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results than the old rifle, both in deviation and power of 
penetration. The best form of bullet was also determined, 
and was found to be one with a conical front and a length 
of about three diameters. It had a velocity of about 60,000 
feet per minute, and rotated about 60,000 times per minute. 
Notwithstanding its very great superiority, the Government 
did not adopt the new weapon. In 1860, the National Rifle 
Association had a competition open to the whole world, when 
the Whitworth rifle was decided to be the best known, and 
was at once adopted. On the 2nd July, 1860, the Queen in- 
augurated the first prize meeting at Wimbledon by firing 
the first shot with a Whitworth rifle mounted on a mechani- 
cal rest, constructed so as to secure accuracy of aim. The 
Queen pulled a silken cord attached to the trigger, and 
the bullet struck the target an inch and a half from the 
centre, making a bull’s eye. The range was 400 yards, and 
this was certainly a very remarkable shot. The new rifle 
was tested in France and adopted by the French Govern- 
ment. It is not possible here to describe in detail the 
experiments by which the accuracy, range, and penetrative 
power were increased far beyond anything previously 
known, nor how Whitworth extended the principles to the 
production of artillery— suffice it to- say that in 1868 he 
produced a gun which threw a projectile weighing cwt. 
a distance of six and a half miles. Further, with respect to 
the duration of the gun, while the Krupp guns usually burst 
after from 600 to 800 shots ; between 3,500 and 4,000 shots 
were fired from the Whitworth guns without a single case of 
bursting or serious damage having occurred. He further made 
great improvements in the metal of which the guns were made. 
After some 2,500 experiments he succeeded in making his 
compressed steel, in which all the gas and air bubbles are 
pressed out while the steel is in a fluid state. He found 
that a pressure of from six to nine tons on the square inch 
was most effective, and experiments have shown the very 
