338 Recent Changes in British Artillery Materiel. [July, 



of cylinders, which are subject to more or less vibration 

 from toothed wheels being used to drive them. He suggests 

 that the law of propelling pressure could best be ascertained 

 by means of the proposed breech-loading gun of Captain 

 Morgan, R.A., described and figured in No. XXXII. of the 

 " Quarterly Journal of Science," October, 1871. 



III. In consequence of the accidental bursting of five 

 cast-iron smooth-bore 68-pounders and one 24-pounder gun 

 at Madras, the special committee have made experiments 

 with the view of testing the action and ascertaining the 

 general nature of Indian-made gunpowders ; and the results 

 prove these powders to possess exceptionally violent pro- 

 perties, due principally to the highly inflammable and 

 readily oxidisable character of the charcoal used in manu- 

 facture, which in future is to be modified. The following 

 analysis of the charcoals, both Indian and English, will 

 show that the Indian charcoal is not dissimilar to that used 

 in the Spanish Government powder, which has long been 

 known as brutal in its action and differs greatly in com- 

 position from that used at Waltham Abbey and by the 

 English makers. The analysis of the charcoal, as well as 

 that separated from the powders, furnished the following 

 results, the figures quoted being the mean of two deter- 

 minations ; — 



Indian Charcoal from Charcoal from 



Charcoal. Madras powder. Ishapore powder. 



• Carbon . . . 73*92 7870 76*63 



Hydrogen . . 3*52 3*06 3*28 



Oxygen, &c. . 20*22 13*56 17*68 



Ash .... 2*34 4*68 2*41 



The following are the results of the analysis of average 



samples of English dogwood, willow, and alder charcoal as 



used at Waltham Abbey, and of Spanish charcoal : — 



Dogwood. Willow. Alder. Spanish. 



Carbon .... 83*80 84*41 87*00 76*29 

 Hydrogen . . . 3*28 3*24 2*98 3*31 



Oxygen, &c. . . n*2i 10*71 8*78 14*87 



Ash 171 1*64 1*24 5*53 



The dogwood charcoal is decidedly more inflammable 

 than that obtained from alder, and even more so than 

 willow charcoal, as measured by the proportions of hydrogen 

 and oxygen contained in each ; yet, though it is the most 

 readily oxidisable charcoal made in England, being exclu- 

 sively used in the manufacture of small arm powder, it 

 cannot be compared in this respect with any of the samples 

 from India. 





