05-16-2011, 03:19 AM
Galen in de temperamentis mentions a substance concocted from sulfur and bitumen that is ignited by friction: "Everything smeared with it catches fire when heat strikes it. It is prepared from sulfur and liquid bitumen and is ignited with friction."
I suspect there may have been more to it than just sulfur and bitumen, though. Some substances are extremely volatile in combination. The constituents of strike-anywhere matches will spontaneously violently combust unless separated with some kind of binder (the PIRA in Northern Ireland used to use exactly the same stuff to make improvised incendiary bombs). Maybe the Romans stumbled onto that chemistry without any historian noticing?
I suspect there may have been more to it than just sulfur and bitumen, though. Some substances are extremely volatile in combination. The constituents of strike-anywhere matches will spontaneously violently combust unless separated with some kind of binder (the PIRA in Northern Ireland used to use exactly the same stuff to make improvised incendiary bombs). Maybe the Romans stumbled onto that chemistry without any historian noticing?
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