content_output-038_4 (Q6034)

THERE seems little doubt that the composition of gunpowder has been known in the East from times of dimmest antiquity. The Chinese and Hindus contemporary with Moses are thought to have known of even the more recondite properties of the compound. The Gentoo code, which, if not as old as was first declared, was certainly compiled long before the Christian era, contains the following passage :—