Page:Pyrotechnics the history and art of firework making (1922).djvu/194

 was Ruggieri whose arrival in France from Italy in or about 1735 marked the great advance in pyrotechny in the former country. Yet the "Pump" does not appear in this great display planned and executed by them, although for years it had been a popular item in displays in this country. The obvious reason for this omission is that they did not know of it.

In the early part of the nineteenth century the name "Roman candle" comes into use both here and in France. The "English Encyclopædia" of 1802 still uses the expression "Fire Pump," but this is probably because their article is copied almost verbatim from Jones' book. The name Roman candle, however, appears in an advertisement of a display at Ipswich by William Brock in 1818, and Ruggieri the younger uses the words "chandelle romaine" in his book of 1805.

How this firework received the name Roman is obscure; it may have been affixed by one of the many Italian pyrotechnists working here, or it may have had political or religious significance.

A firework functioning in the same way as a Roman candle is the Italian streamer, which has stars of a composition containing lampblack, which burn with a gold fire and leave a tail in their flight.

The Roman candle of the present day is made with an almost endless variety of stars, but those in use when the name was first introduced were of very simple character. Coloured stars, as accepted to-day, were not introduced until about the thirtieth year of the last century.

The compositions given by Jones and Ruggieri would produce approximately the same effect as the Italian streamer star of to-day, but with little or no tail.

Lampblack compositions appear to have been introduced into Europe from the East, and there seems to be no reason why Italy should have had them before this country, or that