106 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



Avli.'it my informant describes as a " rain of biiUols." This mode of 

 firinji: lU'Counts for the fact of so many of the Austrians bein<f 

 wounded in tiio le<^s and feet. — Druijgists' Circular, 18()G. 



So mueii has been said al)out the Trussian needle-<i:nn of late, 

 in tiie foreign journals, and the success of the Prussians with it, 

 that many supjjose it to l)e a new invention. On tlie contrary, it 

 is t\ynty years old. Vie do not desire to depreciate it on this 

 gnnmd, but. Judging it solely I)y its intrinsic merit, it is not up to 

 the standard of American breech-loaders. All military men know 

 that an essential point in a Hre-arm is simplicity and certainty in 

 fire. Neither of these <iualilies is found in the needle-gun, for the 

 mechanism is clumsy, compared witli recent inventions, and the 

 ammunition is complicated, and costly to prepare. The principal 

 idea in this weapon is in tiring the charge from the front instead 

 of behind, as in other \veaj)ons. To do this, the percussion pow- 

 der is put into a cavity in tiic base of a paper sabot, between the 

 ball and the powder, the charge being exploded by a wii'e or 

 needle thrust through the cartridge. 



The experience gained in the war of the rebellion shows us 

 that the " magazine arm," or that weapon where the charges are 

 contained in the breech, is most deadly, when in the hands of 

 skilful troops. Other breech-loaders have their good qualities, 

 but all who remember the part the Spencer rifle bore in the con- 

 test will concede the point we make. 



Breecii-loaders have this disadvantage : troops must be trained 

 long and thoroughly, or in the heat of battle the charges will be 

 thrown awaj* from heedless firing. The Prussian army have had 

 experience with breech-loading guns for fifteen years, and in 

 their recent battles did well. — Scieiitijic Amencan, 18GG. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN CANNON. 



At the anniversary meeting of the American Academy of Arts 

 and Sciences, Boston, Mass., in May, 18G;3, the Rumford medal 

 was awai'ded to Prof. Daniel Tread well, of Cambridge, Mass., 

 *' for improvements in the management of heat made and put in 

 practice bv him in constructing cannon of a series of coiled rings, 

 in the year 1842." 



The following are extracts from the address of Prof. Asa Gray, 

 the President, on the occasion of its presentation, in Nov., I8G0 : — 



"We in our da}-, within the last fifteen jears, have witnessed a 

 change in the means of attack and defence greater than any made 

 in the two hundred years previous, — a change involving a com- 

 plete revolution in tactics, both on land and on sea. To take a 

 single illustration from heavy ordnance, in which the importance 

 of the change impresses us, when we are told that our strongest 

 forts, ai-med with the best guns we had ten years ago, could op- 

 pose no eflectual resistance to the entrance of such ships as are 

 now built, into any of our harbors ; and that a shij) could now be 

 built and armed, which, siugl}', would overmatch our whole navy 

 as it was in 1855. 



"Fortunately, the balance is redressed by equal improvement 

 in defence. 



