MILITARY PROJECTILES. 533 



are often discharged for the purpose of setting fire to the 

 object which they strike. From this piece of ordnance 

 there are discharged canister shot, by which is meant a 

 quantity of small balls inclosed in a tin case, and grape 

 shot, balls of the same kind bound up tightly in a can- 

 vass bag. These coverings are burst by the violence of 

 the discharge, and the balls scattered in every direction 

 are very destructive to the ranks of an enemy. There 

 are also chain shot and bar shot, consisting of two balls 

 connected by a bar or a chain, which are principally used 

 for the purpose of disabling vessels, by cutting the rig- 

 ging and splintering the masts and spars. 



2. Mortars. This species of ordnance is designed 

 to discharge bomb shells, which are hollow balls of iron 

 filledVith gunpowder, with a slow match attached to each, 

 of such length as to explode soon after the bomb strikes. 

 It is necessary, in order to insure that the explosion of 

 the shell should take place while it is in the vicinity of 

 the object which it is intended to injure, that it should 

 be discharged into the air, so that falling nearly perpen- 

 dicularly, it remains in the place where it strikes, until 

 the slow match is exhausted. The construction is con- 

 sequently very different from that of the cannon. Its 

 form resembles that of the household utensil from which 

 it takes its name. It is fixed nearly perpendicular, 

 and is susceptible of very little motion. The distance to 

 which the shell is to be thrown, is regulated by the quan- 

 tity of powder used in the charge. Mortars are also em- 

 ployed in throwing carcasses, which, like shells are hol- 

 low balls of iron, but are filled with highly combustible, 

 though not explosive substances, designed to set fire to 

 the buildings or ships upon which they fall. 



There is a third kind of shells, called from their in- 

 ventor, Shrapnells. They are hollow balls of iron filled 

 with small balls, and a quantity of powder, which is de- 

 signed to explode when the shell has arrived at the point 

 where it is intended to take effect. 



In order that the reader may have some distinct con- 

 ception of the nature and effects of these implements of 

 death, we have selected from the journal of a British sol- 

 dier in India, two extracts ; one giving an account of the 



VOL.I. NO. xxn. 48 



