THE GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 123 
within those grooves by the ridges previously cut in it; 
which mode of exit communicates to it the rotary motion, 
whence its efficacy. 
In the Minie rifle, the hollow conical ball is made to 
expand by a wedgelike appendage, forced into it by the 
explosion of the powder, and so fills the grooves, which 
had not previously acted on it, and cuts its way out, gain- 
ing its motion by its exit, not by a form impressed on it in 
its descent. In Perry’s arm, the chamber, and the ball 
inserted into it, are both larger than the grooved barrel, 
through which the latter is to be propelled; and the pro- 
jectile, which enters the barrel, for the first time on the 
discharge of the piece, a perfect sphere, is found, after its 
emission, to be cut into an irregular cylinder, deeply 
‘grooved and ribbed. The effect of this in the attainment 
of accuracy is self-evident. 
Why the excess of friction does not, as theoretically it 
should, diminish the velocity and force of the projectile, I 
cannot explain. It would seem that so far from doing so, 
it increases both. ; 
At all events, the matter is not one of theory, but of 
practised and established proof. 
These guns can be made to order, at the factory in 
‘Newark, N. J., of any dimensions, calibre, form, weight, 
and finish requisite. If, happily, the manufacture had 
been set on foot anywhere else, in the United States, the 
arms would, undoubtedly, have long ago attained the re- 
pute they deserve, and would have been in general use. 
But, according to the wont of the inefficient, unenter- 
prising, pennywise and poundfoolish .system of business 
