1900.] on Some Modern Explosives. 337 



well aware that any practicable velocity or energy they may desire 

 for their guns is at their disposal. 



They have such guns — I mean guns with high velocity and high 

 energy. Whether they have enough of them, and whether they are 

 always in the right place, is another matter, for which perhaps the 

 military authorities are not altogether responsible. But velocity and 

 energy is not the only thing that is required under all circumstances 

 in war, and I ask you to believe that if the War Office authorities 

 have, for their field guns, fixed on a velocity very much below what 

 is possible, they have had sound and sufficient reasons for so doing. 



My firm and I, individually, have had much to do with the intro- 

 duction of the larger high velocity and quick-firing guns into our own 

 and other services, but as an old artillery officer, in no way responsible 

 for our field guns, I may perhaps be allowed to say that, whether as 

 regards materiel or personnel, our field artillery is inferior to none 

 anywhere, and I venture to add that in the present war it appears 

 to have been handled in a way worthy of the reputation of the 

 corps. 



I fear the causes of some of our military failures at the commence- 

 ment of the war, must be looked for in other directions ; and the 

 present unfortunate war will turn out to be a blessing in disguise, if 

 it should awaken the Empire to the necessity of correcting serious 

 defects in our organisation, possibly the natural result of our consti- 

 tution, and in that case the invaluable lives that have been lost will 

 not have been sacrificed in vain. 



I now pass to points which have to be considered when weighing 

 the comparative merits of explosives for their intended ends. 



You will easily understand that between explosives which are 

 intended to be used for propelling purposes, and those which are in- 

 tended to be used, say for bursting shell, a wide difference may exist. 



In the former case, facility of detonation would be an insuperable 

 objection. In the latter, the more perfect the detonation the better ; 

 certain special cases, to which I have not time to refer, excepted. 



There exists, I think, considerable diversity of opinion as to what 

 does, and what does not, constitute true detonation. I find many 

 persons speak of a detonation, when I should merely consider that a 

 very high pressure had been reached. This gun-cotton slab on the 

 table affords me, I think, a fair opportunity of explaining my 

 meaning. Were I to set fire to it, except for the large volume of 

 flame and the great amount of heat generated, we in this room would 

 not suffer ; we should probably experience more inconvenience did I 

 fire a similar slab of gunpowder, as detached burning portions would 

 probably be projected to some distance. 



But if I fired this same slab with two or three grammes of ful- 

 minate of mercury, a detonation of extreme violence would follow. 

 The detonation would be capable of blowing a hole in a tolerably 

 thick iron plate, and would probably put an end to a considerable 

 proportion of the Managers in the front row. 



