MISCELLANEOUS HINTS. 447 



still believe that a fowling-piece is more apt to burst with a wad or 

 a ball far up the barrel than if pushed home upon the shot or pow- 

 der. This phenomenon we can accoun-t for in a way quite satis- 

 factory, at least to our mind, by supposing that when the powder 

 is ignited, and the expansive fluid generated by this inflammation 

 is set in motion, and, striving to overcome the resistance offered by 

 the sides of the barrel which enclose it, rushes forward up the bar- 

 rel with that certain degree of propulsive force inherent within it- 

 self, and without having any positive obstruction in its way to arrest 

 its onward course till it meets with the barrier opposed to its exit, 

 in the shape of a wad, ball, mud, snow, or some other article which 

 might be lodged in the barrel either by design or accident, this 

 sudden check to its wild career creates a momentary yet a partial 

 pause in its course, and consequently gives rise to an increased 

 lateral pressure at this point in the barrels, which are proportionally 

 thin as they approach the muzzle, and consequently, unlike the 

 heavy breech, are unable to withstand this unequal and sudden 

 shock, and therefore must give way. And thus we may say that 

 bursting under these circumstances arises from the sudden accu- 

 mulation and increased expansion of the elastic fluid behind the 

 object offering the resistance and thereby preventing the free exit 

 of the charge from the gun. 



Why the same result was not obtained in the case of larger fire- 

 arms, and why the experiments of Commodore Stockton should be 

 diametrically opposed to this theory, we cannot, perhaps, satis- 

 factorily explain, as we have no opportunities of making any prac- 

 tical observations upon the subject; we therefore leave it for the 

 investigation of others, venturing, however, the following re- 

 marks : 



If, for experiment, the dimensions of the guns (as Commodore 

 Stockton's all were) be of the same size throughout, and of a calibre 

 sufficiently strong to withstand the shock of the powder used in 

 the experiment, except at the very spot where the internal pressure 

 is greatest, that is, at the breech end, and the metal be no 

 stronger there than at any other point along the barrel, it is evi- 



