244 Mr, F. A. Abel, on Applications of Science [April 2Y, 



comfort, and general welfare of the soldier, and which had been 

 effected by the successful adaptations made, from time to time, of dis- 

 coveries and improvements in applied sciences. 



The general introduction of rifled small-arms ; the great perfection 

 and saving of cost attained in the manufacture of all implements of 

 war ; the employment of electric telegraphs in the field, may be 

 quoted as examples of important results completely or partially 

 attained even during the late war. 



One of the most important subjects in connection with military 

 equipment, and one which has recently received a very large share of 

 general attention, relates to the changes which have gradually been 

 effected in the nature of material, and the principles of construction, 

 applied to the production of cannon. 



Until very recently the materials used for cannon have been only 

 of two kinds ; cast iron and bronze, or rather the alloy of copper and 

 tin, known as gun-metal. 



Of these, the latter is by far the most ancient. Guns were cast of 

 bronze in France and Germany about 1370, and from that period until 

 the close of the 15th century, this material gradually replaced wrought 

 iron, of which guns were constructed in the first instance. An ex- 

 amination of such iron guns, of early date, as are still in existence 

 (such as the Mons Meg, of Scotland, the great gun of Ghent, and 

 others), shows that the principles involved in their general construc- 

 tion are precisely those which have just been most successfully applied 

 to the production of wrought iron rifled guns in this country. Those 

 ancient guns were built up of stave-bars arranged longitudinally, upon 

 which wrought iron rings were shrunk. The very imperfect nature of 

 those structures, arising from the primitive condition of mechanical 

 and metallurgic appliances at that early period, rendered their dura- 

 bility exceedingly uncertain ; and it is therefore not surprising to find 

 that compound guns of this class were gradually replaced by cannon 

 cast in one piece. Even the great expense of bronze, as compared 

 with iron, was counterbalanced by the vast amount of time and labour 

 which must have been bestowed on the construction of the old wrought- 

 iron guns. 



Although cast iron was applied to the production of shot and other 

 projectiles at the close of the 14th century, it was not until about 1660 

 that cannon were made of this material. In proportion as the facility 

 of its production increased, its application in this direction was 

 gradually extended ; but in no country has it ever entirely superseded 

 bronze or gun-metal, which, on account of its superior tenacity, has 

 always been employed for the construction of light field-guns. This 

 alloy possesses, however, some very serious defects, arising principally 

 out of its softness and its consequent incapacity to resist the injurious 

 efi*ects of rapid firing. Numerous experiments have been made with 

 alloys of copper, and, recently, with other combinations of that metal, 

 with the object of discovering some material, at least equal to gun- 

 metal in tenacity, and superior to it in hardness and also in uniformity. 



