Editorial Notes. 229 



agement, and any invention which tends to lessen the labour and 

 cost of such operations deserves the careful attention of all who are 

 interested in their management. We would draw the attention of landed 

 proprietors, estate managers, foresters, and others, to the following very- 

 promising and interesting experiments made upon a variety of objects, 

 in a field at Farnley Wood, Yorkshire, by Mr. T. Dineen, of the firm 

 of Dineen, Son, and Co., Leeds, with their new explosive, known by the 

 name of " Tonite." The experiments were undertaken at the request 

 and in the presence of a number of gentlemen connected with the 

 management of landed property, iron-works, iron mines, coal-pits, 

 quarries, &c.; in the neighbourhood, and carried out in a highly satis- 

 factory and successful manner, under Mr. Dineen's personal super- 

 intendence. The object was to show how the explosive could be 

 used in clearing land of tree stumps and boulder stones, as well as 

 in quarries and iron-works, in breaking up slag, old iron, &c., and to 

 prove its perfect safety in handling, transit, storage, and use. The 

 " tonite," or " patent cotton gunpowder," is of a very different nature 

 from dynamite or gun-cotton, and Mr. Dineen claims for it that it 

 will not explode except when a cap or detonator specially provided 

 for it is inserted in a cartridge with a lighted fuse attached. It then 

 explodes with a loud report, but produces no smell, smoke, or poison- 

 ous fumes. It contains no nitro-glycerine nor dangerous compounds 

 of any kind, and has no means of igniting within itself To prove 

 the safety and strength of the powder, Mr. Dineen cut a cartridge in 

 two pieces. On one portion he poured nitric acid and sulphuric acid, 

 to show that acid would not burn it. With a match he then lighted 

 the portion of the cartridge which he held in his hand, and threw it 

 into a small pool of water, the result being that the flame was at 

 once extinguished. To show the effect when the proper cap and fuse 

 were attached, he took a cartridge, and having lighted the fuse, threw 

 it into the pool. The spectators retired a short distance, and soon a 

 loud explosion occurred, and the water was sent to a great height. 

 To prove that concussion in transit would not cause the tonite to 

 explode, Mr. Dineen placed a cartridge on a brick and struck it a 

 blow with another brick. He next placed the cartridge on a stone 

 with a fuse attached, and covered it with a small quantity of clay. 

 On being fired the stone was broken into fragments, thus 

 showing the downward power of the explosive. Another proof 

 of the safety of the tonite when no cap and fuse are attached was 

 given by Mr. Dineen, who put one pound of gunpowder over a 

 cartridge. On being fired the gunpowder exploded, but the only effect 

 upon the tonite was to ignite it. Cartridges were also placed under the 

 stumps of trees, and these were shivered into fragments. Seven 

 cartridges were then placed beneath a stone which weighed between 



