German-Swiss chemist Christian Friedrich Schönbein accidentally discovered guncotton (nitrocellulose) in his kitchen in Basel, Switzerland, after spilling a mixture of nitric and sulfuric acids on a cotton apron. Upon drying, the apron flashed into smokeless flame when exposed to heat. This discovery marked the birth of modern synthetic organic explosives, offering far more power than traditional sulfur-and-charcoal black powder.

The sudden, smokeless disappearance of guncotton captured the imagination of mid-19th-century writers who were obsessed with spiritualism and sudden transformations. It altered the vocabulary of industrial science in literature, signaling a shift toward invisible, highly concentrated chemical energies.