Page:Pyrotechnics the history and art of firework making (1922).djvu/217

 Immediately before firing the cotton was soaked with alcohol. Actually this composition can hardly be considered pyrotechnic; what takes place is that the alcohol burns, and the flame thus created is coloured with the copper present in the salts. The whole arrangement is too cumbersome and involved for modern use, but at the time of its inception, when colour was practically unknown, no doubt it attracted great admiration.