EXPLOSION OF GUNPOWDER. 279 



The paste is first corned : it is then glazed, that is the corns 

 are rounded, by subjecting them to the rotatory motion of a 

 barrel, through which an axis passes: and lastly it is dried 

 jn the sun, or in a kind of stove. 



Experience has shown, that brimstone is not essential to Sulphur use- 

 the preparation of gunpowder; but that which is made J^nsaW* *** 

 without it falls to powder in the air, and will not bear car- 

 riage. There is reason to believe, that the brimstone forms 

 a coat on the surface of the powder, and prevents the char- 

 coal from attracting the moisture of the air. 



The goodness of the powder depends on the excellence Goodness of 



of the charcoal ; and there is but one mode of obtaining; this cnarcoal im * 



. '■ & portant. 



in perfection, which is distillation in close vessels,, as prac- 

 tised by the English. 



The charcoal of our powder manufactories is at present 

 prepared in pots, where the wood receives the immediate 

 action of the air, which occasions the charcoal to undergo a 

 particular alteration. 



X. 



Theory of the Detonation and Explosion of Gunpowder. 

 By the same *. 



JL HESE two phenomena, which take place simultaneous- Cause of the . 

 ly, arise from different causes. The detonation is the noise, detonation of 

 that is produced by the combustion of two parts of inflam- §un P 0W er * 

 mable and one of oxigen gas. 



The explosion, or discharge, is produced by the water of and its expla- 

 the nitre, and that which results from the decomposition of S10n - 

 the two gasses, which, being expanded by the fire, occupies 

 fourteen thousand times the space it did before; and acts 

 in the same manner as compressed air, to which its elasticity 

 is restored, and the explosive effect of which is produced 

 without detonation. 



The inflammation of gunpowder by means of a spa; k jt s ignition, 

 arises from the ignition of the nitre and brimstone. 



• Ibid. p. 425.] 



The 



