THE GUN, AND HOW TO CHOOSE IT. 55 
barrels, now as of uld, as the strongest, safest, and, above 
all, the least easy in which to be deceived; and if it be 
admitted that the modern stub-iron is inferior in toughness 
to the old horse-nail stuff—which, however, I cannot hold 
to be sufficiently proved—I still consider it, when of the 
best quality, to be of superior tenacity, and consequently 
a safer metal, than even the best laminated steel. I am 
aware that this opinion of mine is diametrically opposed to 
that of the advocates of the steel barrels, and that tables 
and scales of tenacity and endurance, as proved by experi- 
ment, have been published, leading to a different conclu- 
sion; but it is well known that great changes take place 
in the crystallization of metals and the arrangement of 
their component particles, long after they have become 
perfectly cool, and indeed long after they have been in 
use, which, according to one theory, causes these changes. 
These changes, it is admitted, when they occur, render the 
metal vastly more brittle than it was in the first form, and 
consequently dangerous. 
Now I am no? satisfied that the trials, on which the 
alleged comparative tenacity of laminated steel is assumed, 
have been carried far enough, in relation to time; and I 
am all but entirely convinced, that dangerous cases of 
bursting have been more frequent, and, when they have 
occurred, more complete and terrible, in the laminated 
steel barrels of the highest quality and price, than in any 
other description of barrels of equal supposed and guar- 
anteed quality. I am certain it is more difficult to judge 
by their exterior appearance of what they are made, than 
it is of any other work. 
