411 



MAGAZINE. 



MA(iI 



411 



IB UM province or district Temporary magazines are 

 meted during a siege for the supply of the batteries, 

 an hastily constructed in * fortress for ezpetue 



en account of the liability of gunpowder to become deteriorated by 

 humidity and by variations in the atate of the sir, the buildings in 

 which it is contained are constructed with every precaution necessary 

 to ensure drynras, and, as nearly as pomible, a uniformity of tempera- 

 ture within them. They are generally in places remote from other 

 buildings; they are furnished with metallic conductors, in order to 

 avert danger from lightning; and, for security against the attempts 

 of ill-disposed persons, they are surrounded by a wall and ditch. 

 When in situations where they may become the objects of hostile 

 measures, they are made shell-proof. 



A maguiue within the walls of a fortress is usually formed on an 

 esplanade ; and, if small, it may be in the interior of some bastion 

 remote from the front against which an attack of the enemy if likely 

 to be directed. But it would be preferable that such buildings should 

 be in some work beyond the main rampart of the place, that an 

 accident may be attended with as little detriment as possible. 



The powder required for the immediate service of the works on tlic 

 front attacked is taken from the general magazine, and placed in 

 what are called apeiue mayatina ; that is, in temporary bomb-proof 

 buildings, or in casemates formed in the rampart along that front, 

 from whence it is conveyed to the batteries. These casemates or 

 Mierreiiu should be as well ventilated as possible, by having dours and 

 windows in the interior side of the rampart, and loop-holes or small 

 perforations on the side next to the main ditch. They sometinn s 

 constitute the only bomb proofs belonging to a fortress ; and then they 

 become of the utmost importance, serving as well for the abode of 

 the troops, when not on duty, as for the preservation of the powder and 

 stores. [BuMB-FRoor ; CASEMATE.] In such situations however, aa 

 magazines, they are subject to some disadvantages from which isolated 

 buildings are free ; for besides the humidity, which the means they 

 possess for ventilation are not sufficient entirely to remove, the blow- 

 ing up of any one by an accident would evidently destroy the rampart, 

 and expose the place to the risk of an immediate axoault. And when 

 the vault springs from the back of the wall which constitutes the 

 exterior revetment of the rampart on any face of the work, its lateral 

 pressure would facilitate the formation of a breach by overturning the 

 wall as soon as the latter became weakened by the fire from the 

 enemy's battering artillery. 



The dimensions of magazines are necessarily dependent on the 

 quantity of powder which they may be required to contain. Vauban, 

 in his ' Traiu< sur la Defense des Places,' speaking of such as are made 

 in the ramparts of fortresses, recommends them to be from 8 to 12 

 feet wide, with semicircular-headed vaults ; and he proposes that 

 the barrels of powder should be placed in them in two rows, with 

 a passage from 3 to 4 feet wide along the middle. The great 

 magazines which have been constructed in this country consist of 

 several parallel vaults, separated from each other by brick partition- 

 walls, in which are doorways for affording lateral communication. 

 Each vault is about 90 feet long and 19 feet wide internally, and it 

 has a door at each extremity. The side walls are from 8 to 10 feet 

 thick, and are strengthened by buttresses built at intervals against 

 them. The concave or interior surface of each vault, in a vertical and 

 transverse section, is nearly of a parabolical figure, above the springing 

 courses; and the exterior surface has the form of two inclined plan.-s 

 meeting in a longitudinal ridge-line above the middle of .the vault. 

 The thickness of the brickwork forming the vaulted roof is tli 

 various ; at the crown it is 7 or 8 feet, and on the hances about 

 this being considered sufficient to resist the shock of falling shells. 

 The vault, on the exterior of the inclined planes, is covered with flat 

 tiles, slates, or, still better, asphalte ; and the gutter Imtween every 

 two roofs with sheet-lead or copper. The height interiorly, from the 

 level of the floor to the crown of the arch, is 19 feet ; and the lines at 

 which the vaulting innings from the side walls are at half that distance 

 above the floor. The narrow vertical perforations which are made 

 through the aide and end walls, for the purpose of giving air to the 

 interior, are cut so as to leave a solid block or traverse of the brick- 

 work in the middle of the thickness of the wall ; the Une of the per- 

 foration branching laterally from iU general direction, and passing 

 along the two sides of the traverse. By this construction, while air is 

 admitted, no object capable of doing mischief can be thrown in from 

 UM exterior of the building. The flooring-planks are, of course, laid 

 OB joists raised considerably above the ground. One vault, f il,,. 

 dimensions above given, would contain 2600 barrels, or 225,000 lb. of 

 powder. 



When UM roof of a magazine is covered with earth to the height of 

 several feet, for the purpose of securing it effectually against the effect 

 of falling shells, UM rain-water absorbed by the earth may at length 

 penetrate through the brickwork to the interior of the building. In 

 order to prevent this .-fleet it has been proposed that the roof should 

 be eovsred with oummon hollow tiles, having their concave surfaces 

 upwards, and that, over these, boards should be laid to carry the earth. 

 The absorbed water would thus drain off in the channels formed by 

 UM tile., and be conveyed sway by the gutters between the roofs. 



Temporary magazines, such as are formed to supply the batteries In 



a siege, are necessarily made of wood. They are of three descriptions, 

 the rectangular, the lean-to, and the triangular. 



The lean-to magazine, which was the one principally employed by 

 the. British army in the Peninsula for field powder magazines, is formed 

 by laying stout timbers, generally termed splinter-proof timber, at an 

 angle of 45*, sloping towards the fortress, against an earthen parapet 

 (reveted interiorly), so as to enclose a space of which the a.-. 

 nearly a right-angled triangle. The spliuter-proof timbers are then 

 covered with earth ; from its great inclination this face is well able 

 to resist the effects of vertical lire or shells falling on it, while the 

 powder is protected in f r. >nt by th parapet from the effects of shells 

 fired horizontally. This form of magaaine, however, is very ill adapted 

 for stowage. 



The triangular field powder magazine, the section of which is an 

 isosceles right-angled triangle, is also bad for Htowage, and takes long 

 to construct. It may, however, be placed in a traverse or parapet. 

 The size as adopted at Chatham was 15 fnet 6 inches in length of body 

 of magazine, 6 feet 6 inches wide at bottom, and 6 feet 6 inches high 

 in the clear ; or, with the length increased to 18 feet to allow of a low 

 passage, 2 feet 6 inches wide and 4 feet (i inches high, leading perpen- 

 dicularly from one end of the magazine to the rear. The interior form 

 of the magazine is preserved by five triangular frames of carpentry, with 

 sheet planks and fascines in front. The body of the magazine may be 

 sunk 4 feet. 



The rectangular field powder magazine, which is the one now gene- 

 rally adopted in the British service, consists of a rectangular excavation 

 12 feet 3 inches long by 6 feet 8 inches wide, with a passage at right 

 angles to its length at the end of one side, running to the rear. The 

 sides are formed by rectangular frames 4 feet 9 inches high and 4 feet 

 4 inches wide from out to out ; behind these, to support the earth, 

 sheeting plunks 1} inches thick are placed. Over the top, supported at 

 each end by the frames, are splinter-proof timbers about U inches in 

 width by 9 inches in depth, thu whole being covered with earth to the 

 thickness of about 5 feet. The sheeting is not carried along the 

 whole of both sides, but stops short of one frame, which is the entrance 

 from the passage, the passage being formed something like the gallriy 

 of a mine ; the frames of the passage are only 2 feet 2 inches wide. 

 There are then four body-frames, two on each side, opposite to one 

 another, and four passage- frames, two in the body of the magazine, 

 opposite to one another, and two more for the continuation of tho 

 passage to the rear. The tops of the frames are on the level of the 

 ground, the magazine being sunk below that level ; and a small ditch, 

 which supplies earth for cover, surrounds the magazine, leaving a para- 

 pet of about 4 feet in breadth all round it. This is the best description 

 of field magazine, especially for stowage. 



MAGELLAN 1C CLOUDS. [NEBULA] 



MAGI, the name of the priests among the Medos and Persians, 

 whose religious doctrines and ceremonies are explained under ZOROAS- 

 TER, in Biot;. Div. The Magi formed one of the six tribes into 

 the Medea were originally divided (Hei-odot. i. 101) ; but on the downfall 

 of the Median empire they continued to retain at the court of their 

 conquerors a great degree of power nml authority. It would appear 

 p that they did not witness with iiulill'ereiiee the sovereignty 

 pass from the Medea to the Persians ; and it was probably o\\ 

 the intrigues of the whole order that a conspiracy was formed to 

 deprive Cainbyses of the throne by representing one of their order as 

 Smcrdis, the son of Cyrus, who had been previously put to death by 

 his brother. Herodotus, who has given the history of this conspiracy 

 at length, evidently regarded it aa a plot on the part of the Magi to 

 restore the sovereignty to the Medea, since he represent* Cambyses on 

 his death-bed as conjuring the Persians to prevent the Medes from 

 obtaining the supremacy again (Herodot., iii. 65) ; and the Persians 

 themselves must have looked upon it in the same light, since aft 

 discovery of the conspiracy, and the murder of the pretended 81. 

 by Darius Hystaspes and his companions, a general massacre of the 

 Magi ensued ; the memory of which event was annually preserved by a 

 festival, called the "Slaughter of the Magi" (MayoeoVia), in wMrli 

 none of the Magi were allowed to appear in public. (Herodot, iii. 79 ; 

 Ctesias, ' Pen.,' c. 15.) This event does not appear to have much 

 impaired their influence and authority, for they are represented by 

 Herodotus, in his description of the Persian religion, as the only 

 recognised ministers of the national religion (i. 132). 



The learning of the Magi was connected with astrology and en- 

 chantment, in which they were so celebrated that their name was 

 applied to all orders of magicians and enchanters. Thus the > 



gint translates the Ghaldee ^ITS. " enchanter," by the word Magut, 

 yot. (Dan., i. 20 ; ii. 2, 27 ; compare Acts, xiii. 0, 8.) The word was 



also applied to designate any men celebrated for wisdom ; whence the 



wise men of the East who came to see Christ are called simply Magi. 



(Matt, ii. 1, 7, 16.) 



It would appear from a passage in Jeremiah (xxxix. 3), that the 



Babylonian priests were also called Magi, if at least tho interpretation 

 May 13C-2" "oUel of the Magi," be correct. (Uesenius, 



' Hebrew Lexicon,' under 3tJ ) 



The etymology of this word Is doubtful. In Persian the nan 



priest is nut'.h ; and it is not improbable, as Qesenius has conjectured, 



that tho word may be connected with the root meaning great, which we 



