GUNPOWDER. 



one hundred yeavs before Schwartz was 

 born ; and M. Dutens carries the antiqui- 

 ty of gunpowder still much higher, and 

 refers to the writings of the ancients 

 themselves for the proof of it. It ap- 

 pears too, from many authors and many 

 circumstances, that this composition has 

 been known to the Chinese and Indians 

 for thousands of years. 



For some time after the invention of 

 artillery, gunpowder was of a much weak- 

 er composition than that now in use, or 

 that described by Marcus Grsecus, which 

 was chiefly owing to the weakness of 

 their first pieces. Of twenty -three differ- 

 ent compositions, used at different times, 

 and mentioned by Tartaglia in his "Ques. 

 and Inv. lib. 3, ques. 5;" the first, which 

 was the oldest, contained equal parts of 

 the three ingredients. But when guns of 

 modern structure were introduced, gun- 

 powder of the same composition as the 

 present came into use. In the time of 

 Tartaglia the cannon powder was made 

 of four parts of nitre, one of sulphur, 

 aud one of -charcoal; and the, musket- 

 powder of forty. eight parts of nitre, se- 

 ven parts of sulphur, and eight parts of 

 charcoal ; or of eighteen parts of nitre, 

 two parts of sulphur, and three parts of 

 charcoal. But the modern composition is 

 six parts of nitre to one of each of the 

 Other two ingredients: though Mr. Na- 

 pier says, he finds the strength commonly 

 to be greatest when the proportions are, 

 nitre three pounds, charcoal about nine 

 ounces, and sulphur about three ounces. 

 See his paper on gunpowder in the Trans- 

 actions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. 

 li. The cannon-powder was in meal, and 

 the musket-powder grained; and it is 

 certain, that the graining of powder, 

 which is a very considerable advantage, 

 is a modern improvement. 



To make gunpowder duly, regard is to 

 be had to the purity or goodness of the 

 ingredients, as well as the proportions of 

 them, for the strength of the powder de- 

 pends much on that circumstance, and 

 also on the due working or mixing of 

 them together. See NITRE. 



These three ingredients in their purest 

 state being procured, long experience has 

 shown that they are then to be mixed to- 

 gether in the proportion before mention- 

 ed, to have the best effect, viz. three 

 quarters of the composition to be nitre, 

 and the other quarter made up of equal 

 parts of th other two ingredients, or, 

 which is the same thing, six parts nitre, 

 one part sulphur, and one part charcoal. 



But it is not the due proportion of the 



materials only, which is necessary to the 

 making of good powder; another circum- 

 stance, not less essential, is the mixing 

 them well together; if this be not effec- 

 tually done, some parts of the composition 

 will have too much nitre in them, and 

 others too little ; and in either case there 

 will be a defect of strength in the powder. 

 After the materials have been reduced 

 to fine dust, they are mixed together, and 

 moistened with water, or vinegar, or urine, 

 or spirit of w4ne, &,c. and then beaten to- 

 gether for twenty -four hours, either by 

 'hand or by 'mills, and afterwards pressed 

 into a hard, firm, solid cake. When dry, 

 it is grained or corned, which is done, by 

 breaking the cake of powder into small 

 pieces, and so running it through a sieve: 

 by which means the grains may have any 

 size given them, according to the nature 

 of the sieve employed, either finer or 

 coarser; and thus also the dust is sepa- 

 rated from the grains, *nd again mixed 

 with other manufacturing powder, or 

 worked up into cakes again. 



Powder is smoothed or glazed, as it is 

 called, for small arms, by the following 

 operation : a hollow cylinder or cask is 

 mounted on an axis, turned by a wheel ; 

 this cask is half filled with powder, and 

 turned for six hours, and thus, by the mu- 

 tual friction of the grains of powder, it is 

 smoothed or glazed. The fine mealy part, 

 thus separated or worn off' from the rest, 

 is again granulated. 



The velocity of expansion of the flame 

 of gunpowder, when fired in a piece of 

 artillery, without either bullet or other 

 body before it, is prodigiously great, viz. 

 seven thousand feet per second, or up- 

 wards, as appears from the experiments 

 of Mr. Robins. But M. Bernoulli and M. 

 Euler suspect it is still much greater; and 

 Dr. Hutton supposes it may not be less, 

 at the moment of explosion, than four 

 times as much. 



It is this prodigious celerity of expan- 

 sion of the flame of gunpowder which is 

 its peculiar excellence, and the circum- 

 stance in which it so eminently surpasses 

 all other inventions, either ancient or mo- 

 dern ; for as to the momentum of th ese 

 projectiles only, many of the warlike ma- 

 chines of the ancients produced this in a 

 degree far surpassing that of our heaviest 

 cannon shot or shells; but the great ce- 

 lerity given to these bodies cannot be in 

 the least approached by any other means 

 but the flame of powder. 



To prove gunpowder. There are several 

 ways of doing this. 1. By sight; thus if 

 it be too black, it is a sign that it is moist, 



