786 The Shot- Gun. 



Experiments on the Velocities of Charges of Various sized 

 Shot Discharged from Guns of Twelve and Ten Gauge, with 

 Applications of these Experiments to the Art of Shooting 

 on the Wing. — In the year 1880, I made very many experiments 

 on the velocity of fowling-piece shot that may be of interest to the 

 sportsman, as they have given facts which lie at the foundation of the 

 theory of shooting on the wing. The knowledge of these facts, 

 while they may serve to guide the experienced sportsman in his 

 shooting, will not make a crack shot, no more than an elaborate 

 description of how to play on the violin will make a violinist. Prac- 

 tice alone will make a good marksman. The knowledge of the facts 

 relating to the velocity of shot will, however, often serve to explain 

 to the sportsman the causes of his failures to bring down birds 

 on the wing, and may call his attention to defects in his style of 

 shooting that practice may correct. 



Description of the Chronoscope used in the Experiments on 

 the Velocity of Shot, and a Determination of the Magnitude of 

 the Error in its Results. — The chronoscope used in these experi- 

 ments is very simple. It consists of a metal cylinder turning on an 

 axle on which is cut a screw. This screw moves in a stationary nut, 

 and this arrangement gives the cylinder a lateral motion when it 

 is revolved on its axle. The cylinder is covered with fine printing 

 paper, which is then smoked with burning camphor. A tuning-fork 

 is screwed into one end of a thick piece of wood. The other end of 

 this piece of wood is hinged to a base. To the end of one of the 

 prongs of the fork is cemented with shellac a small, triangular piece 

 of foil. The fork is vibrated by a bow, and then the hinged board is 

 brought down against a stop so adjusted that the point of the foil on 

 the fork just touches the smoked paper. On now turning the cyl- 

 inder, a wavy trace will be written on it by the vibrations of the fork. 



To determine the number of vibrations made in one second by 

 the fork, a good clock, accurately rated, sent at each second an 

 electric spark from an induction coil out of the tracing-point and 

 through the paper. Thus the sinuous traces of the fork were 

 punctured by electric sparks. The number of waves of the fork's 

 trace contained between two of these punctures is the number of 

 vibrations made by the fork in one second. A multitude of experi- 

 ments showed that the range of the determination of the number 



