DISCHARGING OF ORDNANCE. 481 



flame was found to pass through and set off the 

 gunpowder ; but the same result never took place 

 with wire-gauze as fine as that used in Sir Hum- 

 phry Davy's safety-lamp, unless when the flame 

 seemed to have burst a passage through the gauze. 

 But when these experiments were performed with- 

 out the powder and flannel at the bottom (B), it 

 was found that the flame went through even three 

 pieces of the wire-gauze at once. 



The next experiments, and probably the most 

 surprising of the whole, were with gunpowder 

 placed in one of the divisions of the apparatus 

 ( a, b 9 or c ). In some of the trials, I found that 

 the flame had passed through the gunpowder, (at 

 a, 6, or c% without inflaming it ; although, in other 

 trials, I found it did not do so. 



This, at first, appeared to be an objection to the 

 proposed application of the apparatus. But after 

 repeated trials, I found that the above curious re- 

 sult only took place when the stroke with the 

 hammer was slight ; for, when a smart blow was 

 given, inflammation always took place. 



In a few of the experiments, I put gunpowder 

 at two divisions of the apparatus ( a and b J, and 

 found, that the flame sometimes went through both 

 without firing either portion ; at other times, one 

 portion was inflamed, and one left unaltered. 



In performing these experiments, I first put a 

 small piece of flannel upon the hole of the joining 

 of the tube, and upon this I poured the gunpowder, 



vol. in. H h 



