Accidental Discharge of Fire- Arms. 317 



peg may be also solid, that is, a part of the swivel itself, the 

 end of the swivel being lengthened, and shaped into the form 

 of a peg. This peg, when the gun is fired, passes down 

 through a hole or opening towards the trigger-plate of the 

 gun. The gun is prevented from being discharged by means 

 of a slide, opening and shutting the hole at pleasure, through 

 which the peg descends when the gun is fired. This slide is 

 pressed forward into the hole or opening through which the 

 peg passes in a similar way to the one just now mentioned in 

 the foregoing method. When the gun is fired, the left hand, 

 by a gentle pressure, throws back the slide, and thus lays open 

 the hole in the stock and trigger-plate, and allows the peg to 

 pass downward, and, of course, the main-spring to traverse its 

 full distance. Keys are fixed upon, and removeable at plea- 

 sure, from this gun, the same as in the former method just 

 described. 



The first advantage which this gun possesses over the ordi- 

 nary gun is the complete security which it affords against ac- 

 cidental discharge, and the consequent preservation of human 

 life. This is the grand object of the present contrivance. Its 

 other advantages are all subordinate to this. 



It is not without reason that writers have cautioned sports- 

 men about the danger of fire-arms, and that the anxiety of pa- 

 rents has been awakened by the risk their sons run in the use 

 of them. The waste of human life by the accidental discharge 

 of fire-arms is truly deplorable. Not only every season, but 

 almost every week of every season, brings us accounts of the 

 most valuable lives being lost in this way. The inventor, 

 within the space of little more than a yeai*, the time when he 

 first began to notice such accidents, has marked, within the 

 narrow limits of his own observation, no less than sixteen or 

 eighteen lives lost by the accidental discharge of fowling-pieces. 

 The death of a fine youth of eighteen, the eldest son of his 

 family, and belonging to his own parish, occasioned in this 

 way, and accompanied with the most tragical circumstances, 

 first led the inventor to think of this subject ; and since that 

 time he has been in the habit of marking similar occurrences. 

 He may state it as a fact, that, at an average, there is not less 

 than from twenty to thirty lives, throughout Great Britain anil 



