and that Fulton deserves the merit of it. Congreve, if we believe Ruggeri, was not the inventor of the rocket, which bears his name; for, according to him, it was invented about the year 1798 by a naval officer at Bourdeaux. It is certain, however, it was neither much known, nor used before the attack on Copenhagen.
It is certain that the present incendiary fire-stone was taken from the recipe for fire-rain contained in the military work of Cassimir Siemienowicz, or that the fire-rain gave rise to a similar preparation. The idea of the pyrophore, mentioned in the Archives des Découvertes, must have originated from the use of the powder-barrel, and of similar means of defence. We might enumerate many other inventions, which owe their origin in the same way.