MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 433 



entirely after a few days' shooting, if the metal used in its fabri- 

 cation is not of the very best kind, and put together with the 

 skill so well understood by an experienced and honest gunsmith. 

 The attachment of the swivel and arrangement of the hole for the 

 scear-pin are the two most important points in the construction 

 of a lock, as the one controls the movements of the mainspring, 

 while the other imparts the proper play of the scear on the tumbler, 

 and produces that agreeable click which every sportsman delights 

 to catch upon his ear when handling a good gun. 



Locks can be purchased in England from a shilling to four 

 pounds a pair. Great numbers of inferior locks are imported by 

 our hardware-men. 



GUNPOWDER ORIGIN, ETC. 



The discovery of this powerful compound, although generally 

 attributed to a German named Schwarz, a student well skilled in 

 alchemy, is nevertheless conceded by most inquirers into the sub- 

 ject to have been well known to some of the more enlightened 

 nations of the ancients, and more particularly, at a very early 

 period, to the ingenious inhabitants of the Celestial Empire, as we 

 have stated in another place. 



Some investigators of the subject assert that it was in use by 

 the Chinese about or a short time after the commencement of the 

 Christian era; arid this curious people themselves even claim its 

 invention and general use for ages prior to this period. Whether 

 this be so or not, we believe that it is granted by all hands that 

 Berthold Schwarz's discovery of the compound was perfectly ori- 

 ginal in himself, and that therefore he should not be shorn of the 

 immortal celebrity that is and will ever be attached to his name. 

 The ingredients used in the manufacture of gunpowder are pretty 

 generally the same all over the world, each maker having, of 

 course, his own ideas regarding the proportions of the three articles 

 nitre, charcoal, and sulphur to be employed. 



The best English, Scotch, or French sporting-powders are not so 



strong as the American. The average proportion of the ingredients 



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