1817.) Scientific Intelligence. 403 
against it is, that the oxygen being possessed of a greater degree of 
electricity than the hydrogen, it may issue from the compartment in 
which it is collected, with greater velocity. He! BH 
VIII. Experiment with a bent Gunbarrel. 
(To Dr. Thomson.) 
DEAR SIR, Swineford, March 12, 1817. 
When our regiment marched from Belfast last spring, a soldier 
with his musket slung over his shoulder was adjusting some baggage 
on a loaded cart. While doing this, the cart moved on; and as he 
endeavoured to get clear from it, the muzzle of his musket got en- 
tangled between the spokes of one of the wheels. The man would 
have been killed if the sling had not given way and liberated him, 
The stock was broken to pieces, and the barrel was bent into a 
curve not unlike a semicircle, in which state ] found it among some 
Jumber in our armourer’s shop at Castlebar in the month of Nov. 
Jast. On learning the history of this crooked barrel, I examined it 
very carefully; and finding no flaw in the bend, it occurred to me 
to try whether it might be fired in this state. Some of our gentle- 
men having facetiously predicted that the ball would certainly go at 
least three times round the yard, I took many precautions in making 
the first experiment, which, however, were not at all necessary. 
The breech plug was unscrewed, a ball cartridge put in at the 
breech, and the plug again screwed tight. ‘The barrel was then 
placed on the ground, and a great weight of stones and other 
matters laid upon it. A train was laid from the touch-hole to the 
door of the forge, from which I set fire to it with a touch of a red- 
hot iron. It went off with a great report; and the ball went 
through an old barrow, apparently with as much force as if the 
barrel had been straight. ‘The recoil, which was expected to be 
violent, appeared to have been trifling, as none of the weights 
which lay on the barrel were displaced ; and the barrel, which we 
expected to burst, did not appear to be at all injured by the explo- 
sion. ‘The experiment was repeated three times, with the same re- 
sults, only in the last the barrel (being laid on the ground without 
any weight upon it) made a jump of about five yards froth its sta- 
tion. 1 have, however, ascertained that a straight barrel will do 
the same. 
In the beginning of last month it occurred to me to make another 
experiment with this barrel, I made the armourer drill a touch-hole 
in the hollow of the bend, as nearly in the middle as possible. ‘The 
breech plug was lost by this time, which indeed suggested the idea 
of the experiment. 1 took a common ball cartridge, and puta 
second ball into it, so as to have a ball at each end. This double- 
shotted charge was put into the barrel, and, by means of a strong 
bent wire, pushed so far as to place the middle of the powder oppo- 
site to the touch-hole in the bend. It was then fired by means of a 
2c 2 
