THE GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 99 
state the danger of pulling triggers with the muzzle in the 
mouth ? 
I shall now, for the sake of continuity, alter the order 
in which I have heretofore considered the modes of using 
the gun, under the three heads into which I first divided 
the subject. 
The learning to shoot, and the various details and de- 
grees of shooting, are in themselves an art, and I therefore 
prefer to treat them separately, postponing them to what is 
for the most part mechanical, and, however useful, and 
indeed necessary to be known, easily explicable to and at- 
tainable by any person, not actually deficient in intelli- 
gence. 
It is hardly necessary to say, that the residuum of the 
gunpowder exploded, and of the igniting substance of the 
copper caps, has the effect of producing the worst sort of 
oxidization of the metal of the barrels, in a greater or less 
degree, according to the temperature and humidity of the 
atmosphere. 
The finest barrels are rusted the most easily, and suffer 
the more detriment by rusting. Of course the fouler the 
gun, the greater the evil that arises from its being left 
foul. In hot weather barrels suffer infinitely more than in 
cold, and in wet than in dry. When dampness and heat 
are combined, the mischief is yet augmented; and, prob- 
ably, the worst conditions that can be supposed are when 
to dampness and heat a salt atmosphere is superadded. 
No man, who owns a fine gun, or any gun which he 
values, ought ever to put it aside after use, without clean- 
ing, even if he have fired but a single shot. 
