58 



NA TURE 



\_May 24, 1877 



be doubted, since it is a fact that a section of the gun 

 before being quite severed, will tear itself loose with con- 

 siderable violence, and will be found on separation to 

 have partially returned to its former calibre. 



So far as practical trials have been conducted with the 

 weapon, the Austrian Government have every i-eason to 

 be satisfied with the Uchatius gun, which compares 

 favourably with the Krupp steel cannon in the matter of 

 accuracy and durability ; while as regards its cost, it is 

 far cheaper than any other rifled ordnance. A steel field- 

 piece costs upwards of ioD/.,even when not protected with 

 rings, while the iron- steel weapon manufactured in this 

 country, costs about 70/. sterling ; the steel bronze cannon 

 of Gen. von Uchatius, on the other hand, are made for 

 35/. apiece. 



In construction, the Austrian gun is so similar to that 

 of Herr Krupp, of Essen, that the latter claimed com- 

 pensation for an infringement of his patent when the 

 manufacture of the Uchatius gun was first commenced. 

 The Essen works, our readers may know, supply not 

 only Germany with steel breech-loaders, but have pro- 

 vided the present belligerents with all their modern 

 artillery. Russia has still many brass cannon on hand, 

 and Turkey a goodly number of Armstrongs, but 

 both powers mamly depend upon their steel Krupps. 

 These stood the German army in such good stead during 

 the last war that their reputation is firmly established. 

 They are of crucible steel, and the breech, instead of 

 being upon a hinge, or in the form of a block, moves 

 round in a D-shaped socket, the escape of gas being 

 further prevented by rings of phosphor-copper. 



The manner in which the ordnance of this country is 

 constructed is sufficiently familiar to our readers. A tube 

 of steel is encompassed by jackets of wrought- iron, and 

 in this way the toughness of the latter is combined with 

 the hardness of the former. All our guns, as we have 

 said, load at the muzzle, while those of Russia, Germany, 

 Austro- Hungary, and Turkey, are breech-loaders. Italy, 

 in the case of the 100-ton guns with which she intends 

 to arm her two stupendous turret-vessels, the Diiilic 

 and Dandolo, has adopted our method of construction, 

 except that she employs smooth, instead of studded, pro- 

 jecliles. With the employment of a g.as-check at the 

 base of the shot to prevent windage and so secure the 

 full force of the exploding charge, the use of studs in a 

 shot appears to be unnecessary, a sufficient spin being im- 

 parted to the projerlile by the soft metal of the gas-check 

 before-named, which causes the shot to rotate after the 

 manner of a Snider bullet. So satisfactory, indeed, were 

 the Italian trials of these projectiles last year that it is by 

 no means improbable that we, too, may give up the use 

 of studded shot. 



As to the comparative value of breech-loaders and 

 muzzle-loaders, we shall not offer an opinion. No douljt 

 a muzzle-loader is the stronger weapon, Ijecause its breech 

 is solid, but our cousins, the Germans, urge very justly 

 that since their guns do not burst, they are quite strong 

 enough. Advocates of the muzzle-loading system argue 

 again that their weapon is more simple in construction 

 and for this reason is to be preferred ; but on the other 

 hand the sponging and loading of a gun is more easy to 

 effect, if it opens at the breech. Indeed, in the case of 

 very heavy guns located in a casemate or on board 



ship, the Germans reproach us with the assertion that 

 we must needs have recourse to all sorts of compli- 

 cated and awkward machinery in loading, while in 

 their case a simple pulley or crane is all that is necessary. 

 Either, say they, we must expose our gunners through 

 the open port when loading, or, as in the case of the 

 Thiindcrc>\ rely blindly on hydraulic apparatus to work 

 the guns for us. So stands the question ; perhaps the 

 present war will bring us a solution of it. 



H. Baden Pritchard 



THE FORESTS OF PEGU 

 Preliminary Report on the Forest and otlier Vegetation 

 of Pegu. By Sulpice Kurz, Curator of the Herbarium, 

 and Librarian, Royal Botanical Gardens, Calcutta. 

 (Calcutta : C. B. Lewis, 1875.) 

 TNDIAN forest reports have of late years become as 

 -^ plentiful as the proverbial blackberries. The fre- 

 quent appearance of them is a consequence that might 

 be expected when we consider the wide range of coun- 

 try which comes under the supervision of the Forest 

 Department of India. So far as bulk or quantity of 

 printed matter is concerned, no one can say that these 

 forests arc not fairly represented in the Government 

 papers which appear in the course of a year, but the 

 quality of these reports is another question. They too 

 often contain merely the dry details of work carried on 

 during the year, and are interesting only to those imme- 

 diately connected with the special department from which 

 the reports emanate. Occasionally, however, a report is 

 issued which in reality is something more, containing 

 much valuable information on subjects connected with 

 forest conservancy, and amongst such Mr. Kurz's may be 

 classified. It is, in fact, rather a description of the vege- 

 tation of Pegu, to which are added appendices occupying 

 quite two-thirds of the whole bulk of the volume. Taking 

 the actual report itself, which, as indicated in the title, is 

 of a preliminary character, the matter in which will be 

 worked out in Mr. Kurz's forthcoming book, we find it 

 divided into two parts, first, the " General Report," and 

 second, the " Special Report." The general report is 

 again divided into two sections — (a) A general aspect of 

 the country, its geological and climatological features, in 

 connection with the flora, (b) A botanical description 

 of Pegu, with special reference to its forests. After a very 

 brief topographical sketch of Pegu, Mr. Kurz considers 

 the geological aspect of the country from a botanical 

 point of view, which, unlike that of the true geologist, is 

 not to consider the age of the rocks, &c., but simply their 

 extent and quality, from which inferences may be drawn 

 of the vegetation found growing upon each formation. 

 The geology of Pegu is described as being very simple 

 and uniform, the hills being composed solely of sand- 

 stone, skirted at their base by a strip of diluvium, " inter- 

 rupted by a deeper or shallower alluvium wherever 

 choungs come down from the hills, and succeeded by the 

 vast alluvial plains, through which the Irrawaddy and 

 Sittangflow." The laterite formation is described as being 

 of the highest importance in the various floras of India. 

 The term laterite, as generally used by foresters in Bur- 

 mah, comprises several heterogeneous rocks and soils, all 

 characterised by a more or less ferruginous appearance, 



