Mat 15, 18S5.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



41^ 



symmetry were confirmed by the curvatures and the pro- 

 portions of the body, and by the rhytliuiio action of the 

 muscles aud limbs. Weapons and tools, the pioducts and 

 the iustruments of this action, ;ii;ain niinistored to the 

 tiste for symmetry, and tauaht a regard for straii;htness.* 



As time went on success began to depend upon mind 

 more than upon muscle, and the face, the index of intellect, 

 was more attentively studied. It was perceived that the 

 pn'jectina jaw, the receding fori'head, the high cheek- 

 bones, and the flat nose, with nostrils opening forwards, 

 are characteristics of the lower races, and that they 

 are generally associated with deficient intelligence. As 

 Hert)ert Spencer points out, "the ideal Greek head is not 

 only free from these peculiarities, but ])ossesses the oppo- 

 site ones." With its large facial angle, straight nose, 

 delicate mouth and chin, small cheek-bones, it is the very 

 antithesis of the primitive anthropoid ape. It is the type 

 of the god-man, if approach to the divine means recession 

 from the bestial. 



And thus grew those glorious images of perfect health 

 and perfect beauty which move us to wor.ship in the 

 Vatican, on the Capitoline Hill, and in the UlHzi Palace 

 in Florence. We worship not Apollo, or Jove, or Venus, 

 but the great godde.ss Hygeia. 



(To be continued.) 



PIREARMS AND MILITARY WEAPONS 

 AT THE IXVENTIONS EXHIBITION. 



IF there is anything under the sun that may be calcu- 

 lated to instil into the minds of the uninitiated a 

 keen appreciation of the difficulties that are to be over- 

 come to maintain our armaments in such a condition as to 

 qualify us for defending our shores, should occasion arue, 

 and at the same time to fill them with a wholesome dread 

 of war and its concomitant horrors, surely we have it at 

 the Exhibition which opened last Monday week at 

 South Kensington. As was indicated a fortnight .since, 

 Group XXV., embracing firearms, military weapons, Ac, 

 has as.-igned to it the place of honour, being the first 

 group to meet the visitor's eye as he passes the turnstiles 

 at the Exhibition-road entrance. 



There are in all seventy-three exhibits in this section, 

 of which the first and, naturally, the most important, is 

 by the War Departujent. From the Royal Gunpowder 

 Factory, Waltham Abbey, is a case showing by models the 

 successive stages of the progress made in the manufacture 

 of the various kinds ot service gunpowders since 18G2 

 Specimens are also exhibited illustrating the manufacture 

 of compressed gun-cotton, such as is employed for sub- 

 marine mines (or torpedoes), and for Royal Engineer 

 field and siege purposes. In the same collections are 

 samples of electric lamps, provided with water-jackets, for 

 ilbiminatini^ the interior of buildings in which the manu- 

 facture of gunpowder is carried on. Besides these are 

 models of the largest cartridges used in 1SG2 and at the 

 present day. 



From the Royal Carriage Department, Woolwich, comes 

 a 12-pounder gun, with hydraulic equipment, a hydraulic 

 lifting jack, and a portable forge for military service. 



Toe centre of attraction, however, is in the selection sent 

 from the Royal Gun Factory, Woolwich, which, besides 



* See Mr. Grant Allen's "Origin of the Sense of Symmetry" 

 (Mind, J a\y, 1879), and " .^Esthetic Evolatiou in Man" (Mind, 

 October, 1880). 



other implements of destruction, comprises a 12-ton gun of 

 S-inch bore, which constitutes what has been described as 

 the l'rontis|)ieco of the exhibition. It is placed with its 

 muzzle towards the entrance, and has at the present time, 

 or had a few days since, shall we siiy, a grim signifi- 

 cance. It is constructed entirely of steel, and consists 

 of an inner core, or barrel, upon which are shrunk 

 a breecli-pieco and front hoop. Upon these are 

 shrunk the trunion rivets, and a tier of brtech-hoops. 

 The charge is tired by a vent sealing iKircussion luhe 

 ignited by a firing lock or liy an electiic current. The gun 

 tires a charge of lO.") lb. of cocoa powder, the weight of the 

 projectile being 210 lb. This ponderous mass has at the 

 muzzle a velocity of 1,970 ft. per second, which only drops 

 to 1,805 ft. at a distance of 1,000 yds., whero its force is 

 sufficient to enable it to penetrate armour 14 2 in. tliick, 

 its penetrating power at the muzzle being IG 3 in. The 

 lenoth of the bore is 204 9 in., the ])Owder chamber being 

 34.') in. long, and 10 T) inches in diameter. The gun is 

 riUed with o2 grooves, the twist increasing from the breech 

 to the middle of the bore, the other half being uniform 



There is also a 20 in. " trepanning-liar," a boring tool for 

 removing the material in the form of a solid core, instead 

 of entirely in shavings or turnings, as is usually done. It 

 consists of a hollow steel cylinder about | in. in thickness, 

 the working end of wliich is furnished with a number of 

 cutting tools. A series of longicudinal grooves are cut on 

 the inner and outer surfaces. Streams of water are forced, 

 under high pressure, ahmg the inner grooves, serving to 

 lubricate the cutting edges of the tools, and forcing out 

 ou th« return journey along the outer grooves the ineial 

 cuttings removed by the tools. The Ijar is usually fixed, 

 and the work to be bored made to revolve, the progress 

 being about Sin. ]ier hour. It is stated that solid cores 

 as much as 32 ft. in length have been removed l)y this pio- 

 cess, eich core so removed bein^', of course, available for 

 ( ther purposes, instead of being wasted as shavings, as in 

 the old process. 



These and a number of o'her ap)ili>ince3, such as a 

 12 pounder gun, specimens of sights, and so forth, con- 

 stitute a remarkably interesting and inniructive collec- 

 tion. 



The Roval Laboratory officials send a good selection of 

 models of cartridges, shells, fuses, and other ammunition, 

 but one of the most important exhibits it thnt .sent I'y 'he 

 Royal Small-Arms Factory, consi-ting, beside-* a ca-e of 

 sabres, rifles, and bayonets, of a number of Nordenfelt and 

 (iardner guns of ditl'erent sizes. Mac'dne huuh have 

 recently become of such great notoriety that it is certain 

 there will be a deal of attention bestowed up'in them The 

 Gardner gun is now so extensively ado|)ted into the Euyli^h 

 service th-it its efficiency, notwithstanding the many 

 charges brought against it as the outcome of recent tmut^les 

 at Abu Klea and near Suakira, may be fairly taken tor 

 granted. It is stated that in one .series of ex|)erinienta 

 1G,754 rounds were find with only twenty-tour cases of 

 jamming, the maximum rate of firing being 330 shots in 

 thirty seconds. There seems, indeed, ti be every proba- 

 bility that the unfortunate failures v/trt^ due rather to 

 imperfect cartridges than to any defect in the jjun it.s. If. 

 Certain it i-, however, that the chaiges should eitner he 

 proved or disproved, and it would be out of all leison to 

 condemn the autnorities fur their deiermiimtion to 

 suspend judgment until the return of the offi ers inte- 

 rested in the question. Sir William Armstrong has a 

 large exhi'iit, including a Catling yun »i h ten barr- la, 

 Cxpable of firing 1,200 bullets per minute with an eflecti^e 

 ranue ot 2, .500 yards, and at piactic>illy any elevation. A 

 stock of cartridges is placed in a circular frame fixed over 



