A formula for fireworks
The Art of Gunnery, by Nathaniel Nye. Printed in London for William Leak, 1648.
Lower Library: E.34.4
Nathaniel Nye (bap. 1624) was a mathematician and astronomer, until, during the Civil War, he developed an interest in gunnery. He became the master gunner at the parliamentarian garrison in Evesham in May 1645, going on to direct the artillery at the siege of Worcester the following year. In 1647, he published The Art of Gunnery, a detailed guide which stressed the importance of geometry to the successful deployment of artillery.
Nye spends two pages on the invention of gunpowder, noting its attributions to Archimedes, two different fourteenth-century monks, and ‘an English-man’ (p. 2), but his interest lies much more in its practical uses. He details the different ratios of saltpetre (potassium nitrate), brimstone (sulphur), and charcoal which have been used to make gunpowder, and regularly cites his own experiments in explaining the uses of different powder combinations, discussing the speed with which they burn and the power with which they explode.
Nye gives detailed directions on how to make and mix saltpetre, how to test the quality and strength of gunpowder, and how to make a good fuse, followed by a small rant about why gunnery is not respected enough (‘ignorant Commanders’ were hiring their friends to do the job, rather than hiring experienced gunners (p. 35–36)), and an explanation of all the skills a good gunner needs, chief among which is a knowledge of arithmetic and geometry.
The second half of the book, ‘A treatise of artificiall fire-works for warre and recreation’, details ways to create fireworks, and a subsequently necessary explanation on how to treat gunpowder burns (either hog-grease, or a mixture of egg-whites and butter). Nye claims of his firework recipes that ‘all of them [have been] experimented and practized by the author’ (p. [57]), and makes the same claim of his salves, which, given one of his methods for checking the quality of gunpowder, is not surprising:
If good Gunpowder be laid upon the palm of your hand, and set on fire, you will not be burned. (p. 26–27)
The fireworks Nye describes for use in wars are brutal, and include ‘fiery arrows’ and ‘grenadoes’, adding petroleum amongst other things to his recipes. (Nye cautions that the use of hand grenades is ‘somwhat dangerous’ on p. 75.) His ‘silver and golden rain’, on the other hand, is closer to the fireworks we might use today. It comes under a section titled ‘Artificiall Fire-works for Recreation and Delight’, and uses the hollow parts of goose quills, filled with the right ratio of coal dust and gun-powder, and attached to a rocket so that as the rocket explodes it lights the powder in the quills and disperses a shower of golden rain.
This book contains several illustrations to illuminate the different methods of making and using fireworks, including one showing how a rocket might be used to ‘represent a tree in the ayre’ (p. 94). A digital scan of our book is , for those who are interested in reading more, but please do not attempt to recreate any of Nye’s recipes on College grounds (or anywhere else)!
