Fulmlnailng Oxjdvf Mercury . 213 



terrible claws, and their throats full of tremendous teeth — 

 at the leafl; fign from him they he on their backs, hold up 

 their paws one after another, open their throats, and, as a 

 recompence, obtain the favour of licking his hand." — ^TL'hcfe 

 two animals, of a ftrong breed, are live years and a half old; 

 tUey were both of the fame mother, and have always lived 

 together. 



FULMINATING OXYD OF MERCURY. 



It is well known that C. Bayen, Brugnatelli, and others, 

 fome time ago difcovered that nitrats in general, thofe of 

 the metals not excepted, detonate with combuftible fub- 

 ftances, efpecially with fulphur. That fome preparations 

 of gold and of filvcr poiTefs the property of fulminating 

 without the addition of any inflammable fubftance, has 

 alfo been known for fome time. We havQ now to an- 

 nounce, that a method of preparing an oxyd of mercury, 

 different from any defcribed by Bayen or others, that may be 

 fired like gunpowder, and detonates loudly with a gentle 

 ftroke of a hammer, has juft been difcovered by Mr. Edward 

 Howard. We have not yet received a correft account of 

 the procefs for preparing it, but, from the wonderful expan-r 

 five force it exerts on being fired, we have not a doubt that 

 it will prove a very ufeful difcovery, A few grains of it tried 

 in a gunpowder proof, inhcad of merely raifing the flap to 

 fome point within the range of the attached fcale, fairly (hot 

 it off; and the piece detached, on being examined, was 

 found to have received fuch a blow from the newly-gene- 

 rated gas as to be abfolutcly dented by it, as if it had re- 

 ceived the imprcflfion of a punch by means of a heavy ham- 

 mer : the cavity was exaftly the diameter of the bore of the 

 proof, and, what is extremely Angular, of an equal depth 

 all over. A charge of only thirty-two grains laid open, for 

 two inches in length, the breech-end of a very ftrong muf- 

 ket barrel on the two opi)ofite fides, the force being too 

 great to allow time to the gas to wiredraw itfelf (if wc may 

 V 3 ufo 



