EVOLUTION OF GUNS AND RIFLES 
fired cartridges, the extractor being split for the purpose. Perkes, in 1878, 
and Deeley, in 1886, produced fresh devices to effect the same object, and 
were followed by many others. Ejecting mechanism might well have been 
condemned offhand as too complicated for everyday use; yet good work- 
manship, combined with really correct shaping of the chambers, and 
perfectly made cartridges, has overcome all difficulties, and the hammer - 
less ejector is now in general use and gives general satisfaction. The 
excellent volume on shooting in the Badminton Library, 1887, treats the 
ejector as of little practical use, on the ground that if it add to the 
rapidity of fire, the gun must become so hot that no advantage is gained. 
Yet the ejector, like the hammerless lock, has this supreme merit, that 
it saves fumbling. Had it no other advantage, this alone would have 
carried it far. 
A similar claim, but in a quite minor degree, may be advanced on behalf 
of the single -trigger mechanisms introduced for double guns in recent 
years. The single trigger, firing two locks in succession, dates back to 
the days of the wheel lock, and is therefore some 300 years old. The prin- 
ciple received much attention in the eighteenth century, and was the subject 
of a patent in 1789. The inventive Joseph Manton describes the firing of 
two locks by means of a single trigger, and several gunmakers made 
double pistols having but one trigger. A four -barrel pistol, introduced by 
Lancaster in more recent times, had a single trigger by which all four 
barrels were fired in succession. It was not till thirty years ago that serious 
efforts were made to apply the same principle to the modern gun. Baker, 
of Birmingham, led the way; and he was followed by a host of other in- 
ventors. The difficulty of applying one trigger to act selectively on two 
locks, and never to fail or give trouble in working, is necessarily great. 
Though it has been met with wonderful success, the result hardly offers 
sufficient advantage to wean most shooters from the guns and the habits 
to which they are accustomed. 
One tribute is due to modern guns of high-class make. So well are their 
parts proportioned to the work which they have to do and the stresses they 
have to bear; so excellent are their materials, and so perfect their work- 
manship, that in lightness, balance, and handiness they compare favour- 
ably with muzzleloaders of the best period, which had no mechanism 
beyond lock, stock, and barrel; had no breech joints, lugs, levers, or 
ejecting locks, and were, by comparison, models of simplicity. Nor, though 
more complicated, are they more costly. Joe Manton charged from 55 to 
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