66 Experiments upon Gunpowder. 



As this method of determining the velocities of the 

 bullets did not occur to me till after I had finished the 

 course of my experiments, and had taken down my ap- 

 paratus, I have not had an opportunity of ascertaining 

 the recoil with and without a bullet with that degree 



D 



of precision that I could wish. If I had thought of it 

 sooner, or if I had recollected that passage in Mr. 

 Robins's new Principles of Gunnery where he says, 

 " The part of the recoil arising from the expansion of 

 the powder alone is found to be no greater when it 

 impels a leaden bullet before it than when the same 

 quantity is fired without any wad to confine it," I say, 

 if that passage had occurred to me before it had been 

 too late, I certainly should have taken some pains to 

 have ascertained the fact ; but as it is, I think enough 

 has been done to shew that there is the greatest proba- 

 bility that the velocities of bullets may, in all cases, be 

 determined by the recoil with great accuracy; and I hope 

 soon to have it in my power to put the matter out of 

 all doubt, and to verify this new method by a course 

 of conclusive experiments, which I am preparing for 

 that purpose. 



In the mean time I would just observe, that if this 

 method should be found to answer when applied to 

 musket bullets, it cannot fail to answer equally well 

 when it is applied to cannon balls and bomb shells of 

 the largest dimensions ; and it is apprehended that it 

 will be much preferable to any method hitherto made 

 public ; not only as it may be applied indifferently to 

 all kinds of military projectiles, and that with very little 

 trouble and expence in making the experiment ; but also, 

 because by it the velocities with which bullets are actu- 

 ally projected are determined ; whereas by the pendulum 



