the Force of Fired Gunpowder. 131 



It is impossible to describe the surprise of those who 

 were spectators of this phenomenon. They literally- 

 turned pale with affright and astonishment, and it was 

 some time before they could recover themselves. 



The barrel was not only completely burst asunder, 

 but the two halves of it were thrown upon the ground 

 in different directions : one of them fell close by my feet, 

 as I was standing near the machinery to observe more 

 accurately the result of the experiment. Though I 

 thought it possible that the weight might be raised, and 

 that the generated elastic vapour would make its escape, 

 yet the bursting of the barrel was totally unexpected by 

 me. It was a new lesson to teach me caution in these 

 dangerous pursuits. 



It affords me peculiar satisfaction in laying these ac- 

 counts before the Public to be able to produce the most 

 respectable testimony of their authenticity. 



My friend, Sir Charles Blagden, formerly Secretary of 

 the Royal Society, visited Munich in the summer of the 

 year 1793, in his return from Italy ; and though I was 

 then absent (travelling for the recovery of my health), 

 yet, by my directions, he was not only shewn every part 

 of the apparatus made use of in these experiments, but 

 several experiments were actually repeated in his pres- 

 ence ; and he was kind enough to take with him to 

 England one half of the barrel which was burst in the 

 experiment just mentioned, which, at my request, he has 

 deposited in the Museum of the Society, and which, I 

 flatter myself, will be looked upon as an unequivocal 

 proof of my discoveries relative to the amazing force of 

 the elastic vapour generated in the combustion of gun- 

 powder. 



When the amazing strength of this barrel is con- 



