THE GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 99 



state the danger of pulling triggers with the muzzle in the 

 mouth ? 



I shall now, for the sake of continuity, alter the order 

 in which I have heretofore considered the modes of using 

 the gun, under the three heads into which I first divided 

 the subject. 



The learning to shoot, and the various details and de- 

 grees of shooting, are in themselves an art, and I therefore 

 prefer to treat them separately, postponing them to what is 

 for the most part mechanical, and, however useful, and 

 indeed necessary to be known, easily explicable to and at- 

 tainable by any person, not actually deficient in intelli- 

 gence. 



It is hardly necessary to say, that the residuum of the 

 gunpowder exploded, and of the igniting substance of the 

 copper caps, has the effect of producing the worst sort of 

 oxidization of the metal of the barrels, in a greater or less 

 degree, according to the temperature and humidity of the 

 atmosphere. 



The finest barrels are rusted the most easily, and suffer 

 the more detriment by rusting. Of course the fouler the 

 gun, the greater the evil that arises from its being left 

 foul. In hot weather barrels suffer infinitely more than in 

 cold, and in wet than in dry. When dampness and heat 

 are combined, the mischief is yet augmented ; and, prob- 

 ably, the worst conditions that can be supposed are when 

 to dampness and heat a salt atmosphere is superadded. 



No man, who owns a fine gun, or any gun which he 

 values, ought ever to put it aside after use, without clean- 

 ing, even if he have fired but a single shot. 



