340 
Lead ! 
kind of filter, which partly chokes up the apertures, and 
prevents the metal from flowing through them in conti- 
nuous streams. The fused metal is then poured by la- 
dlefulls into this vessel, and appears notwithstanding to 
run through it with considerable velocity ; so that it 
seems difficult to believe that it kills in separate drops, til! 
convinced by taking up a quantity of shot, from the bot- 
tom of the water. 
The shot thus made is not without considerable im- 
perfections. The exterior coat of the lower part of the 
drop becoming suddenly fixed by the contact of the wa- 
ter, its superior portion, which is still liquid, as it also 
cools and contracts, necessarily pits, like the surface of 
metal in the channel of a mould, so that the greater part 
of the shot are somewhat hollow and of an irregular form ; 
consequently too light for the .purpose to which they are 
destined, and liable to unequal resistance in their passage 
through the air. These defects are remedied in the pa- 
tent shot, the manufacture of which differs only from that 
of the preceding kind in the addition of a larger portion of 
arsenic, which varies according to the quality of the lead ; 
in dropping it from such a height that it becomes solid be- 
fore it enters the water , which is from 40 to 100 feet ; 
and in some subsequent operations, which are as follows : 
It is first dried and sifted. It is then boarded , which con- 
sists in scattering it on several polished slabs or trays of 
hard wood, with rims, in the form of a n, except that the 
sides converge towards the lower part, to which a slight 
inclination and alternate motion in their own planes are 
given by boys employed in the manufacture. The shot 
whose form is imperfect are detected by the sluggishness 
of their motion, and remain behind, whilst the others roll 
off from the board. The last operation is the polishing ; 
which is performed by agitating it, with the addition of a 
very small quantity of black lead, not exceeding tw© 
