24 NOTES BY THE EDITOR. 



has been for some time in use, but has defects which all the ingenuity 

 expended on it has failed to entirely overcome. The second method, 

 which has produced the important results above indicated, is to use an 

 oblong ball of such diameter as to be readily introduced into the 

 piece, but which afterwards is expanded so as to fill the caliber. 

 This was at first done by providing a rest or support at the junction 

 of the chamber with the bore, as in Capt. Delvigne's method, or by 

 means of a solid pillar in the axis of the barrel, upon which the 

 ball rested and was expanded by blows from a heavy rammer. 

 This was the plan of Col. Thomenin, of the French army, and is 

 known as the system ' d la tige? which has been extensively used 

 in their service. The same object was subsequently attained by in- 

 serting into the rear part of the ball a conical iron cup, which, being 

 driven into the lead by the explosion of the charge, acted as a wedge 

 to expand the ball. This is the plan known by the name of its in- 

 ventor, Capt. Minie, of the French army. Still more recently in 

 England the ball has been improved so as to expand by the force of 

 powder alone, without the aid of the cup. This is known as the 

 Pritchell ball, having been brought into use by Mr. Pritchell, a gun- 

 maker of London. This idea also had been suggested by Capt. 

 Delvigne. My attention being drawn to the subject, I directed ex- 

 periments to be made by the Ordnance Department, both as to the 

 proper shape of the ball, and the best mode of grooving the barrel. 

 In the course of these trials some important conclusions were reached, 

 agreeing, as was afterwards ascertained, with the results of the in- 

 vestigations then making in Europe. Although our experiments have 

 been confined to our service rifle, and are yet incomplete, they con- 

 firm the great superiority claimed for this invention abroad. They 

 show that the new weapon, while it can be loaded as readily as 

 the ordinary musket, is at least equally effective at three times the 

 distance ; and the foreign experiments indicate a still greater 

 superiority of the new arms. These results render it almost certain 

 that smooth-bored arms will be superseded as a military weapon." 



The obituary of 1854 includes the names of many distinguished 

 in science, whose loss will be severely felt Melloni, Edward 

 Forbes, Prof. Jameson, Prof. Petersen, of Altona, the successor of 

 Schumacher, Dr. Newport, Waldo I. Burnett. The last of the year 

 brings intelligence of the death of that intrepid African traveller, Dr. 

 Barth, who has fallen a victim to the climate near Timbuctoo. Dr. 

 Overwey, his companion, it will be remembered, died in 1853. The 

 scheme of Central African exploration seems likely to terminate as 

 fatally as that of exploration in the polar regions. Man is forbidden 

 to reach that inhospitable limit of the earth's surface. 



