166 PERCUSSION POWDER. 



admissible for that purpose. Nor, for the purposes of safety, 

 would it be adviseable to carry percussion powder in a spring-top 

 flask, unless the springs were altogether made of something 

 much softer than steel. If the sportsman thinks proper to carry 

 percussion powder into the field, independently of what he has 

 already prepared for priming, I know of nothing more safe or 

 more convenient, than a small wooden box. 



From the following paragraph, it would appear that gun- 

 powder may be ignited by percussion : " From experiments 

 made in the Laboratory of the Royal Institution it has been 

 found, that if gunpowder be mixed with pulverized glass, felspar, 

 and particularly with harder substances, it may be inflamed by 

 being struck violently on an anvil, though faced with copper, and 

 struck with a copper hammer." 



For military purposes, I should think percussion powder, for 

 priming at least, an object of the first importance. The method 

 invented by Gill would be an incalculable advantage to the musket, 

 as missing fire could never happen, rain would have little or no 

 effect, while the ball would be impelled with much greater force. 

 To great guns Gill's invention is equally applicable, at a very 

 trifling expence. 



