1880.] Sequel to the ' TJiundcrcr' Onn Exiylosion. 319 



n bnllct in the barrel, at tlie point h h, and by then firing at tlic 

 bullet a pellet of wax. The wax meeting the base of the bullet was 

 subjected to the pressure requisite to put tlie bullet into motion at the 

 velocity, whatever it was, at which the bullet was then moving, and 

 that pressure was sufBciently great over the small area shown to 

 bulge the gun in the manner in which you see it. 



There should be nothing difficult to understand in tliis fact of the 

 bursting power of a small stationary object of a character such as, under 

 pressure, to behave in the manner of a fluid, if we consider how the 

 heaviest shot, moving at the highest velocity, will, on striking a yield- 

 ing material like water, if they are of the appropriate form, be deflected 

 from their lines of flight, and caused to assume an entirely diflerent 

 course. Especially is this the case with pointed projectiles. I was 

 told that the pointed shot from the vessel the ' Huascar ' when fired 

 against the ' Amethyst ' were many of them aimed very well as 

 regards horizontal direction, but, fortunately for the ' Amethyst,' 

 they fell a few feet short, and struck the water some little distance 

 before reaching the vessel, with the result that they were deflected, 

 and passed completely over the ' Amethyst,' doing her no harm 

 whatever. 



Let me ask you to sujipose that up to the present time no shot had 

 ever been fired so as to come into contact with water (and that no one 

 had ever played " Ducks and Drakes "), and the question were put to 

 any of you what efiect would such contact have upon the flight of 

 a 600-lb. shot moving at a velocity of a quarter of a mile a second. 

 Do you not think you would have attempted to parody Stephenson's 

 celebrated answer when asked what would happen if one of his 

 locomotives were to run against a cow, and have said it would bo 

 "a bad thing for the water," and would have done so because 

 apparently obviously a body so mobile that the hand of a child may 

 disturb it at will, must be powerless to interfere with the flight of 

 such an object as the shot of a 38-ton gun, or indeed of any gun. 

 But we know from experience that it can deflect that flight, as I have 

 just instanced in the case of the ' Amethyst,' and if the shot be of the 

 appropriate shape, deflect it to a most serious extent ; the reason being, 

 as is now clear to all of us, that the inertia of the bulk of water that 

 must be set into motion with the requisite speed to allow of the 

 passage of the shot is such as to produce a resistance so great that if 

 it be aj)plied in any other direction on the shot than that of its axis it 

 will cause a departure from the line of flight, and thus when the 

 element of time is taken into account a mobile material like water 

 may be as efficacious in diverting the direction of a shot as would be 

 a steel-faced armour plate itself. 



Similarly, the small piece of snow, which could be readily removed 

 from the bore of the gun by the little finger, produces a lateral 

 pressure when struck and sought to be put into motion by the rapidly 

 moving shot, sufficient to burst the barrel of a sporting gun. 



If a cylindrical shot could be made of some material eo hard, that, 



