Relief of Great Pressure 357 



or other cause, the muzzle of the gun gets stopped with a plug 

 of even the lightest snow, the gun, if fired with this plug in 

 it- IIHI//K . invariably bursts. Light as the plug of snow is. 

 it requires a definite time for a finite pressure, however great, 

 to get it under way. During this short time the tension of the 

 powder gases becomes so great that the barrel of the ordinary 

 fowling-piece is unable to withstand it and it bursts. 



