1(50 



PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 



[anno 1797. 



the weight (808 1 lbs. avoirdupois) was raised with a very loud report, it is more 

 than probable that the force of the generated elastic fluid was in fact considerably 

 greater than that at which it was estimated, namely, greater than the pressure of 

 10977 atmospheres. 



But, without wasting time in fruitless endeavours to reconcile anomalous experi- 

 ments, which probably never can be made to agree, I shall hasten to give an ac- 

 count of another set of experiments ; the results of which, it must be confessed, 

 were still more various, extraordinary, and inexplicable. The machinery having 

 been repaired and put in order, the experiments were recommenced in July, 1793, 

 the weather at that time being very hot. The principal part of the apparatus, the 

 barrel, had undergone a trifling alteration : on refitting and cleaning it, the dia- 

 meter of its bore at the muzzle was found to be a little increased, so that a weight 

 equal to 8081 lbs. avoirdupois, instead of being equal to IO977 atmospheres, as 

 was the case in the former experiments, was now just equal to the pressure of 943 1 

 atmospheres. Though I was not at Munich when this last set of experiments was 

 made, they however were undertaken at my request, and under my direction, and 

 I have no reason to doubt of their having been executed with all possible care. 

 They were all made by the same persons who were employed in making the first set; 

 and as these experimenters may be supposed to have become expert in practice, and 

 as they could not possibly have had any interest in deceiving me, I cannot suspect 

 the accuracy of their reports. 



