MECHANICAL AND USEFUL ARTS. 57 



4th. That the strength should not be less, and the weight scarcely more, than 

 ya the present guns. 



5th. That the moveable breech should be capable of adaptation to any barrel, 

 as well as to any form of ammunition. 



It was stated that these rifles only differed from the Enfield 

 pattern in the breech and in the "stocking ;" so that if the changes 

 ■were made which these alterations involved, they could be readily 

 manufactured at the Government establishment at that place. It 

 ■was thought that such a weapon would be especially useful for 

 Volunteer Rifle Corps, as muzzle- loading would not be necessary. 



The United States Secretary of War is in favour of breechdoading 

 fire-arms, saying — 



" Immediate steps ought to be taken to arm all our light troops 

 with the most approved of these arms. I hold it to be an inhuman 

 economy which sends a soldier into the field, where his life is con- 

 stantly in danger, without furnishing him with the best (not the 

 most expensive) arms that are or can be made. It is no answer to 

 say that our troops cannot be taught to use with skill this character 

 of arm as well as another. It is the practice and drill that make the 

 soldier expert in the use of his arm, and while he may attain to 

 great skill with a good weapon, he certainly never can do so with an 

 indifferent one. I think it may be fairly asserted now that the 

 highest efficiency of a body of men with fire-arms can only be secured 

 by putting in their hands the best breech-loading arm. The long 

 habit of using muzzle-loading arms will resist what seems to be so 

 great an innovation, and ignorance may condemn ; but as certainly 

 as the percussion-cap has superseded the flint and steel, so surely 

 will the breech-loading gun drive out of use those that load at the 

 muzzle. For cavalry the revolver and breech-loader will supersede 

 the sabre." 



His suggestion as to arming the cavalry is, it will be noticed, 

 directly in antagonism with the opinions now alleged to be held 

 at the Horse Guards, — the sabre only being considered the proper 

 weapon for cavalry, and the use of the revolver as being opposed to 

 the thorough efficiency of that arm of the service. 



IMPROVED CARTRIDGES AND PROJECTILES. 



Mr. J. Macintosh has patented certain improvements in manu- 

 facturing Cartridges, by emplo}'ing collodion, (which is, as is well 

 known, a solution of gun-cotton or fibre in a solvent,) to form the 

 case of the cartridge. He forms the case by dipping a mandril of 

 suitable form into the collodion, and withdrawing it when the film is 

 sufficiently set ; the mandril is then taken out, and the charge and 

 ball are introduced. 



SMITH'S PATENT SHOT, SHELLS, AND OTHER PROJECTILES. 



Mr. Gustavus Adolphus Smith, C.E., has patented an inven- 

 tion which consists principally in giving to an elongated projectile 

 certain forms hereafter described, the object of which is to cause 

 the projectile to maintain a position in which its longitudinal axis 

 coincides with its line of flight, this result being produced by the 



