THE WISCONBIN FARMER.



                  Greek Ftire.
  Gen. Gilmore has been throwing shells into
Charleston charged with Greek fire, and Gen.
Beauregard has remonstid against the use
of this "villainous comnand."  The secret
of the preparation and use of Greek fire was
preserved by the Roman s of the east for 400
years, the direst vengeance being imprecated
upon whoever should divulge its composition.
The Mohammedans finally obtained the secret
and turned it against the Christians in the
holy wars of Syria and Egypt. It appears to
have been a compound of bitumen, sulphur
and pitch, poured from caldrons, or projected
in fire-balls, or on arrows or javelins, around
which flax was twisted, saturated with the
infianmable compound. The fire went through
the air like a "winged, long-tailed dragon,"
perhaps not unlike our sky rockets.
  Greek fire used also to be called liquid and
maritime fire, burning even under water and
that with even greater violence than out of it,
being only extinguishable with vinegar mixed
with sand, or by covering it with raw hides.
It takes its name from being first used by the
Greeks, in the year 660.
  The inventor was an engineer of Heliopolis,
in Syria, named Callivicus, who first applied
it in the sea fight near Cyuicus, in the Helles-
pont, and with such effect that he burned the
whole fleet of the Saracens, wherein there
were 80,000 men. Its use was continued till
about the middle of the 14th century, when
the compound of nitre, sulphur and charcoal
effected a revolution in the art of war and the
history of mankind. An old writer describes
the composition oI Greek fire as formed by
mixing over the fire the charcoal of willow,
nitre, rosin, brandy, sulphur, pitch and cam-
phor. A woolen cord is plunged into the mix-
ture and made into balls. The subject is fully
treated in the work by Scoffen, published in
London in 1858, called "Projectile weapons
of War, and explosive Compounds," in which
he names several liquid mixtures that spon-
taneously ignite, and may be used for the
same purposes as Greek fire.
   The generic name of Greek fire has been
given to all kinds of incendiary compounds
inclosed in shell and thrown into cities for
the purpose of firing them. There are several
patents out for these compounds, and the ex-
act methods of mixing and using them are
known only to the inventors. But the basit
of them all is said to be phosphorus dissolved
in bisulphide of carbon. The latter is a very
curious liquid, having all the apparent purity
of distilled water, and a very high refractive
power, but evolving, on evaporation or com.
bustion, the foulest stench known to chemical
science-a science which positively revels iz
nauseous odors.  It has the extraordinary
property of dissolving phosphorous freely and
preserving it in a fluid state for any length o:



time when kept from the air. The compound
kindles at a heat as low as phosphorous alone.
When the shell charged with this " villainous"
mixture explodes, by the percussion or other-
wise, the dissolved phosphorous Is set on fire
and scattered far and wide. Wherever it
strikes it burns for a long time with an almost
inextinguishable flame, and ignites all com-
bustible materials that it touches.        At the
same time the bisulphide of carbon throws
out its abominable odor, and assists in keep.
ing meddlers at a respectful distance.

             LOVE IN AUTUMN.
     All day with measured stroke I hear
     From threshing-fioors the busy falal:
     And In the fields of stubble near
     Incessant pipe the speckled quell
     All golden ripe the apples glow
     Among the orchard's russet leaves;
     Southward the twittering swallows go
     That sung alt summer 'neath the eaves,
     Across the far borlionve line
     In splendor autumtn mists are drawn;
     The grapes are purple on the vine.
     The sunflower shines upon the lawn.
     And stretched athwart the burning sky,
     The spider's threads or silver welte,
     Like netted vapors to the eye,
     Hang quivering In the noonday light.
     A year ago to-day we stood
     Beneath the maple's crimson glow,
     That, like a watchfre In the wood,
     Gleamed to the yellowigp vale below.
     Calm was the day, without a breath,
       An alt-pervading stllnes deep'
     A calm that seemed the calm of Death-
       A silence like to that of sleep.
     And only on the listening ear
       Through the wide wood the hollow sound
     of dropping nuts, and sweet Lad clear
       The spring that bubbled from the groznd.
     Close at our feet the brook slid down,
       Past tangled knots of sedge and weed,
     And nuder leaves of gold and brown,
       To sparkle through the level mead.
     A lock of hair-a ring-a fower-
       The latter fated old and sewe;
     Mute records of that vanished hour,
       Memories that my heart holds dear.
     Like on. wbh in a pensive dream
       Sees long loet friends around his bed,
     1, gaing on these treasures, seem
       To hold communion with the dead
     The whispered vow-the lisgerleg kim-
       The long embraces, cheek to cheek-
     The silence that proclaimed our bliss,
       Beyond the power of words to speak.
     All seem so near-then home we went
       Through meadows where the aster grew,
     While overhead the hues were blent
       Of sunset with the melting blue.
     o fire that paints the autumn leaf-
       o calm -bat knows no quickening breath,
     o winds that strip the ungarnered sheaf,
       Ye are to me the types of Death I
     Ah I soon these groves shall lote the glow,
       And yonder sun his beat and glare;
     And blasts that through December blow
       Shall leave the branches bliak and bare.
                            -Harps _  ifany.



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