1871.] The Recent Gun-Cotton Explosion, 503 



circumstances seems to have led, if not to a callous, at any 

 rate to a too confiding, belief in the harmless nature of 

 pyroxylin. Such experiments were, of course, not without 

 value, but a store of some 15 tons of the explosive, heated 

 for many days in a tropical sun, was hardly likely, if acci- 

 dentally ignited, to burn away harmlessly in the same way as 

 half-a-dozen boxes of the material put into a bonfire. An 

 explosive of any kind, especially when stored in large 

 quantities, must always be regarded as a most eminent 

 source of danger, and it is not only foolish and wrong, but 

 positively criminal, under any circumstances to treat it other- 

 wise. During the different stages of manufacture constant 

 attention is indispensable in watching the gradual and 

 important changes that the cotton undergoes, and this 

 attention should be given not only by a skilful chemist, but 

 by one specially learned in this particular branch of 

 chemical knowledge. 



In conclusion a few words are perhaps necessary touching 

 the stability of pure gun-cotton, for a sweeping explosion of 

 this kind cannot but shake in some degree the confidence 

 that previously existed in the permanence of the material. 

 The best proof that can be afforded is, we think, the fact 

 that quantities of gun-cotton, not pounds, but hundred- 

 weights, have been stored up for the last seven or eight 

 years in ordinary Government magazines exposed to all 

 weathers, both summer and winter, and this material without 

 exception is proved to be as sound and uniform in appearance 

 as on the day of its manufacture. Moreover, gun-cotton 

 from the Stowmarket factory has been stored, transported, 

 and used since the years 1863 and 1864 both by Govern- 

 ment and private individuals in very considerable quantities, 

 and, so far as we are aware, no authenticated accident from 

 spontaneous decomposition and ignition has arisen. If we 

 add to these practical results the experiences of those 

 chemists who for the last ten years have made pyroxylin 

 their especial study, it must be acknowledged that there is 

 as yet no real evidence to contradict our present views, and 

 we shall deeply deplore the circumstance if the panic now 

 existing has the effect of hastily throwing on one side the 

 valuable information which has only been acquired after so 

 many years of laborious investigation. 



