358 
NATURE- 
[Sepzt. 1, 1870 
SCIENCE OF WAR 
II. 
MACHINE GUNS 
(pe Machine Gun has for a good many years, in one 
form or another, excited the attention of the military 
authorities of Europe and America, and recent events 
have made it the subject of a great deal of popular interest. 
| The best known guns of this class are the Gatling Battery 
and the Mitrailleur. The first (of which Figs. 1 and 
2, taken from photographs of the original in the possession 
of the British Government, present a front and rear view) 
is an American invention, and did good service on many 
occasions during the late civil war. Three sizes of this 
gun are constructed. The smallest has ten steel rifled 
barrels, the calibre being suited to the musket cartridges 
used by different Governments. The second-sized gun is | the main features of the gun is that it has as many locks 
constructed with the same number of barrels, but is in- 
variably of three-fourths inch calibre, and discharges solid 
lead balls of 4}. 0z.in weight. The largest sized gun, which 
is of one inch calibre, has sometimes ten, but generally six 
barrels. It is provided with solid lead balls half-a-pound 
in weight, and can also use explosive projectiles. One of 
as barrels, each barrel and its lock revolving together. 
Its success, therefore, as a whole, does not depend upon 
that of each of its parts, for if any of the barrels or their 
locks are injured, the remaining ones continue to work as 
well as ever. The weapon is supplied with cartridges by 
means of “feed-cases,” through the hopper—the upward 
