120 MILITARY SCIENCES. 



and is held under the arm by means of the handle, g. The piece itself does 

 not weigh quite one cwt., and the recoil is broken by the interposition of a 

 strong bent spring, like the spring of a carriage, at dc, by which the shock 

 is received and paralysed, while the band, a, which connects the neck of the 

 cascable with the lever, slides to and fro in the slit, ef. The Count von 

 Biickeburg had invented, indeed, in the preceding century, for the mountain 

 warfare in Spain, a 1 -pounder cannon, which could be fired without unlim- 

 bering (pL S8,figs. 4, 5). 



b. Howitzers. Howitzers are distinguished either by the weight of a 

 stone ball which fills their bore, or by the diameter of the iron shell which 

 belongs to them, the howitz, which usually, however, although it is hollow, 

 weighs as much again as the solid stone ball. Thus, for example, a 5| inch 

 howitzer throws a howitz which weighs from 14 to 15 pounds, and is 5i 

 inches in diameter. The solid stone ball, however, which would fill the 

 bore, weighs only 7 pounds, so that the expressions 7-pound howitzer and 

 5| inch howitzer imply the same thing. This double method of nomen- 

 clature holds also for mortars, the 50-pound mortar, for instance, holding 

 a 50-pound stone ball, which has a diameter of 12 inches, so that a 50-pound 

 or 12-inch mortar throws a bomb of about 100 pounds' weight of iron. 



The external parts of the howitzer resemble those of the cannon and 

 receive the same names, but the bore has a different form. This is shown 

 most plainly by the dotted line in pi. 36, Jig. 24. As the charge is very 

 small in comparison with the size of the shot, it has been compressed into a 

 small space and a chamber made for it in the breech, terminating in 

 a hemisphere. The forward part of the bore, the chase, receives the shell 

 in loading, unites with the chamber by a segment of a sphere, and is 

 called the seat of the shell (kettle). From thence to the mouth the bore 

 is cylindrical, and is called the " vacant cylinder." The chamber is 

 cylindrical, the seat sometimes conical. On the second reinforce are the 

 dolphins and trunnions. The length of the howitzer is determined by the 

 length of the human arm, as the charge and shell are placed in the chamber 

 and seat by hand, and the fuse must be adjusted in the same manner there. 

 Accordingly the 7-pound howitzer is, in general, about six calibres, the 

 10-pounder about five and a half calibres in length. As to the weight of 

 the howitzer, the proportion usually given is 50 pounds of metal for each 

 pound of iron in the shell, whence the 7-pound howitzer will weigh 50 times 

 15, or 750 pounds. PL 36 shows various forms of howitzer. Fig. 19 is a 

 Bavarian, j^^. 20, an Austrian, j^^. 21, a Prussian 7- pound howitzer ; fig. 22, 

 a French 6-inch, j^^. 23, an English 5^-inch, and fig. 24, an English 8-inch 

 howitzer. Fig. 37 is the section of a shell or howitz; fig. 36, a Paixhans 

 howitz; andj^^. 35, a fire-ball. These last are strong spherical frames with 

 iron ribs, which are filled with combustible matter and wrapped in tow 

 cloth ; they serve to set buildings, &c., on fire when thrown among them. 

 In order to light up the country at nighf, balls of this kind are thrown filled 

 with clear, white-burning light-composition. 



A particular species of howitzer is the unicorn (fig. 15), used by the 

 Russians, and of various calibres, but mostly 10- and 20-pounders. They 

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