628 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



of silver in solution. The Germans have originated the idea that the sea 

 is the mother of all our minerals — but how did these minerals come in the 

 ocean ? They must have been dissolved in tlieir substance. And now, 

 Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, 1 have studied this subject for thirty years, 

 and I must say I know as much now as when I commenced. I do not think 

 the time has come for us to know it. It is well enough to ask the question, 

 but the time has not yet arrived for us to answer it — but I do believe the 

 time is coming. Perhaps the child is now born who, being gifted with that 

 high and noble intellect required for the task, will be able to grasp the 

 entire solar system and trace it step by step from its gaseous state, to the 

 time when the heavenly bodies were formed, and follow them through all 

 their vast changes up to where they are to-day. 



New Rifle Ball. 



Mr. Waterbury exhibited his new rifle ball made of iron with a circular 

 piece of leather at the back. He said: One of the difficulties of the Spring- 

 field rifle is the fouling of the piece, from the lead of the ball sticking in 

 the grooves, so that, after being fired a certain number of times, it has to 

 be cleaned. At one time the English used a wooden plug at the end of the 

 ball, but it was found that the wood flew to pieces immediately after leav- 

 ing the gun. In this country the minie ball made hollow at the end, is in 

 general use. This hollow part, on the powder expanding, is forced into 

 the grooves ; a portion of the lead is left behind at each fire which eventu- 

 ally fcjule the gun, so that, after firing the gun sometime, it is very difficult 

 to force the ball down the muzzle. I claim that a bull which does not enter 

 the grooves will obviate all this. I accomplish this by using a leather 

 washer at the end of the ball, and I find that the oil in the leather cleans 

 the gun, and the oftener it is fired the cleaner it gets, as the ball does not 

 enter the rifling of the gun. Here are two balls, one of lead and the other 

 of iron, the iron one I have fired 1,000 times in a room 100 feet deep, and 

 it is not perceptibly altered yet. The iron balls^are prevented from rust- 

 ing by dipping them in zinc. The rifling movement is given to the ball by 

 the leather being forced against the ball and expanded into the grooves, 

 which turns the ball with it. I have fired this ball through an inch of 

 wood and found the leather half way through the wood. By this plan I 

 believe we get a gas tight ball. In the leaden balls that are used on the 

 •minie principle, the lead is forced into the rifling at the expense of the 

 force of the powder, and thus diminishing its effects materially ; so much 

 so that I have got one-third greater penetration with my ball than with the 

 minie ; and as there is more power, I consequently get a greater range. 



Mr. Benjamin Garvey. — We should be very cautious before admitting 

 anything to be a fact, that it should be well established by repeated and 

 careful experiments ; and we should not place it in the category of facts, 

 until after receiving the approbation of the majority of the men of science. 

 For after all a fact may be only a mistake. However we have the facts 

 well established that the specific gravity of inm is not equal in every part; 

 that the portion which cools first will be most dense, and consequently 

 heavier. And this, together with the different qualities of the iron itself, 

 will cause a ball to vary in its course, and mar its accuracy. The supposi- 



