274 Count Rumford’s Experiments to determine 
yet in this case even the initial force of fired gunpowder, com- 
puted by the above rule, would be much too small. 
In the experiment No. 84, when the charge consisted of 18 
grains of powder, and the density or value of x was 702, a 
weight equal to the pressure of 10,977 atmospheres was raised 
Here the value of y (= x l +°- 0O °* *) is found to be (702 1 28oS ), 
= 4421.7; and to express this value of y in atmospheres, and 
at the same time to accommodate it to the actual result of the 
experiment, it must be multiplied by 2.4826; for it is 4421.7 
(the value of y expressed in equal parts) to 10,977 (its value 
in atmospheres, as shown by the experiment), as 1 to 2.4826, 
and consequently 4421.7 x 2.4826 = 10,977. 
If now the value of y be computed on the same principles, 
when x is put = 1000, it will turn out to be y = iooo ,+0 ' 4 
= 15,849; and this number expressed in atmospheres, by mul- 
tiplying it by 2.4826, gives the value of y — 39,346 atmo- 
spheres. 
This however falls still far short of 54,752 atmospheres, the 
force the powder was actually found to exert when the charge 
filled the space in which it was confined. But in the 84th expe- 
riment, when 18 grains of powder were used, as the weight 
(8081 lbs. avoirdupois) was raised with a very loud report , it 
is more than probable that the force of the generated elastic 
fluid was in fact considerably greater than that at which it 
was estimated, namely, greater than the pressure of 10,977 
atmospheres. 
But, without wasting time in fruitless endeavours to recon- 
cile anomalous experiments, which, probably, never can be 
made to agree, I shall hasten to give an account of another 
