[ So  1 
IIIJ  fhe  Force  of fired  Gun-powder , and  the  initial  Velocities 
of  Cannon  Balls , determined  by  Experiments ; from  which 
is  alj'o  deduced  the  Relation  of  the  initial  Velocity  to  the 
Weight  of  the.  Shot  and  the  Quantity  of  Powder.  By  Mr. 
Charles  Hutton,  of  the  Military  Academy  at  Woolwich*. 
Communicated  by  Samuel  Horfley,  LL.D.  Sec . R.  S 
Read  Jan.  8,  f I 'HESE  experiments  I made  at  Wool-* 
1778-  1 . , . , ■ r . 
wich  in  the  rummer  01  the  year  1775, 
affifted  by  feveral  able  officers  of  the  royal  artillery  at 
that  place,  and  other  ingenious  gentlemen.  The  object 
of  them  was  the  determination  of  the  aCtual  velocities 
with  which  balls  are  impelled  from  given  pieces  of  can- 
non, when  fired  with  given  charges  of  powder.  Thefe 
experiments  were  made  according  to  the  method  in- 
vented by  Mr.  robins,  and  defcribed  in  his  treatife,  in- 
titled,  New  Principles  of  Gunnery,  of  which  an  account 
was  printed  in  the  Philofophical  Tranfa<£tions  for  the 
year  1743.  Before  the  difcoveries  of  that  ingenious 
gentleman  very  little  progrefs  had  been  made  in  the 
true  theory  of  military  projectiles.  His  book,  how- 
ever, contained  fuch  important  difcoveries,  that  it  was 
foon 
