MECHANICS AND USEFUL AETS. 69 



gerbread fort. It was constructed of a peculiar kind of hard, close 

 brick, six and seven feet thick ; the arches of the casemates and the 

 supporting pillars were of eight and nine feet in thickness. The faces 

 presented" to the breaching batteries must have subtended at 3,500 

 yards, an exceedingly small angle, and the elevation of the fort was 

 low. But so great "was the accuracy of the fire that a vast proportion 

 of the shots struck it ; so great the penetration that the brickwork was 

 perforated ' like a rotten cheese ; ' so low the trajectory that the shot, 

 instead of plunging into, passed through the fort, and made clean 

 breaches through both walls. Now, the guns that did this work cost, 

 we believe, just one-fourth of our ordnance, cwt. for cwt. ; they are 

 light and very easily handled. The gun itself is finely rifled, with 

 grooves varying from four and five in number for small calibers, to six 

 and seven for the larger ; but, as Mr. Parrott is still ' experimenting,' 

 no settled plan has been arrived at, and all we know is that the pitch 

 is not so sharp as is the case in our rifled guns. The projectile is like 

 the conical Armstrong, and has a leaden sabot and coating, at least 

 it is coated and based with some soft metal. The Americans have con- 

 structed cannon of calibers which to us are known only as of theoreti- 

 cal and probable attainment, and they have armed batteries hundreds 

 of miles from their arsenals, with the most powerful guns ever used in 

 war, which have been carried by sea and in stormy waters to the ene- 

 my's shores. Before such projectiles as these guns carry, the breach- 

 ing of masonry, whether of brick or stone, is a question of short time. 

 And, in face of these facts, we are obliged to record that our scientific 

 officers are of opinion that our ' best gun for breaching purposes is the 

 old sixty-eight pounder ! ' Why, we know what that can do ! We 

 know that at 3,500 yards its fire would be about as effectual as that of 

 Mons Meg. These trials at two hundred yards are perfectly fatuous, 

 if no other results than these, or such as these, be gained by them. It 

 is of no use saying Sumter was of brick ; it was at least as good a work 

 as most of our existing fortifications, and infinitely less easy ' to splinter 

 up ' than a work of granite or rubble masonry. In substance it resem- 

 bled very much our martello towers on the beach at Hythe. Have we 

 any gun which could breach one of these at 3,500 yards? .... 

 The Authorities have had no experience of the effect of such shot as the 

 Dahlgrens and Parrotts propel. They have not got the guns to dis- 

 charge them. When next the ordnance officers and gentlemen meet, 

 let them apply their minds to the little experiments the Americans 

 have been making for their benefit at Sumter. It is astounding to see 

 what progress has been made in artillery since the Crimean war.'' 



The Material of a Great War. From the report of the U. S. Sec- 

 retary of War, December 1863, we obtain the following statement of 

 the amount of war material issued to the armies of the United States 

 from the commencement of hostilities in April 1SG1, to June 30th, 

 1863, a period of 26^- months : of siege and sea-coast artillery, 2,088 

 pieces; of field artillery, 2,481 pieces; firearms for infantry, 1,550,- 

 576; do. for cavalry, 327,170; sabres, 271,817; cannon-balls and 

 shells, 1,745,586; lead and lead bullets in pounds, 50,045.515; car- 

 tridges for artillery, 2,274,490 ; cartridges for small-arms, 378,584,104; 

 percussion caps, 715,036,470; gunpowder in pounds, 13,071,073; ac- 

 coutrements for infantry, 1,680,220 sets; do. for. cavalry, 196,298; 



