COMPOSITION AND ANALYSIS OF GUNPOWDER. 177 



portion of the saltpetre (the other two ingredients not being soluble 

 in water ;) for upon drying the powder, the (Mssolved saltpetre will 

 be crystallized in particles much larger than those were, which en- 

 tered into the composition of the gunpowder, and thus the mixture 

 will be less intimate and uniform, than it was before the wetting. 

 This wetting of gunpowder is often occasioned by th> mere mois- 

 ture of the atmosphere. Great complaints were made concerning 

 the badness of the gunpowder used by the English in their engage, 

 ment with the French fleet off Grenada, in July \J7\i ; the French 

 having done much damage to the masts and rigging of the English, 

 when the English shot would not reach them. When this matter 

 was inquired into by the House of Commons, it appeared that the 

 powder had been injured by the moisture of the atmosphere ; it 

 had concreted into large lumps, in the middle of which the saltpetre 

 was visible to the naked eye. If the wetting has been considerable, 

 the powder is rendered wholly unfit for use ; but if no foreign sub. 

 stance has been mixed with it except fresh water, it may be made 

 into good gunpowder again, by being properly pounded and gra- 

 nulated. If the wetting has been occasioned by salt water, and 

 that to any considerable degree, the sea salt, upon drying the pow- 

 der, will remain mixed with it, and may so far vitiate its quality, 

 that it can never be used again in the form of gunpowder. How- 

 ever, as by solution in water and subsequent crystallization, the 

 most valuable part of the gunpowder, namely, the saltpetre, may 

 be extracted, and in its original purity, even from powder that has 

 been wetted by sea water, or otherwise spoiled, the saving a da- 

 maged powder is a matter of national economy, and deservedly at. 

 tended to in the elaboratory at Woolwich. 



The proportions in which the ingredients of gunpowder are com- 

 bined together, are not the same in different nations, nor in dif- 

 ferent works of the same nation, even for powder destined to the 

 same use. It is difficult to obtain from the makers of gunpowder, 

 any information upon this subject; their backwardness in this par- 

 ticular arises, not so much from any of them fancying themselves 

 possessed of the best possible proportion, as from an affectation of 

 mystery common to most manufacturers, and an apprehension of 

 discovering to the world that they do not use so much saltpetre as 

 they ought to do, or as their competitors in trade really do use. 

 Saltpetre is not only a much dearer commodity than either sulphur 

 or charcoal, but it enters also in a much greater proportion into 



VOL. VI. N 



