EXPLOSIVES—0’HERN, 951 
produced a mass of fine, gray crystals of fulminate of mercury. The 
erystalline powder thus produced is washed with water to free it from 
acids, and, because of its extreme sensitiveness, is usually kept soaked 
with water or alcohol until needed. On account of its great specific 
gravity (4.4) a small volume of it develops a large volume of gas. 
According to the usually assumed reaction the gas developed occupies, 
at the ordinary temperature, a volume more than 1,340 times that of 
the original material. Because of the large amount of heat developed 
in the reaction, the volume at the temperature of the reaction is very 
much greater. It is estimated that a pressure as great as 48,000 
atmospheres is produced by the detonation of mercury fulminate. 
QUANTITY AND COST. 
According to a bulletin of the Census Bureau, approximately 
487,000,000 pounds of explosives were produced in the United States 
during the year 1909 and comprised (approximately) the following 
principal items: 
Pounds. 
LD CURIE FE eee Oe Oe ee ee Beene eae 195, 000, 000 
1 5'\43 128275 SY ORI 0 eal a ll a IRB (or SS Pak Pree RN RS 233, 000, 000 
SLUT DERN CEs ad ee Rete Aen gall 2.8 Sep Ein Sich ed heed cai INE Uo 29, 000, 000 
Praamipronmener: = Le ays! o73LE FLEE REE ee Ue Re Td eee 18, 000, 000 
epernnincipie Explosives s)siitity «43: weadeetowep. bb. see st oe. 10, 000, 000 
STATIS SSS To (C1 Sea ea) A ree ae oe a 5 6, 000, 000 
eESIGLON VC UCr S re Oe St Mined yo Pes BO mr, 4) CE ede tg 1, 000, 000 
The approximate value of these explosives per pound is as follows: 
Cents. 
EDU a MOL. $20 iN Oe ge ee A ee ee Lek oe 4 
Peers le EX PLOSIV OR. sien se ed ye eh nes lata 5 oak oo ees see 9 
PEnAeiLOCAnG NICrOCIY COLIGS cree eee 2 eee Oe ne es a een ns eR eee li 
AS TOTCORG Bi path i cia act. AR Ae A die ac Ne ied ea eR el SE EL Set So 14 
Sudo Ke errpowaer! thir) Tait Se aad ay bet is ie Siar OS ee 68 
All of the foregoing explosives were used for industrial purposes 
except the smokeless powder, some of the guncotton, and some of the 
gunpowder. The so-called “permissible explosives” are those ap- 
proved by the United States Bureau of Mines as being suitable for 
use in mines where dust or gas explosions are likely to occur. The 
explosives used for military and naval purposes probably comprised 
not much more than 7,000,000 out of 487,000,000 pounds, or about 
1.5 percent. Of the total money value, amounting to approximately 
$38,000,000, about 10 per cent represents military and naval uses. 
EXPLOSIVES IN WAR. 
At no time in the history of the world have explosives played such 
a mighty part in deciding the destiny of nations as they are playing 
to-day in the prosecution of the general European war. Their 
