io Lieut. Col. Miller’s description of a percussion shell, 
made of old ship timber, was placed between them, and 
backed with sand and stones. Four shells were fired at this, 
at 180 yards ; two of them missed, and the third exploded in 
one of the casks, the splinters passing out at the other side, 
and carrying part of the contents of the cask along with 
them. The fourth struck the target in the centre, and blew 
it to pieces, leaving an opening in it upwards of 2 feet in 
diameter. Several of the planks of which it was made were 
cut asunder, and one of them was blown backwards 12 or 
15 feet. 
In the next day’s experiments, a target was placed at the 
same range, but being made of decayed timber, and backed 
with sand only, the effect was by no means so perceptible as 
on the day preceding. Several exploded between the target 
and the sand, without doing much execution. Four passed 
over the target, and ricoched along the water for several 
hundred yards. It was observed that they kept circling to 
the right, in consequence of the grooves running in that 
direction. One was found in the sand under the target, cone 
foremost, but without the peg ; and another exploded about 
20 yards from the gun. From this circumstance, the neces- 
sity of adopting some contrivance for keeping the pegs firm 
in their position became apparent, and also of making them 
air-tight, in order that the compressed air might not produce 
ignition. The range was this day tried against that of a 
round shot fired from the same gun, and the two were 
reckoned by the artillery officers present to be as nearly as 
possible equal, i|-lb. of good powder giving the same range 
both with shot and shell, as 3 lbs. of that used by the 
Ordnance. 
