40 
HIGH PHEASANTS : 
has completed a distance of 150 yds., and that after it has 
lost the velocity conveyed by the powder, it then falls the 
rest of the space by gravitation, and thus drops gently 
to the ground. 
[It would naturally be thought that when shooting straight 
downwards, the speed of gravitation should be added to the 
speed of the shot-pellets, as bestowed by the energy of the powder. 
As an analogy, if a man is standing on the stern of a steamer 
travelling slowly through the water at three miles an hour, 
and he runs forward towards the bow of the ship at ten miles 
an hour, he is then moving at thirteen miles per hour. If he 
ceases running forward, his pace is again three miles an hour. 
For the sake of illustration, the speed of the ship may here 
represent the speed of gravitation, and the pace of the man the 
speed of the shot-pellets. 
From this point of view, if a charge of shot is fired straight 
downwards, gravitation should increase its speed, for the pellets 
should travel at the rate produced by the explosive energy of 
the powder plus the speed of gravitation, until the resistance of 
the atmosphere had absorbed the energy that started the shot- 
charge on its course, and then it should continue to fall at the 
speed caused by gravitation only. 
Shot-pellets fired straight downwards should, therefore, 
travel at the speed produced by the powder-energy plus the 
speed given by gravitation, and shot-pellets fired straight 
upwards, at the speed produced by the powder-energy minus 
the pull of gravitation. In the former case one would imagine 
gravitation should increase the velocity of the shot. In the 
latter, the pellets are struggling against the pull of gravitation 
