rOWDEIt."! 



BY FIl'LD, WOOD, AND WATER. 



[I'OWDEB. 



of familien having been thrown into tho utmost 

 BtBto of uricf by a son or n diuiijliler bcinp unin- 

 tentionally shot in a nionu-nt of j)hiyfulness, by 

 «ome other minor niemlu'r of the family. How 

 often have we read of accidents of this kind, and 

 gynipathised with the livinjj as they minirned over 

 tlie sudden deprivation wiiiih hud fallen upon them. 

 "NViien we rellect on these sad calamities, it makes 

 us entreat of every sportsman or shooter, never to 

 carry a loaded ^'un into the house, but to fire it off 

 in the air, even before he has arrived at the close 

 neighbourhood of liis own dwellini,'. Mr. Hlaine 

 objects to this, partly on the score of economy — 

 an objection which appears to us alike mean and 

 frivolous. 



POWDER AND SHOT. 



There is no discovery wbicli efioctcd a 

 greater revolution in the art of war than that 

 of gunpowder ; for when taken in connection 

 with the weapon by wliicli it is used, it may be 

 considered as the most effective decider of con- 

 flicts that possibly could bo invented. Both 

 on the battle plain, and in the sporting field, it 

 has taken the place of the more simple con- 

 struction of the bow and arrow, which, how- 

 ever annoying to an enemy in the hands of 

 a practised archer, or however deadly in those 

 of an Indian sportsman, bears no comparison, 

 in the certainty of its effects, to the modern 

 gun, loaded with powder and ball, or shot. 

 The origin of this explosive substance has 

 given rise to long discussions, and great diver- 

 sity of opinion, among philosophers and anti- 

 quaries. Some have given it a very ancient 

 date, while others carry its discovery down to 

 comparatively recent times. Grose quotes a 

 passage from Grey's Gunnery, published in 

 1731 ; in which it is said that, " In the life of 

 ApoUonius Tyantcus, written by Philostratus, 

 about 1,500 years ago, there is the following 

 passage concerning tho people of India, called 

 Oxydraca): 'These wise men dwelt between 

 the rivers Ilyphasis and Ganges. Their 

 country Alexander the Great never entered; 

 deterred, not by fear of the inhabitants, but, 

 as I suppose, by religious considerations ; for, 

 had he passed the Hyphasis, he might doubt- 

 less have made himself master of tho country 

 all around them ; but their cities he could 

 never have taken, though he had led a thousand 

 men as brave as Achilles, or three thousand 

 such as Ajax, to the assault ; for they came 

 not into the field to fight those who attack 

 them; but these holy men, beloved by the 



gods, overthrow thoir enomies with tempests 

 and thunderboltH, hurled ujion thom from 

 above.' " In Norton's dinner (KiOt), it it) 

 said — "That tho invention and use, as well of 

 ordnance as gunpowder, was, in tho ei(jhty- 

 fiftli year of our Lord, made known and prac- 

 tised in the great and ingenious kingdmn of 

 China; and that in tho niaritimo proviiici;s 

 thereof there yet remain certain pieces of 

 ordnance, both of iron and brass, with tho 

 memory of their years of founding engraved 

 upon them, and the arms of King Vitney, 

 who, ho saith, was the inventor." In tho 

 works of lloger Bacon, written at Oxford, iu 

 1270, the ingredients which constitute gun- 

 powder are expressly named, with the clia- 

 racteristics which mark it when it is ex- 

 ploded. 



On the other side of the question it is main- 

 tained, that the merit of the invention belongs 

 to Barthold Schwartz, a German monk. It 

 is aflfirmed, that he mixed together nitre, 

 sulphur, and charcoal, for some medicinal 

 purpose, and a spark falling accidentally upon 

 the mixture, it exploded. The reader will find 

 the subject discussed at considerable length in 

 the works of Friar Bacon, Polydore Virgil, 

 Baptista Porta, Spondanus, Bishop AVatson, 

 and others. 



It is well Known that gunpowder consists of 

 a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal, 

 in such proportions as to render it capable of 

 explosion on the slightest application of fire. 

 It has, however, a great tendency to absorb 

 moisture ; and should the nitre bo adulterated 

 with salt, as it sometimes is, this tendency is 

 immensely increased. An experiment made 

 before the Eoyal Society proved this. A 

 quantity of gunpowder was taken out of a 

 barrel, and dried with a heat equal to that in 

 which water boils. A piece of ordnance was 

 charged with a certain weight of this dried 

 powder, and the distance to which it threw 

 a ball was marked. Tho same piece was 

 charged with an equal weight of the same 

 kind of powder, taken out of the same barrel, 

 but not dried, and it threw an equal ball only 

 to one half the distance. This effect of mois- 

 ture is so sensible, that some officers have 

 affirmed, that they have seen masses of gun- 

 powder, which were good in the morning, but 

 which became (as supposed by attracting the 



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