68 Experiments upon Gunpowder. 



equal spaces, and completely inflamed ; but the degree of 

 inflammability, which is a property essential to the 

 goodness of the powder, cannot by these means be 

 ascertained. 



Hence it appears how powder may answer to the 

 proof, such as is commonly required, and may never- 

 theless turn out very indifferent when it comes to be 

 used in service. And this, I believe, frequently hap- 

 pens ; at least I know that complaints from officers of 

 the badness of our powder are very common; and I 

 would suppose that no powder is ever received by the 

 Board of Ordnance but such as has gone through the 

 established examination, and has answered to the usual 

 test of its being of the standard degree of strength. 



But though the common powder-triers may shew pow- 

 der to be better than it really is, they never can make it 

 appear to be worse than it is. It will therefore always be 

 the interest of those who manufacture that commodity 

 to adhere to the old method of proving it; but the 

 purchaser will find his account in having it examined in 

 a manner by which its goodness may be ascertained with 

 greater precision. 



The method I would recommend is as follows. A 

 quantity of powder being provided, which from any pre- 

 vious examination or trial is known to be of a proper 

 degree of strength to serve as a standard for the proof 

 of other powder, a given charge of it is to be fired, with 

 a fit bullet, in a barrel suspended by two pendulous rods, 

 according to the method before described, and the recoil 

 is to be carefully measured upon the ribbon; and this ex- 

 periment being repeated three or four times, or oftener, 

 if there should be any considerable difference in the re- 

 coil, the mean and the extremes of the chords may be 



