CHAP. VIII.] INTRODUCTION OF FIREARMS. 



227 



at Leipsig, in 1498, some say at Vienna. The bullet was 

 driven in with a mallet. This weapon was not employed 

 as a military arm on account of the trouble in loading, 

 and the time required to do it. It was not till after the 

 American revolutionary war that the French in 1793 

 adopted it in their army, under the name of the carbine 

 of Versailles. 



The snaphaunce was the next invention in the shape 

 of a lock, and was the forerunner of the flint-lock. The 

 snaphaunce is first mentioned in 1588. The flint-lock is 

 supposed to have been invented in France about the year 

 1640, and soon afterwards the bayonet with a socket was 

 introduced into the French army by Vauban.' The old 

 matchlock, however, was not entirely replaced with the 

 new gun with the hammer until the year 1 700. 



Prince Leopold I. of Anhalt Dessau introduced the 

 iron ramrod among the Prussian infantry in 1698. 

 Cartridges were first used in Spain in 1569, but were 

 not used in France till 1644. Gustavus Adolphus in- 

 vented the cartridge-box in 1630. The percussion-cap 

 musket was invented in 1807 by a Scottish armourer 

 named Forsyth. 



Breech-loading firearms, as already mentioned, date 

 from the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th 

 century. They were all of German invention. Marshal 

 Saxe invented a breech-loader, and armed a regiment of 

 Uhlans with them. They did not work well, however, 

 probably from defective workmanship. Repeating guns 

 and revolvers are also old inventions, but the revolvers 

 were of little practical use till the Colt pistol was made, 

 which is now the best of all, and more used than any 

 other. 



We have thrown together in this chapter a synopsis 

 of the dates of the principal changes in the various kinds 

 of firearms, as an introduction to the consideration of 

 the important influence which the invention of gun- 

 powder had upon the cavalry service. 



' Demmin, 70. 



Q 2 



