Fireball

Fireball is the popular name of projectiles, other than rockets, which are used for incendiary or illuminating purposes. They are more properly called carcasses, or ground and parachute light-balls. The carcass is a thick shell filled with fiercely burning composition, and having large holes, or vents, out of which this streams. The ground light-ball is filled with brightly burning composition, and burns on the ground. The parachute shell is fired from a mortar, and fused so as to open in the air and support, by means of a parachute packed inside it, a pan of brightly burning composition. The electric light has superseded these last two, and the rocket the first.—For another kind of fireball, see LIGHTNING.