132 COLONEL HANGER TO. ^ 



ing with such a degree of precision as I 

 never saw, and I believe will be found very 

 difficult to exceed. 



It is not my intention to examine this 

 ingenious book, page by page, which does 

 the author so much credit; for there are 

 many passages in it which plainly evince 

 great ability, learning, and study : but, when 

 he boldly, theoretically, and theoreticallt/ only, 

 without giving any practial proof, overturns 

 (as he imagines) at once the principle and 

 means by which a rifle has so great a supe- 

 riority over a smooth, bored gun ; namely, 

 from vv^hat principle a ball, fired from a rifle- 

 gun, receives a rotatory or whirling motion, 

 round its own axis; and gives us an asser- 

 tion of his own, theoretically founded, and not 

 practically ; it becomes me, as a duty, to give 

 a practical proof, to confute his theoretical asse?^- 

 tion, I will quote the author*s own words, 

 page 63. '' Thus, then, it will seem cer- 

 tain, that so long as the ball has any pro- 

 gressive motion at all, it cannot fail to com- 

 press the air before it, and the air so com- 

 pressed tviU act constantly as a power, to turn 

 the ball round and round. Wc think, there- 



