341 



it was proved that there would be no difficulty or essential 

 hinderance to having a tunnel stretched from Calais to Dover. 



The next subject alluded to was Professor Schonbein's 

 invention of Explosive Cotton, which, though not in the 

 nature of powder, yet appeared to possess all its properties. 

 Explosive cotton has formed the subject of an interesting 

 lecture by Professor Grove, which was read at Southampton, 

 and which also contained a history of gunpowder. Substances, 

 he said, of the same explosive nature as gunpowder, were 

 known in China in very remote ages. Mention was made 

 in works in the Chinese language, and also in works in the 

 Arabic tongue, of ancient date, of substances of an explosive 

 nature resembling gunpowder — many centuries, indeed, before 

 it was known in Europe, which was about the middle of the 

 fourteenth century. A Hindoo lawgiver also mentioned some- 

 thing approximating to fire-arms ; but the Hindoos appeared 

 to have confined this invention to their own country, till after 

 gunpowder had been used in Europe many years. Gun- 

 powder was composed by combining combustible substances 

 with a substance that supplies abundance of oxygen for the 

 support of combustion. This was formed in a vast variety 

 of ways. Gunpowder might be produced from powdered 

 zinc, which, being combined with nitre, would form a very 

 powerful kind of gunpowder. Iron filings might be so con- 

 verted as to form the same explosive substance. Nitre, it 

 appeared, was an essential element in the explosive substances 

 used by the Chinese, and also in the celebrated Greek fire 

 used in the wars between Greece and Rome. The gun 

 cotton of Professor Schonbein was like our common cotton ; 

 and the portion exhibited at Southampton was glossy, fuzzy, 

 and flocky. 



The principal advantages of the explosive cotton over 

 gunpowder are, that it is produced at one-half the expense ; 

 less smoke is evolved ; it leaves but little, if any, residuum ; 



