RIFLING. 107 



" I have several times exploded one cartridge 

 in a barrel without igniting the remainder. I 

 have fired ten at once, and no more exploded. I 

 have gone further, and placed a barrel of 700 

 cartridges inside an iron cylinder tightly screwed 

 down, and have exploded a quarter of a pound 

 of powder in the midst, and although the screws 

 were broken and the lid blown off with violence, 

 and some of the cartridges strangely distorted, 

 not a single cartridge was ignited." 



To obviate any danger of these cartridges 

 exploding accidentally by rough usage in transit, 

 the anvil and chamber are purposely arranged 

 so that they can scarcely be ignited except by a 

 properly constructed rifle. Cartridges made to 

 ignite very easily are extremely dangerous, being 

 liable to explode when closing the rifle, in addi- 

 tion to the chance of ignition in transit. 



Arms are still in a transition state, 



Eifling. 



and it is yet a matter of doubt as to 

 which system of rifling is the best. 



