WILLIAM SIEMENS, F.R.S. 321 



been arrived at, and which the members would have an oppor- 

 tunity of witnessing at the author's works. But perhaps the most 

 ivmarkalilr l< 'uture of the subject was the systematic manner in 

 which those results had been arrived at. The question of gunnery 



h-iil 1 n taken up by Sir Joseph Whitworth in 1854 in connection 



with the rifle, and in 1868 in connection with the construction of 

 stei-1 guns ; and on the occasion of his reading a paper before the 

 British Association in 18G9 on the penetration of armour plates by 

 long slid Is tired (llii|iiely, the remark had been made by himself 

 Mr. Siemens), as President of the mechanical section, that "Mr. 

 Whitworth having taken up the question of gunnery has viewed 

 it from a mechanical point of view, and has arrived at purely 

 mechanical results in this problem. His solution commends itself 

 to all who have gone into the question ; and it is natural there 

 should be some diversity of opinion under such circumstances." 

 The solution at that time arrived at by Sir Joseph Whitworth in 

 connection with the question of constructing guns had reference 

 to the method of rifling that he proposed ; and it appeared to be 

 conclusive. Nothing was more natural than that his attention 

 should next be directed to the production of the material from 

 which the gun was to be constructed ; and having persevered in 

 thoroughly investigating this portion of the subject, he had suc- 

 ceeded in arriving at the remarkable results brought forward in 

 the present paper. 



In the plan now carried out, the steel after it had been produced 

 was dealt with under a method entirely different from those tefore 

 adopted, being here compressed while in a fluid or semi-fluid state. 

 He had at first felt considerable doubt as to the effect of the new 

 method. It was said that in applying hydraulic pressure upon 

 fluid steel the gases contained in the fluid metal would be driven 

 out ; but he could not see how that was to be done by mere pres- 

 sure. For in applying pressure to a fluid, the pressure acted in all 

 directions equally ; and why a particle of gas held in suspension 

 in the fluid should go in one direction rather than another, and 

 should get away from the pressure to which it was subjected, it 

 seemed difficult to conceive. The facts however spoke for them- 

 selves ; and these being ascertained, it was more easy to find an 

 explanation of what took place. The result he suggested might 

 be accounted for by the circumstance that the fluid steel congeal- 



VOL. I. Y 



