10 Prof, Schoenbein on the Discovery of Gun-^Cotton. 



and the first few months in 1846. In March, I sent speci- 

 mens of my new compounds to some of my friends, in parti- 

 cular to Messrs. Faraday, Herschel and Grove. It is neces- 

 sary to note expressly that the gun-cotton formed part of these 

 products; but I must add, that hardly was it discovered when 

 1 employed it in experiments of shooting, the success of which 

 encouraged me to continue them. Accepting the obliging 

 invitation which I received, I went in the middle of April to 

 Wurtemburg, and made experiments with gun-cotton both in 

 the arsenal of Ludwigsburg, in the presence of artillery offi- 

 cers, and in Stuttgard, before the king himself. In the course 

 of May, June and July, with the kind cooperation of the 

 Commandant de Mechel, of M. Burkhardt, captain of artil- 

 lery, and other officers, I subsequently made in this city (Bale) 

 numerous experiments with arms of small calibre, such as 

 pistols, carbines, &c., and afterwards with mortars and can- 

 non, — experiments at which Baron de Kriidener, the Russian 

 ambassador, was several times present. I may be allowed to 

 mention, that I was the person who fired the first cannon 

 loaded with gun-cotton and shot, on the 28th of July, if I 

 remember aright, after we had previously ascertained, by ex- 

 periments with mortars, that the substance in question was 

 capable of being used with pieces of large calibre. 



About the same time, and indeed previously, I employed 

 gun-cotton to blast some rocks at Istein in the Grand Duchy 

 of Baden, and to blow up some old walls at Bale ; and in 

 both cases I had opportunities of convincing myself in the 

 most satisfactory manner, of the superiority of this new explo- 

 sive substance over common gunpowder*. 



Experiments of this kind, which took place frequently and 

 in the presence of a great number of persons, could not long 

 remain unknown ; and the public journals soon gave, without 

 participation on my part, descriptions, more or less accurate, 

 of the results which I had obtained. This circumstance, joined 

 to the short notice which I inserted in the May number of Pog- 

 gendorff's Annalen, could not fail to attract the attention of 

 German chemists : in the middle of August I received from 

 M. Boettger, Professor at Frankfort, the news that he had 

 succeeded in preparing gun-cotton and other substances. Our 

 two names thus became associated in the discovery of the sub- 

 stance in question. To M. Boettger the gun-cotton must have 

 been particularly interesting, as he had previously discovered 

 an organic acid which deflagrates readily. 



In the month of August I went to England, where, assisted 



* In tlie month of June I made also the first capsules, and employed 

 them with success for muskets, in the presence of the above-named officers. 



