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XII. Experiments to determine the Force of fired Gunpowder. 
By Benjamin Count of Rumford, F. R. S. M. R. /. A. 
Read May 4, 1 797. 
N o human invention of which we have any authentic records, 
except, perhaps, the art of printing, has produced such impor* 
tant changes in civil society as the invention of gunpowder. 
Yet, notwithstanding the uses to which this wonderful agent 
is applied are so extensive, and though its operations are as 
surprising as they are important, it seems not to have hitherto 
been exatnined with that care and perseverance which it de- 
serves. The explosion of gunpowder is certainly one of the 
most surprising phenomena We are acquainted with, and I am 
persuaded it would much ofteiter hate been the subject of the 
investigations of speculative philosophers, as well as of profess 
sional men, in this age of inquiry, were it not for the danger 
attending the experiments : but the force Of gunpowder is so 
great, and its effects so sudden and so terrible, that, notwith- 
standing all the precautions possible, there is ever a consider- 
able degree of danger attending the management of it, as I 
have more than once found to my cost. 
Several eminent philosophers and mathematicians, it is true, 
have, from time to time, employed their attention upon this 
curious subject ; and the modern improvements in chemistry 
have given us a considerable insight into the cause, and the 
