It’s not water, but Antoine Lavoisier was hired by Louis XVI to study the health risks associated with this commodity in France. A statue in Freiburg, Germany depicts the alleged inventor of this commodity, (-5[1])Berthold Schwarz. (-5[1])Monopolizing this commodity led to the creation of larger united empires and “military patronage states” according to a hypothesis named after (15[1])William McNeill (-5[1])and Marshall Hodgson. A manual compiled during the early (*) Ming dynasty (10[2])strategist Jiao Yu describes “divine” and “poisonous” varieties of this substance. (-5[1])The Safavid, Mughal, and Ottoman empires (10[1])were (10[1])collectively (10[1])known (10[1])as “[this (10[1])substance] (10[1])empires.” For 10 points, saltpeter and (0[1])charcoal (10[1])were traditionally used to manufacture which substance that sets off firearms? ■END■ (10[2])