OF THE OLD WORLD. 483 



The trajectory is tlie actual course of the bullet, 

 which always describes a curve — a fact easily ac- 

 counted for, as, from the moment it leaves the 

 muzzle, the force of the gunpowder drives it forward, 

 and gravity draws it downward, so that by yielding 

 to both forces — i.e., by moving onwards and down- 

 wards at the same time — it must travel in a curve 

 diverging more and more below the line of fire, 

 until at last, the propelling power being expended, 

 it falls to the earth. Hence it follows, that if the 

 axis of a barrel is directed upon the bull's-eye of 

 a target, at one hundred yards' distance, the bullet 

 will strike about one foot five inches below ; the 

 power of gravity naving made it deviate from the 

 line of fire, and drawn it towards the earth, one foot 

 and five inches, in a Hight of one hundred yards. 

 Therefore, if the barrel were as thick at the muzzle 

 as it is at the breech, it would be necessary to aim 

 one foot five inches above the mark in order to hit 

 it ; but this is not the case, for, as I have before 

 observed, every barrel has in itself a certain degree 

 of elevation, on account of the increased thickness 

 of metal at the breech-end. The Enfield rifle-barrel 

 has elevation in itself for about seventy-five yards. 

 The iwint-hlank range of a rifle is the distance 

 that it will throw a ball before grazing the ground, 

 the barrel being held with its axis parallel to the 

 ground at the height of four feet six inches above it. 

 The point-blank range of the Enfield rifle is about 

 two hundred paces. 



