668 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



NOTES BY W. A. BARTLETT. 



Note 1. — General James appears to see some error in my state- 

 ment before the Polytechnic, in the matter of the penetration of 

 the shot, but after a careful perusal of the report, and a compari- 

 son of the text of his circular, with the report of the Board of 

 Army Officers, I am not able to discern but one error, and that 

 may have been an error in the reporter, for I spoke without 

 notes, although I am certain the thickness of the target was in- 

 tended to be given exactly, and it must have been by adding the 

 thickness of the back timber through which the ball broke its 

 way, which given at six inches, would give 45 inches as the 

 thickness of the butt, — and I remember to have understood that 

 there were two of them, as in the report it is pierced to 52 

 inches, and so given in the Scientific American. This, however, 

 is immaterial ; here we have the facts, and they are amply suffi- 

 cient for all I claimed for the James projectile. The report of 

 that Board of Army Officers cannot be set aside by any one 

 until it is shot against by an equally careful Board, and the facts 

 of the opposition to General James' work shall appear more 

 satisfactory than they do at present. 



Note 2. — General James' 'printed circular which he has enclosed 

 to me, says (when remarking upon the action of the shot) : 



" Like the well-known rifle patch, the expansive band, with its 

 outer covering of greased canvas, prevents all leading of the 

 gun, and being firmly pressed into its grooves, effectively expels, 

 at the muzzle, all residuum of a former discharge. 



" The efficiency of the Armstrong gun, which is generally con- 

 ceded to be the most effective of the European rifled cannon, in 

 comparison with my own, can best be understood by reference to 

 the results produced by each ; as claimed for the former by Sir 

 William Armstrong himself, and as established for the latter by 

 an official report to the Secretary of War, in November last, ex- 

 tracts of which are hereto annexed. 



" In the columns of the London Times, Sir William Armstrong 

 tells his own story about experiments with a gun made especially 

 for the most favorable display of his principle, and much longer, 

 in proportion to the weight of its projectile, than any gun in the 

 American service. He says, ' Four shells and three shots were 

 then fired at an elevation of six degrees, from a distance of 1,964 

 yards; all these struck within the breadth of the target; hut the 

 elevation being scarcely sufficient, they fell a little short, except one 



