PEASE, CALVIN. 



737 



The French canons rayees or rifle guns are 

 not of large caliber, nor have they so ex- 

 tended a range as our Parrott guns or the 

 Whitworth cannon. Both their field and 

 siege guns are made of brass and have six 

 grooves, each T 8 C 3 S of an inch wide, by A of an 

 inch deep. The projectile has twelve buttons, 

 six at the shoulder, and six at the base, one of 

 each sliding in each groove. The gun is muz- 

 zle-loading. The initial velocity of the rifled 

 gun is 1,213 feet per second, and that of the 

 smooth-bore 12-pounder Napoleon 1,476 feet 

 per second, but at 656 yards the velocity of the 

 projectile from the rifle exceeds that from the 

 smooth-bore gun. The following table gives 

 some interesting particulars concerning each 

 class of the French rifled cannon. 



Thus their largest siege gun, is about equiva- 

 lent to our Parrott 30-pounder, though consid- 

 erably lighter than that gun. The ironclads 

 of the first class have 100-pounder pivot guns, 

 but their officers say that these cannot be fired 

 in a rough sea, and are a failure. 



The use of gun cotton instead of gunpowder 

 for rifled ordnance is receiving considerable at- 

 tention, both on the continent of Europe and 

 in Great Britain. It has been adopted in Aus- 

 tria, and a commission of scientific experts 

 in England have been investigating its com- 

 parative value for two years past, and have 

 made partial reports. Its advantages are said 

 to be, that it produces no smoke ; that it does 

 not foul the gun ; that its explosion can, by the 

 mechanical arrangement or plaiting of its fibres, 

 be regulated and adjusted to any required ve- 

 locity, from one foot per second to one thou- 

 sand feet per second ; that it occupies far less 

 space than gunpowder, 100 Ibs. occupying only 

 four cubic feet, while the same weight of gun- 

 powder occupies 1,981 cubic feet; that the 



same weight produces more than three times 

 the number of cubic feet of gas, and consequent- 

 ly an equivalent charge need be but one third 

 of the weight. The recoil is also stated to be 

 reduced in the proportion of 263. The ma- 

 nipulation of gun cotton requires more scientific 

 skill, and more care than gunpowder, and, in 

 inexperienced hands, it is more dangerous. If 

 these objections can be obviated, it will come 

 into more general use. A new substitute for 

 gunpowder has been recently brought forward, 

 which promises fairly. It is composed of 

 starch treated with acids, in much the same 

 way as for producing gun cotton. 



OKEGON is bounded on the north by "Wash- 

 ington Territory, from which it is separated by 

 the Columbia river and the 46th parallel of 

 north latitude ; east by a line from the mouth 

 of the Owyhee river, due south to the parallel 

 of 42 north ; south along said parallel to the 

 Pacific Ocean ; west by the Pacific Ocean. Its 

 area is about 102,606 square miles, or 120,320,- 

 000 acres. The capital is Salem. Population 

 estimated at 55,000. 



The following measurement of rains was 

 taken at Fort Umpqua, in the southern portion 

 of Oregon, in the months of the respective 

 years : the snow which fell is included, and the 

 amounts are expressed in inches and hun- 

 dredths : 



The following table shows the number of 

 rainy days during the twelve months ending 

 March 31st, 1863. It includes all rainy days, 

 whether it rained all of the day, or only a part, 

 and also all days on which snow fell : 



For the condition of the local institutions of 

 the State, see ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA, 1862. 



PEASE, CALVIN, D.D., an American clergy- 

 man, born in Canaan, Litchfield county, Conn., 

 August 12th, 1813; died at Burlington, Vt., 

 Sept. 17th, 1863. His parents were both of 

 Puritan stock, and his early training was ju- 

 dicious and eminently calculated to lay the 

 foundation of the purity of character which 

 marked his maturer years. In November, 

 1826, his family removed to Charlotte, Vt., 

 where he was occupied upon his father's farm 

 until 1832, when he entered Hinesburgh Acad- 

 TOL. ni. 47 A 



emy, to fit for college, and at the expiration of 

 a year entered the University of Vermont, at 

 Burlington. Here he at once took a high po- 

 sition, which he maintained to the end of his 

 college course. He graduated in 1838, and 

 from that time until 1842 was employed as 

 principal in the academy at Montpelier. In 



1841 he delivered the master's oration at Bur- 

 lington, and received the degree of A. M. In 



1842 he delivered the annual address before the 

 associate literary societies of the University, 



