THE APPLICATIONS OF EXPLOSIVES. 



301 



effects, is set in operation by what appears to be a very slight ini- 

 tial cause. It is evident on brief consideration that these bodies, 

 like a coiled spring, a bent bow, or a head of water, are enormous 

 reservoirs of energy which can be released at a touch, and which, if 



GcN-CoTTON Factory. Diirestion troui^hs. 



the explosive be properly placed in well-proportioned amounts and 

 discharged at the right time, can be made to do useful and impor- 

 tant work that can not be as conveniently and quickly accomplished 

 in most cases, and in some cases can not be accomplished at all by 

 any other means. 



The marked characteristic of all explosive substances, and espe- 

 cially of the so-called high explosives, is that the energy, as devel- 

 oped, is at high potential, and the uses to which energy in this con- 

 dition can be economically put are so manifold that the production 

 of explosives has become one of the most important of our chemical 

 .industries, this country alone producing, in 1890, 108,735,980 

 pounds, having a value of nearly $11,000,000. 



The number of possible substances possessing explosive prop- 

 erties is exceedingly large; the number actually known is so great 

 that it has taxed the ingenuity of inventors to provide them with 

 suitable names; but these various explosive substances vary to so 

 great an extent in the energy they will develop in practice and in 

 their safety in storage, transportation, and use that but a compara- 

 tivelv small number have met with wide acceptance. All may be 



