DETONATING SYSTEM. 59 



will be done at an equal distance with the charge from 

 the common flint. Indeed, I have proved this by many 

 experiments from the same barrel. In rain, or snow, 

 the percussion-lock will act, from its detonating power, 

 more correctly than the common flint-lock ; and this, 

 by sportsmen, is considered its greatest, and, I must 

 confess, it appears to me, its only advantage." This, 

 and I should add (as I observed in 1822) the " won- 

 derful accuracy it gives in so readily obeying the eye :" 

 and (as I observed in 1824) " having scarcely any flash 

 from the lock of the first barrel to intercept the sight of 

 the second." 



Another observation should be made : A well-known 

 gunmaker (not Joe Manton), in presence of a well- 

 known sportsman, offered to bet .me fifty guineas that 

 a detonater of equal size, &c. would beat a flint-gun. 

 I immediately took up the bet, told his clerk to book 

 it, and offered to double it if he chose. He then fought 

 off, and would not stand to what he proposed. Soon 

 after the sportsman left the shop, and the gunmaker 

 then said to me, " You are quite right ; but if you 

 had not taken me up I should have got an order for a 

 brace of detonating guns !" Let this be a lesson, then, 

 to gunmakers, not to be so ready in offering wagers to 

 gentlemen. This was before the late improvements in 

 barrels and the new mode of boring were adopted ; for 

 then every gunmaker knew that he was deceiving his 

 customers when he asserted that a detonater would 

 shoot even equal to a flint-gun. 



In short, it does not require a succession of arguments 

 and anecdotes to prove, that if guns on one principle are 

 sooner shook to pieces, and worn out, than guns on 

 another, it is the interest of the trade not only to Uni- 



