THK FOWLINCi-PIECK. 165 



originally made of the softest and toughest iron that 

 can be produced ; arid this is still further purified by 

 the numerous heatings and hammerings it has under- 

 gone, in being reduced from a bar into the size and 

 form of nails. Twenty-eight pounds of these stubs 

 are required to make a single barrel of the ordinary 

 size. These barrels are twisted into a spiral form, 

 'by means of the anvil and hammer alone, which is 

 not the case with the common barrels ; the method 

 of twisting which has been before described. These 

 barrels are finished in the same way as the common 

 ones. Stub-iron is also wrought into plain barrels, 

 which, as they require much less labour, are only 

 half the price of the twisted ones. 



The French canons a rubans, or ribbon barrels, 

 very much resemble the twisted barrels of the Eng- 

 lish; and the acknowledged superiority of twisted 

 and ribbon barrels over plain ones has induced many 

 persons to counterfeit them, by colouring plain bar- 

 rels, so as to show a spiral line running from one end 

 to fhe other. This is produced by wetting a thread 

 with diluted aqua- fords, or spirit of salt, and winding 

 it in a spiral direction round a plain barrel, so that a 

 coat of rust may be formed where the thread touches. 

 When the acid is employed the second time over 

 the whole barrel, the part over which the thread has 

 passed, by being more rusted than the rest, shows a 

 dark line winding round the barrel; and renders it, 

 when well finished, scarcely distinguishable from the 

 twisted or ribbon barrel. Other barrels are, by simi- 



