Volume 1

Chemical essays / by R. Watson.

  • Watson, Richard, 1737-1816.
Date:
1793-1796
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Chemical essays / by R. Watson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ( 53 S ) Roger Bacon died at Oxford m 1292. In the printed copies of the works of this renowned monk, there are two or three paflages, from which it may fairly be inferred, that he knew the compofition of gunpow- der * ; and a manufcript copy is faid to have been feen •f-, wherein faltpe- tre, fulphur and charcoal are exprefsly mentioned * In omnem diftantiam quam volumus, pof- fumus artfficialiter componere ignem combu- rentem ex fale pe.tra et aim. R. Bacon de Mirab. Potef. Artis et Naturae, Epif. C. VI. •—fed tamen faliis petra Luru <vopo <vir can u/rict fulphurhy et lie facies tonitrum et coruf- cationein, fi fcias artificium. Id. ib. C. XI. It is very probable that, in the firfl: of thefe paflages, Bacon concealed fulphur and char- coal under the word aliis ; and that, in the laft having mentioned faltpetre and fulphur, he concealed charcoal, and the method of mixing the three ingredients, under the barbarous terms, Luru vopo vircan utriet. t Plott’s Nat. Hid. of Oxfordihire.