1869.] EDWARDS— CHEMICAL EXPLOSIVES. 61 



under special precautions, and thus a car load has been recently 

 sent through from New York to the new Pacific railroad without 

 being unladen, in perfect safety. 



Much scientific attention has been bestowed on the important 

 subject of rendering these substances non-explosive during their 

 storage and transhipment. 



Gunpowder was to be treated with sand and thus rendered non- 

 explosive and when required for use the sand to be sifted out. 

 This simple and ingenious idea was however found in practice less 

 practicable than could be wished. The sand cut the grain of the 

 powder, and caused loss by dust, while to an inconvenient extent 

 it remained with the powder after sifting. 



Gun-cotton can be kept wet until required for use and, when 

 manufactured in yarn or cartridges, is much safer than powder. 

 Prof. Abel has suggested some important modifications in the 

 process for manufacturing mining cotton, which render it com- 

 paratively safe and in a very compact form. 



Nitro-glyeerine has received similar assistance from the hands 

 of M. Nobel, which promises to give a new stimulus to its manu- 

 facture and which may enable it to outstrip all competitors for 

 blasting purposes. 



His first idea was to dissolve it in two or three volumes of 

 Naptha, or methylated spirit. This renders it perfectly safe for 

 transport, but adds of course to the cost the additional freight of 

 extra bulk, and the value of the spirit. When the compound is 

 dropped into water the nitro-glycerine falls to the bottom and 

 may be collected or used in that state. A still more valuable 

 suggestion, however, is to mix it with 25 per cent, of porous 

 silica, and use it in this pasty condition. This is a form said to 

 possess special advantage for blasting purposes over either the 

 solid or liquid agents ; it loses none of its power by dilution to 

 this extent and is then called Dynamite. 



Experiment have been made at Glasgow and Mertsham which 

 leave no doubt of its safety. A box containing 8 lbs. of Dyna- 

 mite (equal to 80 lbs. gunpowder) was placed over a fire where it 

 slowly burned away. Another box containing the same quantity 

 was hurled from a height of sixty feet on to the rock below and 

 no explosion took place. At Stockholm, a 200 lbs. weight was 

 dropped from a height of twenty feet on to a box containing Dyna, 

 mite, which was completely smashed but without any explosion. 



It may of course be much more easily packed that nitro-gly- 



