A POKER thoroughly ignited put into Spirit of Wine, or into the distilled Oil of Vegetables, produces no Flame in either; it indeed occasions the Vapours to arise from the Oil in great Abundance. But if you electrify this heated Poker, the electrical Flashes presently kindle Flame in either. The Experiment is the same with Camphor. These Experiments, as well as the following, sufficiently evince, that the electrical Fire is truly Flame, and that extreamly subtil. I HAVE made several Trials in order to fire Gunpowder alone, which I tried both warm and cold, whole and powder'd, but never could make it succeed; and this arises in part from its Vapours not being inflammable, and in part from its not being capable of being fir'd by Flame, unless the Sulphur in the Composition is nearly in the State of Accension. This we see by putting Gunpowder into a Spoon with rectified Spirit, which, when lighted, will not fire the Powder, 'till by the Heat of the Spoon from the burning Spirit, the Sulphur is almost melted. Likewise, if you hold Gunpowder ground very fine in a Spoon over a lighted Candle, or any other Flame, as soon as the Spoon is hot enough to melt the Sulphur, you see a blue Flame, and instantly the Powder flashes off. The same Effects are observ'd in the _Pulvis fulminans_, compos'd of Nitre, Sulphur, and fixed Alkaline Salt. Besides, when the Gunpowder is very dry and ground very fine, it (as you please to make the Experiment) is either attracted, or repell'd; so that in the first Case, the End of your Finger when electrified, shall be cover'd over with the Powder, though held at some Distance; and in the other, if you electrify the Powder, it will fly off at the Approach of any non-electrified Substance, and sometimes even without it. But I can at Pleasure fire Gunpowder, and even discharge a Musket, by the Power of Electricity, when the Gunpowder has been ground with a little Camphor or with a few Drops of some inflammable chemical Oil. This Oil somewhat moistens the Powder, and prevents its flying away; the Gunpowder then being warm'd in a Spoon, the electrical Flashes fire the inflammable Vapour, which fires the Gunpowder: But the Time between the Vapour firing the Powder is so short, that frequently they appear as the same and not successive Operations, wherein the Gunpowder itself seems fired by the Electricity; and indeed the first Time this Experiment succeeded, the Flash was so sudden and unexpected, that the Hand of my Assistant, who touch'd the Spoon with his Finger, was considerably scorch'd. So that there seems a fourth Ingredient necessary to make Gunpowder readily take Fire by Flame, and that such a one, as will heighten the Inflammability of the Sulphur. In common Cases the lighted Match or the little Portion of red hot Glass, which falls among the Powder, and is the Result of the Collision from the Flint and Steel, fires the Charcoal and Sulphur, and these the Nitre. But if to these three Ingredients you add a fourth,