50 War Science* [January, 



space than we have here at our disposal, but we shall be 

 able, at any rate, to give some idea of the important nature 

 of their labours, and to demonstrate the profit which inevit- 

 ably results therefrom, not only to the nation at large, but 

 to the personnel of the army itself. In the first place, then, we 

 may mention the subject of gunpowder as one of those 

 which has recently received a large share of attention, and 

 which, furthermore, still seems to need very much solicitude. 

 Such a compound as this, whose composition and nature 

 have been known to us through many centuries, should, it 

 might be inferred, have been by this time thoroughly dis- 

 cussed aud ventilated in all the various phases of its 

 behaviour, but, truth to tell, despite what has already been 

 done in the matter, its perfect investigation would seem to 

 have been but just commenced. In the days of the Old 

 Brown Bess, and the times when fire-arms of any kind were 

 considered serviceable weapons as long as they could be 

 discharged without injury to their owners, the manufacture 

 of explosives was studied to a very limited degree indeed ; 

 and beyond the circumstance of paying attention to the con- 

 stituent proportions of its elements, no further care was 

 taken in its preparation. At the present moment, however, 

 when we expect our weapons to serve for long ranges, and 

 to perform their functions with truth and accuracy, gun- 

 powder must be looked upon from a very different point of 

 view. No improvement in its chemical composition has, 

 indeed, recently been made, for truly we use the same pro- 

 portions of sulphur, charcoal, and saltpetre, as at the period 

 when the " villainous saltpetre" of old was first concocted by 

 our ancestors ; but although similarly constituted, the gun- 

 powder of to-day is as different from that used in the days 

 of Cressy as if the two products were obtained from totally 

 different sources. The operations of mixing, pressing, and 

 granulating, impart to the material various specific qualities 

 which alter greatly with the manner in which the above 

 manipulations are conducted, and for this reason it is not only 

 necessary for the chemist, in order to ensure supplies of 

 uniform quality, to analyse the product and determine the 

 percentage of its elements, but it is, furthermore, of equal 

 importance to arrive at a knowledge of the hardness, density, 

 and hygroscopic nature of the grains. The question of a 

 gunpowder's density or compactness (which, by the way, is 

 totally distinct from hardness) exercises, perhaps, the 

 greatest influence upon the burning of a charge, for unless 

 the grains are always manufactured of a uniform character 

 in this respect, results of an equal and reliable nature must 

 not be anticipated. 



