268 ANNUAL KEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908. 



eimi " — (Thus Malta, which is a kind of bitumen, and exists in large 

 quantities in this world, when thrown on an armor-clad man, burns 

 him to death). It seems, therefore, that the Mayflower took with her 

 some Old World expressions and adapted them to the New World. 



The latest surprise is that in 1908 a chlorate explosive has been 

 licensed as a safety explosive in this country under the name of 

 " colliery steelite ; " it consists of 74 parts of potassium chlorate, 25 

 parts of oxidized resin, and 1 part of castor oil. 



The electrolytic chlorine industry has also made possible the manu- 

 facture of pure perchlorates, and more especially of ammonium per- 

 chlorate, which presents many advantages, although the objection 

 Jias been raised that explosives containing this ingredient generate 

 fumes of hydrochloric acid in the mine. 



Another class of explosives, which was from time to time used for 

 ordinary blasting purposes, and of which very little has been heard 

 in this country, are the Sprengel explosives. You have all heard of 

 rackarock, which was employed in the blasting of the Hell Gate rocks 

 near New York. Until the last decade it was hardly used anywhere 

 except in America, but on building the first Chinese railways the 

 Americans were able to introduce it." 



A novel ingredient was introduced by Winand,'' who mixes tetrani- 

 tromethane with petroleum or other carbonaceous matter. 



A new departure was made in 1899, when Dr. Richard Escales, of 

 Munich, invented the first aluminum explosive. There were only a 

 few early attempts to utilize light metals in explosives, until Escales 

 showed that the addition of aluminum or magnesium very consider- 

 ably increased the temperature of explosion and thereby the explosive 

 force. His explosive was patented under the name of Wenghceffer," 

 and is now, I believe, manufactured, together with a similar explosive 

 invented independently in 1900 by Ritter von Dahmen,'^ and since 

 known under the name of " ammonal." 



Ever since aluminum has been taken as an ingredient in almost 

 any kind of explosive. Theoretically it would be of very great value, 

 but in practice the high price of aluminum powder and the possi- 

 bility of oxidation under suitable conditions have somewhat militated 

 against it. It is, however, used in Austria-Hungary for filling shells, 

 for which purpose it seems well suited, not having given any trouble 

 during ten years of storage, although I am told they sometimes fail 

 to explode. It is also on the special list of the British home office 

 as an explosive for fiery mines. 



«Karoly Gubanyi, "The Rackarock Blasting Powder," "Magyar lueruijk es 

 ^pitesz egylet kozlonye," 1901, p. 165. 

 6 British patent No. 26201, of 1907. 

 c British patent No. 24377, of 1899. 

 ^ Id., No. 16277, of 1900. 



